Reviews – Page 259 – What Cathy Read Next…

On What Cathy Read Next last week

Tuesday – I published my review of The Serpent Sword by Matthew Harffy. And this week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was Quick Reads/Books to Read in a Day.

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 Other Worlds Were Possible by Joss Sheldon.

Friday – In advance of the announcement of the longlist for this year’s The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction in a few weeks’ time, I picked five novels shortlisted in previous years that didn’t go on to win.

New arrivals

Invader (Agricola #1) by Simon Turney (eARC, Head of Zeus via NetGalley)

58 AD, Rome. Agricola, teenage son of an impoverished yet distinguished noble family, has staked all his resources and reputation on a military career. His reward? A posting as tribune in the far-off northern province of Britannia.

Serving under renowned general Suetonius Paulinus, Agricola soon learns the brutality of life on the very edges of the empire, for the Celtic tribes of Britannia are far from vanquished.

To take control of the province, the Romans must defeat the ancient might of the druids – and the fury of the Iceni, warriors in their thousands led by a redoubtable queen named Boudicca…

Death on the Thames (Louise Mangan #3) by Alan Johnson (eARC, Wildfire via NetGalley)

1999. A young Detective Constable Louise Mangan crosses the Thames one misty morning in pursuit of a killer. She finds a tranquil community on a leafy island close to Hampton Court Palace, but soon realises that all is not as it seems. There is something evil at play in this quiet suburb, and this junior detective’s questions seem only to scratch the surface.

Twenty years later, a horrific fire brings Detective Chief Superintendent Mangan back to that same island. Soon, she discovers that murder was just a drop in these dark waters.

The river runs deep, and the tide is rising at last. Will the truth rise with it?

The Other Princess by Denny S. Bryce (eARC, Allison & Busby via NetGalley)

By the time she was seven years old, Aina had been born into life as an Egbado princess, witnessed the brutal killing of her entire family, and had been enslaved to a rival chieftain. With a death sentence hanging over her head, she would also face being bartered as an exotic trophy, renamed and presented to the distant Queen Victoria as a ‘gift’.

From traumatic beginnings, Sarah Forbes Bonetta’s will to survive led her to negotiate Her Majesty’s court, cultivate friends in high places and to flourish in a world far removed from her rural African upbringing.

On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

Planned posts

Book Review: His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet
Book Review: How to be Brave by Louise Beech
Book Review: The Shadow Network by Tony Kent

The longlist for The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2024 will be announced on 22nd February 2024. The prize is open to novels written in English and first published in 2023 in the UK, Ireland or the Commonwealth. The majority of the storyline, i.e. over 50%, must take place at least 60 years ago.

I’m not going to try to predict which novels will appear on the list, as I have in previous years, because my record is dismal. Historical novels I’ve loved don’t make it and books I’ve not read or even heard of do, although the latter is one of the joys of the longlist. Instead, I’m going to revisit some of the shortlisted books from previous years that I loved but which didn’t go on to win the prize. Links from each title will take you to my full review.

You can view all the books that have been shortlisted from 2017 onwards on my dedicated Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction page, where you’ll also find links to my reviews of those I’ve managed to read.

The Chosen by Elizabeth Lowry (shortlisted in 2023) – a beautifully written portrait of the marriage of Thomas and Emma Hardy, a marriage that could have been so much happier if only the flame of passion had remained alight; instead, it was allowed to flicker and die. The book’s wistful, melancholic tone is perhaps best summed up by Hardy’s reflection, ‘Too late, he sees it all.’

Fortune by Amanda Smyth (shortlisted in 2022) – a fascinating glimpse into a little known aspect of Trinidad’s history and a skilfully crafted story that explores how strong emotions – passion, despair, ambition – can make people risk everything.

The Redeemed by Tim Pears (shortlisted in 2020) – the final book in the author’s West Country trilogy, in which the lives of its two main characters – Leo and Lottie – converge in the most moving way, and which is a love letter to the natural world.

Now We Shall Be Entirely Free by Andrew Miller (shortlisted in 2019) – an officer returns from Britain’s disastrous campaign against Napoleon’s forces in Spain, haunted by memories of an atrocity he witnessed, and seeks sanctuary on a remote Scottish island.

Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves by Rachel Malik (shortlisted in 2018) – the arrival of a visitor at Starlight Farm threatens to put the life that Renee Hargreaves and Elsie Boston have built together under an unwelcome and potentially life-changing spotlight.