Tag: books

#WWWWednesday – 21st February 2024

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WWWWednesdays

Hosted by Taking on a World of Words, this meme is all about the three Ws:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

Why not join in too?  Leave a comment with your link at Taking on a World of Words and then go blog hopping!

Currently reading

The List of Suspicious ThingsThe List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey (ARC, Penguin)

Yorkshire, 1979. Maggie Thatcher is prime minister, drainpipe jeans are in, and Miv is convinced that her dad wants to move their family Down South. Because of the murders.

Leaving Yorkshire and her best friend Sharon simply isn’t an option, no matter the dangers lurking round their way; or the strangeness at home that started the day Miv’s mum stopped talking. Perhaps if she could solve the case of the disappearing women, they could stay after all?

So, Miv and Sharon decide to make a list: a list of all the suspicious people and things down their street. People they know. People they don’t. But their search for the truth reveals more secrets in their neighbourhood, within their families – and between each other – than they ever thought possible.

What if the real mystery Miv needs to solve is the one that lies much closer to home?

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

A princess enslaved becomes goddaughter to a queen.

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 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 these traumatic beginnings, Sarah Forbes Bonetta’s will to survive led her to negotiate Her Majesty’s court, friends in high places and to flourish in a world far removed from her rural African upbringing. From West Africa to Windsor Castle, The Other Princess is a vivid imagining of the life of Queen Victoria’s Black goddaughter, shining a light on a woman searching for home, love and identity.

Recently finished

Remember, Remember by Elle Machray (HarperNorth)

In Every Mirror She’s Black by Lola Akinmade Åkerström (Head of Zeus)

Notes of Change (Sam Plank Mystery #7) by Susan Grossey

What Cathy Will Read Next

The Story CollectorThe Story Collector by Iris Costello (ARC, Penguin)

London, 1915: Tarot reader Katerina is trying to hold her life together amid the wartime chaos. When she opens a bakery that offers divination alongside sweet treats, she is hailed as a beacon of hope. But Katerina is hiding a dark truth that could cost her everything.

Germany, 1918: A mute British soldier is taken to a prisoner of war camp where he meets Miriam, a researcher. She is drawn to his gentle manner and secretly vows to help him. But soon she will have to make an impossible will she save the one she loves, or herself?

Cornwall, Present Recently widowed Edie is astonished to discover a mysterious box hidden in the wall of her newly renovated cottage. As Edie starts to investigate, she uncovers a secret that has lain hidden for over a century…

Book Review – Remember, Remember by Elle Machray

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About the Book

Book cover of Remember, Remember by Elle Machray

1770. Delphine lives in the shadows of London: a secret, vibrant world of smugglers, courtesans and small rebellions. Four years ago, she escaped enslavement at great personal cost. Now, she must help her brother Vincent do the same.

While Britain’s highest court fails to administer justice for Vincent, little rebellions are no longer enough. What’s needed is a big, explosive plot – one that will strike at the heart of the transatlantic slave trade. But can one Black woman, one fuse and one match bring down an Empire?

Format: eARC (336 pages) Publisher: HarperNorth
Publication date: 29th February 2024 Genre: Historical Fiction

Find Remember, Remember on Goodreads

Purchase Remember, Remember from Bookshop.org [Disclosure: If you buy books linked to our site, we may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops]

My Review

Remember, Remember begins as a campaign for justice, moves – after a pivotal event – to a quest for vengeance and, latterly, to a daring plan to bring about radical social change.

Vincent’s trial, which forms the first section of the book and is inspired by an actual case, exposes the conflict between the right to personal liberty and the financial interests of those who have profited from slavery and the products of slavery. But if you’re rich and powerful, perhaps you can ignore the findings of a court and impose your own form of justice, with even Parliament unable to uphold an individual’s democratic rights.

Contemporary resonances are not difficult to find; the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement being the obvious ones. At the same, the reader is immersed in the world of 18th century London from gentleman’s clubs to brothels, from wide streets to stinking alleys. Although the book possesses many of the hallmarks of a period adventure story – a secret conspiracy, underground tunnels, deception, betrayal and perilous escapes – its cast of characters is distinctively diverse in terms of race and sexuality.

The cruelty of slave owners towards those they view as their ‘property’ is epitomised by Lord Harvey. Ruthless, implacable and sadistic, I felt the author managed – just – to keep him from being a pantomime villain. I found some of the scenes towards the end of the book in which his true nature is revealed difficult to read.

Initially focused on achieving justice for Vincent, Delphine gradually has her eyes opened to the many other injustices in society, things that are also in desperate need of change. But when peaceful protest brings no results or is suppressed, what other options do you have? The radical solution at which Delphine eventually arrives brings a moral dilemma; essentially, do the ends ever justify the means? Personally, I found her decision problematic and its result just a little too convenient. Having said that, Remember, Remember is a bold and inventive debut novel.

I received a digital review copy courtesy of HarperNorth via NetGalley.

In three words: Imaginative, thought-provoking, immersive
Try something similar: Babel by R. F. Kuang

About the Author

Elle Machray grew up in Birmingham to Welsh–Caribbean and Scottish parents, and is now based in Edinburgh. After graduating from the HarperCollins Author Academy in spring 2021, their debut novel Remember, Remember was longlisted for the Mslexia Novel Prize, judged by Hilary Mantel. In the fleeting moments between writing and working, you can find Elle on social media talking about neurodivergence, books and a never-ending quest to relax. (Photo: X profile)

Connect with Elle
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