St Mary’s Chronicles, by Jodi Taylor
PAPERBACK. AUDIOBOOK. KINDLE.
St Mary’s Chronicles is a series based in St Mary’s Institute for Historical Research, a seemingly quaint research college that makes historical discoveries. Dr Madeline Maxwell (‘Max’) had a traumatic childhood, and was rescued by her teacher Mrs De Winter, (sister to the Muse of History), at an impressionable age, and ends up doing a history degree at the University of Thirsk.
St Mary’s is not a research institute like any other; the Historians make discoveries by witnessing history, firsthand. ‘No, not time travel,’ Max is famed for saying, but yes, time travel. The Historians ‘jump’ back in time, record and capture the event taking place (usually battles,) and return with new evidence that earns Thirsk it’s world renowned reputation, and St Mary’s a few shillings.
Of course, this all sounds very straight forward, but no book would be complete without some disaster or other; Historians trapped in the burning St Paul’s causes no end of drama (No Time Like The Past), Max lost in the Cretaceous period (Second Chance) brings together a budding romance, and TB2 landing in the middle of a flash flood almost leaves Tutankamun’s tomb at risk of ruin (What Could Possibly Go Wrong?). The team always comes out on top, although sometimes the sub-characters lose their lives…. Poor Schiller.
Max’s unconventional approach to all situations earns her the reputation for being a liability, but is highly regarded by her loyal colleagues. Dr Bairstow is a loveable demi-god, to be feared and adored in equal measure; Markham an untidy ex-con from security is wonderfully faithful, and can always be relied upon to turn up to the rescue; Tim Peterson is a strong and kind friend, always there to wee on Max whenever required, or to bounce the pod when parking, whichever need is greater. And, best of all, Chief Farrell, the dream boat (5’10” - let’s talk about the 10”) provides romance and at least one fairly raunchy scene per book.
As for the drama, there is plenty of it. There are lots of ‘baddies’ out to trip St Mary’s up, or put a bullet in Max’s back. Isabella ‘bitchface’ Barclay, Clive Ronan, The Time Police all give the team a few problems, and if they aren’t bad enough, History herself throws the boot in now and then when it looks like the timeline is under threat…. Never A Dull Moment (that should be the title of one of the books) ...
I have listened to the series on audible, and loved Zara Ramm’s narration. She does brilliant accents (Markham’s west country is perfect, and Mrs Enderby from Wardrobe sounds as homely as you could hope for). If you listen to your books without headphones, be warned, there’s the occasional swear words, and a few scenes to make your mother blush - don’t listen to these novels with your children around! It’s worth downloading a few at a time, as soon as one has finished you want to have the next ready to go. There are also ‘half’ books, so in between book 1 and 2 comes book 1.5…. A short novella. They are all good too, although if you choose to skip them nothing too much happens in the plot that you need to know about before reading the next long one - certainly nothing pertaining to character development or a change in a state of affairs.
This series is well worth a listen, the characters live with you for a long time, they are family to each other, extended family to the readers. The plots are twisty, historical but not difficult to follow, and the historical element is interesting but not overwhelming. There’s plenty to keep you interested, and it’s a great page turner. In fact, they are so good, I have just re-listened to the series again.
PAPERBACK. AUDIOBOOK. KINDLE.
Score 8/10
