Review: Language is Paramount in a Historical Novel
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 04 25, 2014
I read historical novels to immerse myself in another time.  I can't do that when language is not consistent to period or location.  I am not a huge stickler,  especially when the original spoken language wouldn't have been English. But modern euphemisms are a no-no.An example, the author used "milk-toast" (in the hero's thoughts) to indicate a weak personality.  Milk-toast is toasted bread with a white sauce and cinnamon, a comfort food from the 19th Century.  However, "milquetoast" and is an American insult that originated in the 1920s that means a bland, boring or weak person and the appropriate word for the context.  Of course,  neither  is appropriate for 15th or 16th Century Scotland regardless.