#WWWWednesday – 18th June 2025

Hosted by Taking on a World of Words, this meme is all about the three Ws:

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

Why not join in too?  Leave a comment with your link at Taking on a World of Words and then go blog hopping!

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What I’m Currently Reading

I’m (still) listening to the audiobook of the first of my 20 Books of Summer 2025, I’m reading a book from my NetGalley shelf and a review copy.

Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson (Doubleday)

Ruby Lennox was conceived grudgingly by Bunty and born while her father, George, was in the Dog and Hare in Doncaster, telling a woman in an emerald dress and a D cup that he wasn’t married. Bunty had never wanted to marry George, but there she was, stuck in a flat above the pet shop in an ancient street beneath York Minster, with sensible and sardonic Patrica, aged five; greedy, cross-patch Gillian, who refused to be ignored; and Ruby…

Ruby tells the story of the family, from the day at the end of the nineteenth century when a travelling French photographer catches frail beautiful Alice and her children, like flowers in amber, to the startling, witty, and memorable events of Ruby’s own life.

One Good Thing by Georgia Hunter (Allison & Busby via NetGalley)

Ferrara, Italy. 1940. Lili Passigli is studying at the University of Ferrara when Mussolini’s Racial Laws deem her of ‘inferior’ Jewish descent, blindsiding her completely. As Hitler’s strength grows across Europe, Lili’s world begins to shrink around her, with the papers awash in Fascist propaganda and the city walls desecrated with anti-semitic slurs. When Germany invades northern Italy, Lili and her best friend Esti find themselves on their own in Nazi-occupied territory.

With the help of the Resistance, Lili and Esti flee with Esti’s two-year-old son Theo, in tow, facing a harrowing journey south toward the Allies and freedom. On this trek through war-torn Italy, they will face untold challenges and devastating decisions.

SPIT by David Brennan (epoque press)

Welcome to the village of Spit, where Danny Mulcahy is losing the run of himself, and where, as he and his friends dream of escaping, an unexpected death sets the rumour mill into motion.

Suffering an unexplained, perpetual banishment the Spook of Spit is watching everyone and everything – nothing goes unnoticed. Bearing witness to the village’s half-truths and suppressed secrets, fragments of its own dark and obscured history are unveiled.

As events spiral out of control, the past, present and future are set to collide. Can there be redemption for past deeds? How do you escape when you are fated to remain? What does it take to break free from the confines of Spit?

What I’ve Just Read

The Surgeon’s House by Jody Cooksley (Allison & Busby)

London, 1883. The brutal murder of Rose Parmiter seems, at first glance, to be a random and senseless act. Rose was the beloved cook at Evergreen House, a place of refuge for women and children, a place from which they can start their lives afresh.

Proprietor Rebecca Harris is profoundly shocked by the death of her dear friend and alarmed at the mysterious events which begin to unfold shortly afterwards. Could the past be casting a shadow on the present? The malign legacy of the Everley family who called Evergreen home, cannot be ignored.

After two further deaths it becomes clear there is an evil presence infecting their sanctuary, and Rebecca must draw out the poison of the past so the Evergreen residents can finally make peace with the darkness in their lives. (Review to follow)

Kane by Graham Hurley (Head of Zeus)

Washington DC, 1941. Quincy Kane, hero of the Boston Police Department and scourge of organised crime, is now a Secret Service agent. His meteoric rise means he’s trusted to guard the most important man in the country: President Roosevelt.

Then Imperial Japan attacks the US naval base at Pearl Harbor.

For Kane, American entry to World War II means the most crucial mission of his career: a complex scheme of bribery and subterfuge that will see him cross the Atlantic. He could change the course of the conflict and save thousands of Allied lives.

First, though, he will have to survive a return to the world of organised crime via the City of Angels itself: Los Angeles, where every gangster has Quincy Kane in their crosshairs. (Review to follow for blog tour)

What I’ll Be Reading Next

Queen Macbeth by Val McDermid (Polygon)

A thousand years ago in an ancient Scottish landscape, a woman is on the run with her three companions – a healer, a weaver and a seer. The men hunting her will kill her – because she is the only one who stands between them and their violent ambition. She is no lady: she is the first queen of Scotland, married to a king called Macbeth.

As the net closes in, we discover a tale of passion, forced marriage, bloody massacre and the harsh realities of medieval Scotland. At the heart of it is one strong, charismatic woman, who survived loss and jeopardy to outwit the endless plotting of a string of ruthless and power-hungry men. Her struggle won her a country. But now it could cost her life.