#TopTenTuesday Secondary Characters Who Got Their Own Book #TuesdayBookBlog

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Top Ten Tuesday new

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

The rules are simple:

  • Each Tuesday, Jana assigns a new topic. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want.
  • Everyone is welcome to join but please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own Top Ten Tuesday post.
  • Add your name to the Linky widget on that day’s post so that everyone can check out other bloggers’ lists.
  • Or if you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment.

This week’s topic is Secondary/Minor Characters Who Deserve Their Own Book. I’ve taken the easy way out and, instead of inventing my own, I’ve listed secondary characters from literature who have starred in their own novels.

Bertha Mason from Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre in Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Charlotte Lucas from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice in Charlotte by Helen Moffett
Abel Magwitch (sort of) from Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations in Jack Maggs by Peter Carey
Clara Marley from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol in Miss Marley by Vanessa Lafaye & Rebecca Mascull
Mrs Ahab mentioned in Moby Dick by Herman Melville in Ahab’s Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund
Flashman from Thomas Hughes’ Tom Brown’s School Days in Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser
Lear’s unnamed wife from Shakespeare’s King Lear in Learwife by JR Thorp

And finally, from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes novels:

Professor Moriarty in Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz
Irene Adler in Goodnight, Mr Holmes by Carole Nelson Douglas
Mrs Hudson in Mrs Hudson and the Spirit’s Curse by Martin Davies

5 Books Shortlisted for The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction @waltscottprize

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Submissions from publishers for The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2024 opened on 24th August. I’ve read many of the longlisted and shortlisted books over the years – you can see my dedicated page here – and it’s fair to say I wouldn’t have read many of them, or even heard of them in some cases, if it hadn’t been for the Walter Scott Prize. I’ve selected five shortlisted books I thoroughly enjoyed, even if they didn’t go on to win. Links from each title will take you to my review.

The Wardrobe Mistress by Patrick McGrath (shortlisted in 2018) – ‘January 1947. London is in ruins, there’s nothing to eat, and it’s the coldest winter in living memory. To make matters worse, Charlie Grice, one of the great stage actors of the day, has suddenly died. His widow Joan, the wardrobe mistress, is beside herself with grief. Then one night she discovers Gricey’s secret. Plunged into a dark new world, she realises that the war isn’t over after all.’

Now We Shall Be Entirely Free by Andrew Miller (shortlisted in 2019) – ‘One rain-swept February night in 1809, an unconscious man is carried into a house in Somerset. He is Captain John Lacroix, home from Britain’s disastrous campaign against Napoleon’s forces in Spain.’

Shadowplay by Joseph O’Connor (shortlisted in 2020) – ‘1878, The Lyceum Theatre, London. Three extraordinary people begin their life together: Henry Irving is the volcanic leading man and impresario; Ellen Terry is the most lauded and desired actress of her generation, outspoken and generous of heart; and ever following along behind them in the shadows is the unremarkable theatre manager, Bram Stoker.’

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams (shortlisted in 2021) – ‘In 1901, the word ‘bondmaid’ was discovered missing from the Oxford English Dictionary. This is the story of the girl who stole it.’

Fortune by Amanda Smyth (shorlisted in 2022) – ‘1920s Trinidad. Eddie Wade’s truck breaks down and he’s offered a ride by businessman, Tito Fernandez. So begins a novel based on a real-life event about love, money, greed and ambition.’