My Week in Books – Page 233 – What Cathy Read Next…

New arrivals

A very restrained week on the purchase, review request and ARC front (pats self on back)…….

Jack Dawkins by Charlton Daines (ebook, 99p)

Jack Dawkins, once known as the Artful Dodger in the streets of London, was sent to Australia on a prison ship when he was little more than a boy. Now he has returned to find that London has changed while the boy has turned into a man. With few prospects provided by his criminal past and having developed mannerisms that allow him to move amongst a higher strata of society, Jack turns his back on the streets that would have primed him as a successor to the murderer, Bill Sykes, and quickly remodels himself as a gentleman thief. New acquaintances and a series of chance encounters, including one with his old friend Oliver, create complications as remnants of his past come back to plague him. Jack is forced to struggle for a balance between his new life and memories that haunt him with visions of the derelict tavern where Nancy used to sing.

The Floating Theatre by Martha Conway (ARC, NetGalley)

In a nation divided by prejudice, everyone must take a side. When young seamstress May Bedloe is left alone and penniless on the shore of the Ohio, she finds work on the famous floating theatre that plies its trade along the river. Her creativity and needlework skills quickly become invaluable and she settles in to life among the colourful troupe of actors. She finds friends, and possibly the promise of more… But cruising the border between the Confederate South and the ‘free’ North is fraught with danger. For the sake of a debt that must be repaid, May is compelled to transport secret passengers, under cover of darkness, across the river and on, along the underground railroad. But as May’s secrets become harder to keep, she learns she must endanger those now dear to her. And to save the lives of others, she must risk her own…

Exquisite by Sarah Stovell (ebook, review copy)

Bo Luxton has it all—a loving family, a beautiful home in the Lake District, and a clutch of bestselling books to her name. Enter Alice Dark, an aspiring writer who is drifting through life, with a series of dead-end jobs and a freeloading boyfriend. When they meet at a writers’ retreat, the chemistry is instant, and a sinister relationship develops. Or does it? Breathlessly pacey, taut and terrifying, Exquisite is a startlingly original and unbalancing psychological thriller that will keep you guessing until the very last page.

On What Cathy Read Next last week

Book Reviews

On Monday I published reviews of Gravel Heart by Abdulrazak Gurnah and The 7^th Function of Language by Laurent Binet. Tuesday saw the publication of my review of Crystal King’s debut novel set in Ancient Rome, Feast of Sorrow.

Other posts

On Monday, I let my imagination run riot by conjuring up what would be my dream book conference panel. It featured two characters interviewing their authors in not altogether serious vein. On Wednesday and Thursday, I put the spotlight on Jeff Russell’s book The Dream Shelf with an excerpt followed by a Q&A. Friday saw an author Q&A with Caro Fraser as part of the blog tour for her historical fiction novel, The Summer House Party. Finally, yesterday I participated in the book blitz & giveaway for Debutante, a prequel to Marie Silk’s popular Davenport House series.

Challenge updates

Goodreads 2017 Reading Challenge – 51 out of 78 books read (2 more than last week)
Classics Club – 2 out of 50 books reviewed (same as last week)
NetGalley and Edelweiss Reading Challenge 2017 – 25 ARCs reviewed out of 25 (1 more than last week) Challenge Achieved!
From Page to Screen – 6 book/film comparisons completed (same as last week)
The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction Shortlist 2017 – 3 out of 7 read (1 more than last week)

On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

Planned posts

Review: Anne Boleyn: The King’s Obsession by Alison Weir
Review: These Dividing Walls by Fran Cooper
Review: The X-Variant by Rosemary Cole
Book Blitz: The Devil’s Whisper by T. H. Moore
Book Blitz: Streets of Glass by Michelle D. Argyle
Blog Tour/Guest Post: Deposed by David Barbaree
Review: Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift
Review: The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain

Reviews to be added to NetGalley

None – all up to date!

How was your week in books? Blockbuster or should have stayed on the slush pile?

New arrivals

Another week of (relative) self-restraint…

The Sixth Man by Rupert Colley (ebook, review copy courtesy of the author)

Sometimes we all make the wrong choice. 1943 Nazi-occupied France. Six Frenchmen are in a Nazi prison: a doctor, a postman, a policeman, a soldier, a teacher and a priest. After six months of prison, they are a desperate looking set of men. But, despite their circumstances, they are happy – for tonight is their last night of incarceration. Tomorrow, they will be free men. But then – there’s a change of plan. The French resistance have blown up a German train. Five German soldiers lie dead. Tomorrow, five of the six prisoners will be executed in reprisal. They have until dawn to decide which one of them should be allowed to live. Six happy men are now six desperate frightened souls, victims of the Nazi’s arbitrary justice. The doctor, the postman, the policeman, the soldier, the teacher and the priest. Only one of them will live to see another day. Who will be The Sixth Man? The Sixth Man is a novel about the difficult choices we have to make and living with the consequences.

