New arrivals
Birdie & Jude by Phyllis H. Moore (ebook, courtesy of Rachel’s Random Resources)
A serendipitous meeting on a beach in Galveston before a hurricane forces two strangers to take shelter with each other. Birdie, an older woman, and Jude, a young woman and lone survivor of a fatal accident are destined to spend time together during a strengthening storm. Their lives couldn’t be any different. However, they recognize something in the other that forges a friendship between them.
As their relationship solidifies, they share glimpses of their past. Birdie is a product of the ’60’s, an aging hippie, with a series of resentments hovering over her present life. She had a sheltered childhood in an upper class family. Her parents longed to see her make the Texas Dip at their krewe’s Mardi Gras ball. Jude, however, entered foster care as an infant. Her parents, victims of a murder/suicide, left her and her siblings orphans and separated into different homes.
Their backgrounds couldn’t have been more different, but there is something about their connection that strikes Birdie as familiar. Can souls know each other in different lives? Birdie struggles with the awareness that she has had regrets and hasn’t lived an authentic life, while Jude faces an uncomfortable truth about her own life. It’s a character driven story set on Galveston Island with memories of the protests and inequality plaguing the 1960’s and the secrets many have protected to fit into society.
Storm of Steel (Bernicia Chronicles #6) by Matthew Harffy (eARC, courtesy of Aria and NetGalley)
Heading south to lands he once considered his home, Beobrand is plunged into a dark world of piracy and slavery when an old friend enlists his help to recover a kidnapped girl.
Embarking onto the wind-tossed seas, Beobrand pursues his quarry with single-minded tenacity. But the Whale Road is never calm and his journey is beset with storms, betrayal and violence.
As the winds of his wyrd blow him ever further from what he knows, will Beobrand find victory on his quest or has his luck finally abandoned him?
Pre-order Storm of Steel from Amazon UK (link provided for convenience not as part of an affiliate programme)
Beyond the Thirty-Nine Steps: A Life of John Buchan by Ursula Buchan (hardcover, advance review copy courtesy of Bloomsbury Publishing)
John Buchan’s name is known across the world for The Thirty-Nine Steps. In the past one hundred years the classic thriller has never been out of print and has inspired numerous adaptations for film, television, radio and stage, beginning with the celebrated version by Alfred Hitchcock.
Yet there was vastly more to ‘JB’. He wrote more than a hundred books, fiction and non-fiction and about a thousand articles for newspapers and magazines. He was a scholar, antiquarian, barrister, colonial administrator, journal editor, literary critic, publisher, war correspondent, director of wartime propaganda, member of parliament and imperial proconsul – given a state funeral when he died, a deeply admired and loved Governor-General of Canada.
His teenage years in Glasgow’s Gorbals, where his father was the Free Church minister, contributed to his ease with shepherds and ambassadors, fur-trappers and prime ministers. His improbable marriage to a member of the aristocratic Grosvenor family means that this account of his life contains, at its heart, an enduring love story.
Ursula Buchan, his granddaughter, has drawn on recently discovered family documents to write this comprehensive and illuminating biography. With perception, style, wit, and a penetratingly clear eye, she brings vividly to life this remarkable man and his times.
Pre-order Beyond the Thirty-Nine Steps: A Life of John Buchan from Amazon UK (link provided for convenience not as part of an affiliate programme)
Fled by Meg Keneally (paperback, advance review copy courtesy of Zaffre and Readers First)
She will do anything for freedom, but at what cost?
Jenny Trelawney is no ordinary thief. Forced by poverty to live in the forest, she becomes a successful highway-woman – until her luck runs out.
Transported to Britain’s furthest colony, Jenny must tackle new challenges and growing responsibilities. And when famine hits the new colony, Jenny becomes convinced that those she most cares about will not survive. She becomes the leader in a grand plot of escape, but is survival any more certain in a small open boat on an unknown ocean?
Meg Keneally’s debut solo novel is an epic historical adventure based on the extraordinary life of convict Mary Bryant.
Pre-order Fled from Amazon UK (link provided for convenience not as part of an affiliate programme)
On What Cathy Read Next last week
Blog posts
Monday – I published my review of Sugar in the Blood by Andrea Stuart.
Tuesday –For the Top Ten Tuesday topic (Audio Freebie), I shared my Confessions of an Audiobook Newbie.
Wednesday – WWW Wednesday is the opportunity to share what I’ve just read, what I’m currently reading and what I plan to read next…and have a good nose around to see what other bloggers are reading.
Thursday – I published my review of The Path of the King by John Buchan, my Buchan of the Month for March.
Saturday – I hosted a stop on the blog tour for historical crime novel, The American Agent by Jacqueline Winspear, the fifteenth book in the Maisie Dobbs series. I also published my review of The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo.
As always, thanks to everyone who has liked, commented on or shared my blog posts on social media this week.
On What Cathy Read Next this week
Currently reading
Planned posts
- Blog Tour/Book Review: The Conviction of Cora Burns by Carolyn Kirby
- Top Ten Tuesday: Things That Make Me Pick Up A Book
- Waiting on Wednesday
- Book Review: Louis & Louise by Julie Cohen
- Book Review: Josephine’s Daughter (The Golden City #5) by A.B. Michaels
- Blog Tour/Book Review: Sunwise by Helen Steadman
- Event Review: Ursula Buchan, author of Beyond the Thirty-Nine Steps at Oxford Literary Festival
- Book Review: The Dollmaker by Nina Allan
What Cathy Read Next... 