On the blog last week
Tuesday – I chose the word ‘blue’ for this week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic, Books With [Word] In The Title.
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 Top 3 April 2025 Reads.
Saturday – I took part in the #6Degrees of Separation meme forging a book chain from Rapture by Emily Maguire to Conclave by Robert Harris.
New on my shelves
The Book of Days by Francesca Kay (audiobook, Swift Press)
Anno Domini 1546. In a manor house in England a young woman feels the walls are closing round her, while her dying husband is obsessed by his vision of a chapel where prayers will be said for his immortal soul.
As the days go by and the chapel takes shape, the outside world starts to intrude. And as the old ways are replaced by the new, the people of the village sense a dangerous freedom.
The Last Apartment in Istanbul by Defne Suman (Apollo via NetGalley)
Pericles Drakos has lived in the exquisite Circle Building for all of his seventy-five years. From its lofty windows, he has seen his little corner of Istanbul shift and transform. But as the area has become increasingly gentrified, Pericles has retreated into its shadowy corners. And when the pandemic hits, his isolation deepens.
But when Leyla, a sparky and beautiful thirty-something moves in, Pericles is enthralled. And when he discovers Leyla is a writer, he decides to put his own pen to paper and record his own fraught that of a Greek man subjected to the politics of oppression and intimidation in twentieth-century Turkey.
Kane by Graham Hurley (Head of Zeus via NetGalley)
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.
What I’m currently reading
I’m reading Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon, listening to The Book of Days by Francesca Kay – both books on the shortlist for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction – and reading My Name is Emilia Del Valle by Isabel Allende from my NetGalley shelf.
Look out for…
- Book Review: Sister Rosa’s Rebellion (The Meonbridge Chronicles #6) by Carolyn Hughes
- Book Review: The Kellerby Code by Jonny Sweet
- Book Review: Days of Light by Megan Hunter
- 20 Book of Summer 2025 Sign-Up
What Cathy Read Next... 