#WWWWednesday – 4th January 2023

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

My Mother's ShadowMy Mother’s Shadow by Nikola Scott (Headline)

Hartland House has always been a faithful keeper of secrets…

1958. Sent to beautiful Hartland to be sheltered from her mother’s illness, Liz spends the summer with the wealthy Shaw family. They treat Liz as one of their own, but their influence could be dangerous…

Now. Addie believes she knows everything about her mother Elizabeth and their difficult relationship until her recent death. When a stranger appears claiming to be Addie’s sister, she is stunned. Is everything she’s been told about her early life a lie?

How can you find the truth about the past if the one person who could tell you is gone? Addie must go back to that golden summer her mother never spoke of…and the one night that changed a young girl’s life for ever.

This book was on my list for the 20 Books of Summer 2022 reading challenge but I didn’t get to it. Dual time novels are always a bit of a lottery for me but I’m hoping the mystery element will bind the two timelines together convincingly.

The English FuhrerThe English Führer by Rory Clements (eARC, Zaffre via NetGalley)

Autumn 1945 – Off the east coast of England, a Japanese sub surfaces, unloads its mysterious cargo, then blows itself to pieces.

Former spy Professor Tom Wilde is enjoying peacetime in Cambridge, settling back into teaching and family life. Until a call from senior MI5 boss Lord Templeman brings him out of retirement.

A nearby village has been locked down by the military, its residents blighted by a deadly illness. No one is allowed in or out.

There are rumours the Nazi machine is still operational, with links to Unit 731, a notorious Japanese biological warfare research laboratory. But how could they possibly be plotting on British soil – and why?

What’s more, Wilde and Templeman’s names are discovered on a Gestapo kill list. And after a series of assassinations an unthinkable question emerges: could an Englishman be behind the plot?

The latest in the author’s Tom Wilde series which I love… and I’m loving this one already!


Recently finished

Bellatrix (Legion XXII #2) by Simon Turney (Head of Zeus)

The Witches of Vardø by Anya Bergman (Zaffre)


What Cathy (will) Read Next

The Lace WeaverThe Lace Weaver by Lauren Chater (eARC, Allison & Busby via NetGalley)

1941, Estonia. As Stalin’s brutal Red Army crushes everything in its path, Katarina and her family survive only because their precious farm produce is needed to feed the occupying forces. Fiercely partisan, Katarina battles to protect her grandmother’s precious legacy – the weaving of gossamer lace shawls stitched with intricate patterns that tell the stories passed down through generations.

While Katarina struggles to survive the daily oppression, another young woman is suffocating in her prison of privilege in Moscow. Yearning for freedom and to discover her beloved mother’s Baltic heritage, Lydia escapes to Estonia.

Facing the threat of invasion by Hitler’s encroaching Third Reich, Katarina and Lydia and two idealistic young soldiers, insurgents in the battle for their homeland, find themselves in a fight for life, liberty and love.

The Last PartyThe Last Party by Clare Mackintosh (Sphere)

On New Year’s Eve, Rhys Lloyd has a house full of guests. His lakeside holiday homes are a success, and he’s generously invited the village to drink champagne with their wealthy new neighbours. This will be the party to end all parties.

But not everyone is there to celebrate. By midnight, Rhys will be floating dead in the freezing waters of the lake.

On New Year’s Day, Ffion Morgan has a village full of suspects. The tiny community is her home, so the suspects are her neighbours, friends and family – and Ffion has her own secrets to protect.

With a lie uncovered at every turn, soon the question isn’t who wanted Rhys dead . . . but who finally killed him.

In a village with this many secrets, murder is just the beginning.

#TopTenTuesday My Favourite Books of 2022

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

The rules are simple:

  • Each Tuesday, Jana assigns a new topic. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want.
  • Everyone is welcome to join but please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own Top Ten Tuesday post.
  • Add your name to the Linky widget on that day’s post so that everyone can check out other bloggers’ lists.
  • Or if you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment.

This week’s topic is Favourite Books of 2022, a topic I both look forward to and dread because it’s always so difficult to choose, especially when you read over 150 books in a year! But, in no particular order, here they are. Links from the titles will take you to my review.

  1. Late City by Robert Olen Butler (No Exit)
  2. Lean on Me by Serge Joncour, trans. by Jane Aitken & Louise Rogers Lalaurie (Gallic Books)
  3. My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor (published by Vintage on 26th January 2023)
  4. The Woman with the Map by Jan Casey (Head of Zeus/Aria)
  5. The Sunken Road by Ciaran McMenamin (Vintage)
  6. The White Girl by Tony Birch (Harper Collins)
  7. All the Broken Places by John Boyne (Doubleday)
  8. Think of Me by Frances Liardet (4th Estate)
  9. The Night Ship by Jess Kidd (Canongate)
  10. Devils and Saints by Jean-Baptiste Andrea, trans. by Sam Taylor (Gallic Books)

A big shout out to Vintage and Gallic Books for each having two of their books on my list (three for the latter if you include books on my supplementary list). And to Head of Zeus who have one on my main list but three on my supplementary list. Talking of which, here are those books that so very nearly made the main list:

The Swallowed Man by Edward Carey (Gallic Books)
The Bone Road by N.E. Solomons (Polygon)
The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho by Paterson Joseph (Dialogue Books)
Mr Bunting at War by Robert Greenwood (Imperial War Museum)
The Coming Darkness by Greg Mosse (Moonflower Books)
The House of Birds by Morgan McCarthy (Tinder Press)
Essex Dogs by Dan Jones (Head of Zeus/Aries)
Katastrophe by Graham Hurley (Head of Zeus/Aries)
Seek the Singing Fish by Roma Wells (époque press)
Resurrection by David Gilman (Head of Zeus/Aries)