The Sacrifice by Indrajit Garai (ebook, review copy courtesy of the author)

In this collection, meet: Guillaume, who gives up everything to protect his child; young Matthew, who stakes his life to save his home; and François, who makes the biggest sacrifice to rescue his grandson.

More Than A Soldier by D. M. Annechino (ebook, review copy courtesy of the author)

Feeling a patriotic duty to defend his country after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, seventeen year old, Angelo J. DiMarco, enlists in the U.S. Army. Severely short of frontline fighters, the Army rushes Angelo through Ranger training and sends him to Italy as part of the 1st Ranger Battalion. Their objective: stop the German invasion. Fighting on the front lines in Italy, the German’s teach Angelo a sobering lesson on life when they capture him during the bloody battle of Cisterna. The poor living conditions and ill-treatment in the German prison camps quickly convince Angelo he has to find a way out. Against insurmountable odds, Angelo miraculously escapes in a way that stretches the imagination. He survives behind enemy lines for over five months, hiding from the Germans and trying to outmanoeuvre them. He begs for food, sleeps in barns and suffers from many ailments, including dehydration, malnutrition, malaria and exposure to the elements.

A Reluctant Warrior by Kelly Brooke Nicholls (ebook, review copy courtesy of the author)

When Luzma’s brother, Jair, unwittingly uncovers the plan by Colombia’s most notorious drug cartel to smuggle an unprecedented cocaine shipment into the US, it puts their family in grave danger. Jair’s kidnapping by the cartel forces Luzma to go face to face with vicious paramilitary leader, El Cubano, and General Ordonez, ruthless head of the military – men who will stop at nothing to protect their empires. But for Luzma, nothing is more important than saving her family – not even her own life.

A Talent for Murder by Andrew Wilson (ebook, 99p)

Agatha Christie, in London to visit her literary agent, boards a train, preoccupied and flustered in the knowledge that her husband Archie is having an affair. She feels a light touch on her back, causing her to lose her balance, then a sense of someone pulling her to safety from the rush of the incoming train. So begins a terrifying sequence of events. Her rescuer is no guardian angel; rather, he is a blackmailer of the most insidious, manipulative kind. Agatha must use every ounce of her cleverness and resourcefulness to thwart an adversary determined to exploit her genius for murder to kill on his behalf.

Desperation Road by Michael Farris Smith(ebook, 99p)

For eleven years the clock has been ticking for Russell Gaines as he sat in Parchman penitentiary in the Mississippi Delta. His time now up, and believing his debt paid, he returns home only to discover that revenge lives and breathes all around. On the day of his release, a woman named Maben and her young daughter trudge along the side of the interstate under the punishing summer sun. Desperate and exhausted, the pair spend their last dollar on a motel room for the night, a night that ends with Maben running through the darkness holding a pistol, and a dead deputy sprawled across the road in the glow of his own headlights. With dawn, destinies collide, and Russell is forced to decide whose life he will save – his own or that of the woman and child?

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (ebook, 99p)

Profoundly moving and gracefully told, PACHINKO follows one Korean family through the generations, beginning in early 1900s Korea with Sunja, the prized daughter of a poor yet proud family, whose unplanned pregnancy threatens to shame them. Betrayed by her wealthy lover, Sunja finds unexpected salvation when a young tubercular minister offers to marry her and bring her to Japan to start a new life. So begins a sweeping saga of exceptional people in exile from a homeland they never knew and caught in the indifferent arc of history. In Japan, Sunja’s family members endure harsh discrimination, catastrophes, and poverty, yet they also encounter great joy as they pursue their passions and rise to meet the challenges this new home presents. Through desperate struggles and hard-won triumphs, they are bound together by deep roots as their family faces enduring questions of faith, family, and identity.

On What Cathy Read Next last week

Book Reviews

On Tuesday, as part of the Blog Tour, I published my review of Across Great Divides by Monique Roy and today’s review was of an entertaining mystery thriller, Exodus ’95 by Kfir Luzzatto.

Other posts

On Monday, I published a Q&A with Diney Costeloe, author of The Married Girls and Wednesday saw a guest post ‘Secrets of Romney Marsh’ from A.J. MacKenzie, author of The Body in the Ice. On Thursday, I welcomed to my blog Jeannie Zokan for a guest post about the real-life locations used in her novel, The Existence of Pity. Saturday saw another Q&A, this time with Lesley Thomson, author of The Dog Walker, the fifth book in her The Detective’s Daughter series. Finally, today, a more light-hearted post: 10 (More) Tips to Beat Reviewer’s Block.

Challenge updates

Goodreads 2017 Reading Challenge – 49 out of 78 books read (2 more than last week)
Classics Club – 2 out of 50 books reviewed (same as last week)
NetGalley and Edelweiss Reading Challenge 2017 – 24 ARCs reviewed out of 25 (same as last week)
From Page to Screen – 6 book/film comparisons completed (same as last week)
NEW The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction Shortlist 2017 – 2 out of 7 read