My Week in Books – 7th June 2026

whatcathyreadnextLeave a comment

On the blog last week

Monday – I published my May Monthly Wrap-Up.

Tuesday – This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was Books I Can’t Believe I Haven’t Read.

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 published my review of Prey by Graham Hurley, book 1 of my 20 Books of Summer.

Saturday – I joined other gardeners for #SixonSaturday sharing six things from my garden this week. I also took part in the #6Degrees of Separation meme forging a book chain from The Post-Office Girl by Stefan Zwieg to The Matchbox Girl by Alice Jolly.

New on my shelves

Deception by Alan Parks (John Murray via NetGalley)

New York, December 1941. Joseph Gunner, former soldier, is off the front lines and on the streets of New York, tasked with helping tip America into the Second World War.

Working for a section of the British Secret Service, Gunner spends his days covertly encouraging pro-war sentiment through planted news stories, radio broadcasts and even blackmail.

But when a honeytrap mission with a prominent US politician goes wrong and the young woman involved is found dead, Gunner realises he has a target on his back. Who silenced her? Who knew their plan? And who has betrayed Gunner?

As he investigates, Gunner is plunged into the secretive world of Nazis in America, the NYPD and the mobs of New York, as the body count quickly stacks up. With world events accelerating, Gunner finds himself in a race against time before he becomes the next victim. Soon, he’ll uncover a conspiracy that goes beyond what he thought was possible.

Cold Sunset by William Boyd (Viking via NetGalley)

Cold War Moscow is a place smouldering with secrets.

Gabriel Dax is on route to Russia, tasked with delivering a mysterious Blanco drawing to celebrated defector, Kit Caldwell. But Caldwell is convinced that the KGB suspects him of treachery and he wants to get out – now.

When Gabriel is ordered by his enigmatic handler Faith Green to help, he is pulled into a web of shifting loyalties and dangerous escape plans. As tensions rise and trust fractures, he is forced to confront the fine line between devotion and deception. But which will he choose?

Land by Maggie O’Farrell (Tinder Press)

On a windswept peninsula stretching out into the Atlantic, Tomás and his reluctant son, Liam, are working for the great Ordnance Survey project to map the whole of Ireland. The year is 1865, and in a country not long since ravaged and emptied by the Great Hunger, the task is not an easy one. Tomás, however, is determined that his maps will be a record of the disaster.

The British soldiers in charge are due to arrive any day, expecting the work to be completed, but Tomás is sent off course by an unsettling encounter in a copse. His life, and those of his family, will never be the same again. Liam is terrified by the sudden change in his taciturn father. What was it that caused such cracks to open in Tomás and how is Liam, aged only ten, going to finish the mapping, and get them both home?

Land is a story of buried treasure, overlapping lives, ancient woodland, persistent ghosts, a particularly loyal dog, and how, when it comes to both land and history, nothing ever goes away.

The Wolf’s Oath by Tim Hodkinson (Head of Zeus via NetGalley)

Einar and the Wolf Coats sail back to the northern realms in order to honour a dying man’s last wish by placing his sword into the hands of his son.

As they get closer to their destination, they encounter a fearsome band of Viking mercenaries. Einar is keen to join forces, but the Wolf Coats are vehemently opposed… until a violent skirmish makes both sides realise they will be stronger together.

First though the Wolf Coats must pass a test: prove themselves to their new allies by discovering the truth behind strange tales of bloodshed in the far north.

Einar soon realises he may have signed up for more than he intended, for he must cross swords with allies of his bitter enemy: Eirik, the Serpent King.

What I’m currently reading

I’m reading Country People by Daniel Mason and Deception by Alan Parks from my NetGalley shelf, both out next month. And I’m listening to the audiobook of A Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha Christie, the book chosen for me in the latest Classics Club spin.

Look out for…

  • Book Review: Dwell by Rue Baldry

#SixOnSaturday – Six things happening in my garden this week

whatcathyreadnextLeave a comment

Six on Saturday is a weekly meme originally hosted by The Propagator but now in the tender care of Jim at Garden Ruminations.

Well, we got the rain I was pleading for so all the water butts are replenished and the plants look happier. So are the weeds. But now the rain doesn’t seem to want to stop. She’s never happy, is she? Enough of this grumbling, here are my six:

One – The bee magnet that is Stachys byzantina, commonly known as lamb’s ear. I split up a huge clump of this in the autumn and now I have four huge clumps.

Two – Campanula garganica growing in an area of gravel above our pond. The water never reaches it and it’s in full sun so seems quite happy.

Three – An unlikely pairing, or perhaps I should say ‘pear-ing’. Clematis ‘Etoile Violette’ entwining itself around a cordon pear.

Four – Escallonia ‘Apple Blossom’, planted last year and flowering for the first time.

Five – Coreopsis ‘Golden Joy’ growing amidst Verbena bonariensis and the ubiquitous lamb’s ear.

Six – A self-seeded poppy. It’s more of a red colour in real life.

Do check out the posts of other participants by following the links in the comments section of Jim’s post. If you fancy taking part yourself but don’t know where to start, here’s the participant’s guide.