On What Cathy Read Next last week
Monday – I shared my 20 Books of Summer 2024 Wrap-Up. How did I get on? Click on the link to find out…
Tuesday – This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was Books Involving Food. Hungry?
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. Go on, you know you want to.
Thursday – I shared My Top Five August 2024 Reads.
Saturday – The first Saturday of the month means it’s time for #6Degrees of Separation. My chain took me from After Story by Larissa Behrendt to Days Without End by Sebastian Barry.
New arrivals
The Safe Keep by Yael van der Wouden (Viking)
It’s 1961 and the rural Dutch province of Overijssel is quiet. Bomb craters have been filled, buildings reconstructed, and the war is well and truly over. Living alone in her late mother’s country home, Isabel’s life is as it should be: led by routine and discipline. But all is upended when her brother Louis delivers his graceless new girlfriend, Eva, at Isabel’s doorstep-as a guest, there to stay for the season…
Eva is Isabel’s antithesis: sleeps late, wakes late, walks loudly through the house and touches things she shouldn’t. In response Isabel develops a fury-fuelled obsession, and when things start disappearing around the house-a spoon, a knife, a bowl-Isabel’ suspicions spiral out of control. In the sweltering peak of summer, Isabel’s paranoia gives way to desire – leading to a discovery that unravels all Isabel has ever known. The war might not be well and truly over after all, and neither Eva – nor the house in which they live – are what they seem.
Hortobiography by Carol Klein (Witness Books)
‘Have I always wanted to garden? What if I didn’t have one? It would make life difficult – I was going to say unbearable, but perhaps that is unfair to the millions of people throughout the world who cannot garden. Nonetheless, I feel gardening for me is a necessity rather than a luxury. It is part of me; it is what I do and who I am. No doubt I could survive without gardening, but it would be so hard. My family are all I could not live without, but gardening is my next raison d’être…’
Carol Klein is one of Britain’s best loved horticulturists, and for decades gardening has been at the heart of her extraordinary life. From her childhood adventures in Manchester to her first experiments in plantswomanship at Glebe Cottage, and from training as an artist and a teacher, and then finding an entirely unexpected career as one of Britain’s most beloved television presenters, in this long-awaited memoir Carol tells the story of the people, places and plants that have shaped her life.
Exploring why our relationship with the natural world is so important, and how it brings joy, creativity and good health to our lives, Carol also offers irresistible insights on her favourite flowers and plants, and how to help them flourish. A story of a life lived happily amongst the greenery, this book is the perfect companion for anyone who has sought solace in the natural world.
On What Cathy Read Next this week
Currently reading
Planned posts
- Book Review: A Place Without Pain by Simon Bourke
- Book Review: Gabriel’s Moon by William Boyd
- Blog Tour/Book Review: Hemlock Bay by Martin Edwards
What Cathy Read Next... 