#WWWWednesday – 19th May 2021

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

A Room Made of Leaves audioA Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville (audiobook)

It is 1788. Twenty-one-year-old Elizabeth is hungry for life but, as the ward of a Devon clergyman, knows she has few prospects. When proud, scarred soldier John Macarthur promises her the earth one midsummer’s night, she believes him.

But Elizabeth soon realises she has made a terrible mistake. Her new husband is reckless, tormented, driven by some dark rage at the world. He tells her he is to take up a position as lieutenant in a New South Wales penal colony and she has no choice but to go. Sailing for six months to the far side of the globe with a child growing inside her, she arrives to find Sydney Town a brutal, dusty, hungry place of makeshift shelters, failing crops, scheming and rumours.

All her life she has learned to be obliging, to fold herself up small. Now, in the vast landscapes of an unknown continent, Elizabeth has to discover a strength she never imagined and passions she could never express.

Pathfinders CoverPathfinders by Cecil Lewis (paperback, review copy courtesy of the Imperial War Museum and Random Things Tours)

Over the course of a single night in 1942, the crew members of a Wellington bomber reflect on the paths of their own lives as they embark on a fateful mission deep in the heart of Nazi Germany. Based on his own experience as a World War I fighter ace, Cecil Lewis’s stunning novel examines the life of each man, rendering a moving account of each as not merely a nameless crew member, but as an individual with a life lived: “A life precious to some, or one. . . . These men with dreams and hopes and plans of things to come.”

This new edition of the 1944 classic includes a new introduction from an Imperial War Museums historian that puts the novel in historical context and shines a light on this vital and sometimes contested aspect of Britain’s involvement in World War II.


Recently finished

Links from the titles will take you to my review.

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper

The Scapegoat by Daphne du Maurier

The Hunting Season (Daniel Leicester #2) by Tom Benjamin


What Cathy (will) Read Next

The Distant DeadThe Distant Dead (The Detective’s Daughter #8) by Lesley Thomson (eARC, courtesy of Head of Zeus via NetGalley)

London, 1940. A woman lies dead in a bombed-out house. It looks like she’s another tragic casualty of the Blitz, until police pathologist Aleck Northcote proves she was strangled and placed at the scene. But Northcote himself has something to hide. And when his past catches up with him, he too is murdered.

Tewkesbury, 2020. Beneath the vast stone arches of Tewkesbury Abbey, a man has been fatally stabbed. He is Roddy March, an investigative journalist for a podcast series uncovering miscarriages of justice. He was looking into the murder of police pathologist Dr Aleck Northcote – and was certain he had uncovered Northcote’s real killer.

Stella Darnell used to run a detective agency alongside her cleaning business. She’s moved to Tewkesbury to escape from death, not to court it – but Roddy died in her arms, and Stella is someone impelled to root out evil when she finds it. Now she is determined to hunt down Roddy’s killer – but then she finds another body…

My Week in Books – 16th May 2021

MyWeekinBooks

On What Cathy Read Next last week

Blog posts

Monday – I shared my proposed list for the 20 Books of Summer 2021 Reading Challenge

Tuesday This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was Books With Nature On The Cover

WednesdayWWW Wednesday is the opportunity to share what I’ve just read, what I’m currently reading and what I plan to read next… and to have a good nose around what others are reading. 

Thursday – I shared my review of My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell, one of the books on the shortlist for the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize 2021.  (The winner, announced later that day, was Luster by Raven Leilani.)  

Friday – I published my review of The Assistant by Kjell Ola Dahl, translated by Don Bartlett as part of the blog tour. 

Saturday – I shared my review of historical novel The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper.  

As always, thanks to everyone who has liked, commented on or shared my blog posts on social media.


New arrivals

With Face AflameWith Face Aflame by A.E. Walnofer (ebook, courtesy of the author and Zooloo’s Book Tours)

1681. Born with a red mark emblazoned across her face, seventeen-year-old Madge is lonely as she spends her days serving guests and cleaning rooms in the inn her father keeps.

One day, she meets an unusual minstrel in the marketplace. Moved by the beauty of his song and the odd shape of his body, she realizes she has made her first friend. But he must go on to the next town, leaving her behind. Soon after, while she herself is singing in the woods, she is startled by a chance meeting with a stranger there. Though the encounter leaves her horribly embarrassed, it proves she need not remain unnoticed and alone forever.

However, this new hope is shattered when she overhears a few quiet words that weren’t intended for her ears. Heartbroken and confused, she flees her home to join the minstrel and his companion, a crass juggler. As they travel earning their daily bread, Madge secretly seeks to rid herself of the mark upon her cheek, convinced that nothing else can heal her heart.

The Baby Is MineThe Baby Is Mine by Oyinkan Braithwaite (ARC, courtesy of The Reading Agency and Midas PR)

When his girlfriend throws him out during the pandemic, Bambi has to go to his Uncle’s house in lock-down Lagos. He arrives during a blackout, and is surprised to find his Aunty Bidemi sitting in a candlelit room with another woman. They both claim to be the mother of the baby boy, fast asleep in his crib.

At night Bambi is kept awake by the baby’s cries, and during the days he is disturbed by a cockerel that stalks the garden. There is sand in the rice. A blood stain appears on the wall. Someone scores tribal markings into the baby’s cheeks. Who is lying and who is telling the truth?


On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

Planned posts

  • Book Review: The Scapegoat by Daphne du Maurier
  • Top Ten Tuesday: Book Titles That Are Complete Sentences
  • Waiting on Wednesday
  • Book Review: The Distant Dead by Lesley Thomson
  • Blog Tour/Book Review: The Hunting Season by Tom Benjamin
  • Book Review: A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville
  • Blog Tour/Book Review: Pathfinders by Cecil Lewis