What Cathy Read Next...

On the blog last week

Monday – I shared my sign-up post for the What’s In A Name? Challenge 2026.

Tuesday – This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was Books Covers With Striking Typography. I also published my review of historical novel Julia Sleeps by Zoe Caryl

Wednesday – As always WWW Wednesday is a weekly opportunity to share what I’ve just read, what I’m currently reading and what I plan to read next… and to take a peek at what others are reading.

Thursday – I shared my list for the latest Classics Club Spin.

Friday – I shared details of the twelve books on the longlist for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2026. I also published an excerpt from Baked Tapes, the debut novel by Bob Christenson.

Saturday – I took part in the #6Degrees of Separation meme forging a book chain from Flashlight by Susan Choi to The Huntingfield Paintress by Pamela Holmes.

New on my shelves

The River Days of Rosie Crow by Rebecca Stonehill (ARC, Stairwell Books)

Modern day: following a breakdown, Rose Crawford retreats to a quiet village. Discovering an old family tree and intrigued by their similar name, she is drawn to a woman named Rosie Crow who died young. As curiosity pervades her, Rose feels herself settling into a new skin, reconnecting with a latent love of storytelling.

19th Century Norfolk: Rosie Crow is spirited, illiterate and deeply connected to the land. She longs to communicate the stories she believes the river tells her but when worsening rural poverty stirs up disquiet, her differences – combined with entrenched witchcraft superstition – become the catalyst for devastating consequences.

Paper Sisters by Rachel Canwell (Northodox Press)

May 1914, and as the First World War approaches, three women are living, trapped between marsh, river, and fen. Their lives held fast by grief, the past, and the looming presence of a hospital. A hospital which has never admitted a single patient.

Eleanor longs to escape. To make a life with the man she loves, leaving her sister and all her ghosts behind.

Clara’s marriage is crumbling and violent, although she yearns for peace and security for both herself and her children.

Meanwhile, Lily, determined that nothing should change, will do anything to prevent life and her family from moving on. No matter the cost.

It’s the first Saturday of the month which means it’s time for 6 Degrees of Separation.

Here’s how it works: a book is chosen as a starting point by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best and linked to six other books to form a chain. Readers and bloggers are invited to join in by creating their own ‘chain’ leading from the selected book.

Kate says: Books can be linked in obvious ways – for example, books by the same authors, from the same era or genre, or books with similar themes or settings. Or, you may choose to link them in more personal or esoteric ways: books you read on the same holiday, books given to you by a particular friend, books that remind you of a particular time in your life, or books you read for an online challenge. Join in by posting your own #6Degrees chain on your blog and adding the link in the comments section of each month’s post. You can also check out links to posts on X using the hashtag #6Degrees.

This month’s starting book is Flashlight by Susan Choi which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2025. As is often the case, it’s a book I haven’t read so I’m just going to use its title as inspiration. Links from each title will take you to my review or the book description on Goodreads.

A flashlight is useful when there are no street lights, as was the case during the Second World War. In The Great Darkness by Jim Kelly, Inspector Eden Brooke, whose eyesight was damaged during World War One leaving him sensitive to light, investigates a murder with the help of a group of fellow ‘nighthawks’ including the night porter of one of Cambridge University’s colleges.

Another academic institution features in The Eights by Joanna Miller. The novel tells the story of four young women who are among the first female students admitted to Oxford University. A real life figure, the writer and pacifist Vera Brittain, makes an appearace in the book.

Vera Brittain’s novel The Dark Tide is the story of a young woman called Daphne Lethbridge who returns to Oxford University after a stint of volunteer work during the First World War.

The character of Daphne is thought to be based on Vera Brittain’s longtime friend Winifred Holtby whose most well known book is South Riding set in a small town in Yorkshire.

South Riding is a fictitious place. (Although there are North, West and East Ridings, there’s no South.) Another invented place is Barsetshire, the location of Anthony Trollope‘s Barchester Chronicles. In Framley Parsonage, the fourth book in the series, a young clergyman accepts the living of Framley Parsonage from the wealthy Lady Lufton.

There’s another clerical appointment in The Huntingfield Paintress by Pamela Holmes. William Holland, accompanied by his wife Mildred, arrives in a small Suffolk village to take up the post of Rector. Together they embark on renovating and decorating the village church.

My chain has involved educational and religious institutions. Where did your chain take you?