#WWWWednesday – 25th November 2020

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 proof copy, my Buchan of the Month and a book for a blog tour. 

20201022_155547337 by M. Jonathan Lee (proof copy, courtesy of Hideaway Fall) 

337 follows the life of Samuel Darte whose mother vanished when he was in his teens. It was his brother, Tom who found her wedding ring on the kitchen table along with the note. While their father pays the price of his mother’s disappearance, Sam learns that his long-estranged Gramma is living out her last days in a nursing home nearby.

Keen to learn about what really happened that day and realising the importance of how little time there is, he visits her to finally get the truth. Soon it’ll be too late and the family secrets will be lost forever. Reduced to ashes. But in a story like this, nothing is as it seems.

20201108_125639-1The King’s Grace by John Buchan (hardcover)

This sympathetic portrait starts with the death of Edward VII and George V’s accession. It was a reign that saw many changes including the Union of South Africa, the First World War and the General Strike of 1926. John Buchan wrote that ‘This book is not a biography of King George, but an attempt to provide a picture – and some slight interpretation – of his reign, with the Throne as the continuing thing through an epoch of unprecedented change.’

Imperfect AlchemistImperfect Alchemist by Naomi Miller (eARC, courtesy of Allison & Busby)

Two women. One bond that will unite them across years and social divides.

England, 1575. Mary Sidney, who will go on to claim a spot at the heart of Elizabethan court life and culture, is a fourteen-year-old navigating grief and her first awareness of love and desire. Her sharp mind is less interested in the dynastic alliances and marriages that concern her father, but will she be able to forge a place for herself and her writing in the years to come?

Rose Commin, a young country girl with a surprising talent for drawing, is desperate to shrug off the slurs of witchcraft which have tarnished life at home. The opportunity to work at Wilton House, the Earl of Pembroke’s Wiltshire residence, is her chance.

Defying the conventions of their time, these two women, mistress and maid, will find themselves facing the triumphs, revelations and dangers that lie ahead together.


Recently finished

Links from the titles will take you to my reviews

Blitz Writing: Night Shift & It Was Different At The Time by Inez Holden 

Cesare by Jerome Charyn 

The Morning Star by Gita V. Reddy 

Three Women and a Boat by Anne Youngson


What Cathy (will) Read Next

downloadThe Stone Diaries by Carol Shields (ebook, courtesy of World Editions) 

Widely regarded as a modern classic, The Stone Diaries is a fictionalized autobiography chronicling the life of Daisy Goodwill Flett, a seemingly ordinary woman born in Canada in 1905. Beautifully written, yet deeply compassionate, it follows Daisy’s life through marriage, motherhood and widowhood as she ages with the century. A subtle but affective portrait of an everywoman reflecting on an unconventional life, this multi-award winning story deals with everyday issues of existence with an extraordinary vibrancy and irresistible quality.

 

My Week in Books – 22nd November 2020

MyWeekinBooks

On What Cathy Read Next last week

Blog posts

Tuesday – My take on this week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was Literary Pets.  I also shared my Five Favourite October Reads.

WednesdayWWW Wednesday is the opportunity to share what I’ve just read, what I’m currently reading and what I plan to read next…as well as have a good nose around to see what other bloggers are reading. I also joined the blog tour for The House in the Hollow by Allie Cresswell.

Thursday – I published my review of The Morning Star by Gita V. Reddy.

Friday – In response to this week’s prompt for NonFiction November, I shared some memoirs highlighting the benefits of the natural world for physical and mental wellbeing.

Saturday – I published my review of Three Women and a Boat by Anne Youngson.

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


New arrivals

EmYGId5WEAEjtdbThe Last Days of Ellis Island by Gaëlle Josse, trans. Natasha Lehrer (giveaway prize, courtesy of World Editions)

New York, November 3, 1954. In a few days, the immigration inspection station on Ellis Island will close its doors forever. John Mitchell, an officer of the Bureau of Immigration, is the guardian and last resident of the island. As Mitchell looks back over forty-five years as gatekeeper to America and its promise of a better life, he recalls his brief marriage to beloved wife Liz, and is haunted by memories of a transgression involving Nella, an immigrant from Sardinia.

Told in a series of poignant diary entries, this is a story of responsibility, love, fidelity, and remorse.

cover204379-mediumThe Rose Code by Kate Quinn (eARC, courtesy of Harper Collins via NetGalley)

1940. As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes.

Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything – beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses – but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets. Imperious self-made Mab, product of east-end London poverty, works the legendary codebreaking machines as she conceals old wounds and looks for a socially advantageous husband.

Both Osla and Mab are quick to see the potential in local village spinster Beth, whose shyness conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles, and soon Beth spreads her wings as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts. But war, loss, and the impossible pressure of secrecy will tear the three apart.

1947. As the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip whips post-war Britain into a fever, three friends-turned-enemies are reunited by a mysterious encrypted letter – the key to which lies buried in the long-ago betrayal that destroyed their friendship and left one of them confined to an asylum. A mysterious traitor has emerged from the shadows of their Bletchley Park past, and now Osla, Mab, and Beth must resurrect their old alliance and crack one last code together. But each petal they remove from the rose code brings danger – and their true enemy – closer…


On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

Planned posts

  • Book Review: Blitz Writing: Night Shift & It Was Different At The Time by Inez Holden
  • Top Ten Tuesday
  • Waiting on Wednesday
  • Book Review: 337 by M. Jonathan Lee
  • Blog Tour/Book Review: Imperfect Alchemist by Naomi Miller
  • Book Review: This Green and Pleasant Land by Ayisha Malik
  • Book Review: Cesare by Jerome Charyn