My Week in Books – 5th November 2023

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MyWeekinBooksOn What Cathy Read Next last week

Monday – I published my review of historical crime novel, In Two Minds by Alis Hawkins.

Tuesday – This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was a Hallowe’en freebie but, unable to come up with anything original on that theme, I selected ten Book Titles That Are Portmanteau Words.

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 Five Favourite October 2023 Reads.

Friday –  I came up with my (probably over-optimistic) list of books I’m intending to read for this year’s #NetGalleyNovember reading challenge.  

Saturday – I took part in the monthly #6Degrees of Separation meme.

New arrivals

They’ve just kept on coming this week… A book for BBC Radio 4’s Bookclub, two purchases for my Backlist Burrow reading challenge and three ARCs

The Spinning HeartThe Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan (Black Swan Ireland)

In the aftermath of Ireland’s financial collapse, dangerous tensions surface in an Irish town. As violence flares, the characters face a battle between public persona and inner desires. Through a chorus of unique voices, each struggling to tell their own kind of truth, a single authentic tale unfolds.

HimselfHimself by Jess Kidd (Canongate)

Having been abandoned at an orphanage as a baby, Mahony assumed all his life that his mother wanted nothing to do with him. That is, until one night in 1976 while drinking a pint at a Dublin pub, he receives an anonymous note implying that she may have been forced to give him up. Determined to find out what really happened, Mahony embarks on a pilgrimage back to his hometown, the rural village of Mulderrig. Neither he nor Mulderrig can possibly prepare for what’s in store…

From the moment he arrives, Mahony’s presence completely changes the village. Women fall all over themselves. The real and the fantastic are blurred. Chatty ghosts rise from their graves with secrets to tell, and local preacher Father Quinn will do anything to get rid of the slippery young man who is threatening the moral purity of his parish.

All Day at the MoviesAll Day at the Movies by Fiona Kidman (Gallic Books)

When war widow Irene Sandle goes to work in New Zealand’s tobacco fields in 1952, she hopes to start a new, independent life for herself and her daughter – but the tragic repercussions of her decision will resonate long after Irene has gone.

Each of Irene’s children carries the events of their childhood throughout their lives, played out against a backdrop of great change – new opportunities emerge for women, but social problems continue to hold many back. Headstrong Belinda becomes a successful filmmaker, but struggles to deal with her own family drama as her younger siblings are haunted by the past.

A sweeping saga covering half a century, this is a powerful exploration of family ties and heartbreaks, and of learning to live with the past

The Leftover WomanThe Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok (ARC, Viper)

Jasmine Yang thought her daughter was dead at birth. But five years after she was taken from her arms, she learns that her controlling husband sent the baby to America to be adopted, a casualty of China’s one-child-policy. Fleeing her rural Chinese village, Jasmine arrives in New York City with nothing except a desperate need to find her daughter. But with her husband on her trail, the clock is ticking, and she’s forced to make increasingly risky decisions if she ever hopes to be reunited with her child.

Meanwhile, Rebecca Whitney seems to have it a high-powered career, a beautiful home, a handsome husband and an adopted Chinese daughter she adores. But when an industry scandal threatens to jeopardise not only Rebecca’s job but her marriage, this perfect world begins to crumble.

Two women in a divided city, separated by wealth and culture, yet bound together by their love for the same child. And when they finally meet, their lives will never be the same again…

The TeacherThe Teacher (DS Cross #6) by Tim Sullivan (eARC, Head of Zeus via NetGalley)

An eighty-year-old man is found murdered in his home. His age and standing in the community makes finding his killer difficult – why would anyone harm an elderly man? What threat could he possibly be to anyone?

With no apparent motive, DS George Cross canvases the community for potential suspects but the man was known as generous, charitable, community-minded. Each interview about who the man is muddies the picture further. So Cross decides to look for who he was – revealing a past that is far less honourable than his present . . .

The Shadow NetworkThe Shadow Network by Tony Kent (ARC, Elliott & Thompson)

How do you take down an enemy when no one believes they exist?

When the lawyers of alleged war criminal Hannibal Strauss are caught up in a terror attack in The Hague, barrister Michael Devlin immediately suspects all is not what it seems. Teaming up once more with Agent Joe Dempsey, they must find who’s behind it all before any more innocent lives are lost.

With their key witness on the run and assassins on their tail, their only lead is a the Monk, a legendary and mysterious foreign agent with a fearsome reputation. But what is his stake in this dangerous game? And just who is part of his shadowy network of spies? Caught in a complicated web of lies, secrets and double agents, there’s no one Dempsey and Devlin can trust but themselves.

On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

Planned posts

  • Book Review: Held by Anne Michaels
  • Book Review/Blog Tour: Rebellion by Simon Scarrow

#6Degrees of Separation From Western Lane to The Well of Saint Nobody

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It’s the first Saturday of the month which means it’s time for 6 Degrees of Separation!

Here’s how it works: a book is chosen as a starting point by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best and linked to six other books to form a chain. Readers and bloggers are invited to join in by creating their own ‘chain’ leading from the selected book.

Kate says: Books can be linked in obvious ways – for example, books by the same authors, from the same era or genre, or books with similar themes or settings. Or, you may choose to link them in more personal or esoteric ways: books you read on the same holiday, books given to you by a particular friend, books that remind you of a particular time in your life, or books you read for an online challenge. Join in by posting your own six degrees chain on your blog and adding the link in the comments section of each month’s post.   You can also check out links to posts on Twitter using the hashtag #6Degrees.

Western LaneThis month’s starting book is Western Lane by Chetna Maroo which is on the shortlist for the Booker Prize 2023, the winner of which will be announced on 26th November. As usual, it’s a book I haven’t read but the publishers describe it as ‘a novel about grief, sisterhood, and a young athlete‘s struggle to transcend herself’.

I’m going to take a very literal route for my first link – the word ‘western’. As it happens, The Western Wind by Samantha Harvey was also shortlisted for a literary prize, in this case the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2019.

The eventual winner of the prize was The Long Take by Robin Robertson which tells the story – in a combination of prose and free verse – of a Canadian war veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder who feels unable to return and instead walks the streets of Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York.

In Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney, 85-year-old Lillian wanders through 1980s Manhattan on New Year’s Eve recalling her eventful life and encountering people from different walks of life. The character of Lillian is inspired by a real person – Margaret Fishback – who, like her fictional counterpart, was an advertising copywriter. In fact Fishback was the highest-paid female copywriter in the world in the 1930s.

The death of an advertising executive is the starting point for Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers, the eighth book in her series featuring aristocratic detective, Lord Peter Wimsey.

An advertisement in a local paper – “A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29th, at Little Paddocks at 6.30 p.m.” – is the starting point for a crime novel featuring another famous fictional detective. In A Murder Is Announced by Agatha Christie, Jane Marple investigates what seems at first to be a hoax but which turns deadly serious.

An advertisement in a local shop in a small village in West Cork – “Wanted. Housekeeper.” – features in The Well of Saint Nobody by Neil Jordan. Tara answers the advertisement placed by internationally renowned pianist William Barrow, a man it turns out she has met three times before. The encounters have changed her life but he recalls nothing of them.

My chain has taken me from London to Ireland via New York.  Where did your chain take you this month?

#6Degrees of Separation November 2023