On What Cathy Read Next last week
Monday – I published my review of Little by Edward Carey.
Tuesday – This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was Books I Hope Santa Brings.
Wednesday – WWW Wednesday is the 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 review of The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories From My Life by John le Carré.
Friday – I reported on completing the BookBloggers Fiction Reading Challenge 2021 hosted by Lynne at Fictionophile.
Saturday – I indulged in a spot of Yuletide nostalgia with some illustrations from An Edwardian Christmas by John S. Goodall.
As always, thanks to everyone who has liked, commented on or shared my blog posts on social media.
New arrivals
The Dust Bowl Orphans by Suzette D. Harrison (eARC, Bookouture)
The dust cloud rolls in from nowhere, stinging our eyes and muddling our senses. I reach for my baby sister and pull her small body close to me. When the sky clears, we are alone on an empty road with no clue which way to go…
Oklahoma, 1935. Fifteen-year-old Faith Wilson takes her little sister Hope’s hand. In worn-down shoes, they walk through the choking heat of the Dust Bowl towards a new life in California. But when a storm blows in, the girls are separated from their parents. How will they survive in a place where just the color of their skin puts them in terrible danger?
Starving and forced to sleep on the streets, Faith thinks a room in a small boarding house will keep her sister safe. But the glare in the landlady’s eye as Faith leaves in search of their parents has her wondering if she’s made a dangerous mistake. Who is this woman, and what does she want with sweet little Hope? Trapped, will the sisters ever find their way back to their family?
California, present day. Reeling from her divorce and grieving the child she lost, Zoe Edwards feels completely alone in the world. Throwing herself into work cataloguing old photos for an exhibition, she sees an image of a teenage girl who looks exactly like her, and a shiver grips her. Could this girl be a long-lost relation, someone to finally explain the holes in Zoe’s family history? Diving into the secrets in her past, Zoe unravels this young girl’s heartbreaking story of bravery and sacrifice. But will anything prepare her for the truth about who she is…?
April in Spain by John Banville (Faber & Faber)
‘He wanted to know who she was, and why he was convinced he had some unremembered connection with her. It was as simple as that. But he knew it wasn’t. It wasn’t simple at all.’
When Dublin pathologist Quirke glimpses a familiar face while on holiday with his wife, it’s hard, at first, to tell whether his imagination is just running away with him. Could she really be who he thinks she is, and have a connection with a crime that nearly brought ruin to an Irish political dynasty?
Unable to ignore his instincts, Quirke makes a call back home and Detective St John Strafford is soon dispatched to Spain. But he’s not the only one on route: as a terrifying hitman hunts down his prey, they are all set for a brutal showdown.
The Silver Wolf by J. C. Harvey (ARC, Allen & Unwin)
Amidst the chaos of the Thirty Years’ War, Jack Fiskardo embarks upon a quest that will carry him inexorably from France to Amsterdam and then onto the battlefields of Germany. As he grows to manhood will he be able to unravel the mystery of his father’s death? Or will his father’s killers find him first?
The Silver Wolf is a tale of secrets and treachery and the relentlessness of fate – but it is also a story of courage and compassion, of love and loyalty and ultimately of salvation too.
On What Cathy Read Next this week
Currently reading
Planned posts
- Book Review: Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud
- Top Ten Tuesday: Favourite Books of 2021
- Book Review: Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith
- What’s In A Name 2022 Sign-Up
What Cathy Read Next... 