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 book for #ARCAugust and an audiobook
Katheryn Howard: The Tainted Queen (Six Tudor Queens #5) by Alison Weir (eARC, courtesy of Headline via NetGalley)
A naive young woman at the mercy of her ambitious family.
At just nineteen, Katheryn Howard is quick to trust and fall in love. She comes to court. She sings, she dances. She captures the heart of the King. Henry declares she is his rose without a thorn.
But Katheryn has a past of which he knows nothing. It comes back increasingly to haunt her. For those who share her secrets are waiting in the shadows, whispering words of love… and blackmail.
The Wanderers (The West Country Trilogy #2) by Tim Pears (audiobook)
Two teenagers, bound by love yet divided by fate, forge separate paths in England before World War I.
1912. Leo Sercombe is on a journey. Aged thirteen and banished from the secluded farm of his childhood, he travels through Devon grazing on berries and sleeping in the woods. Behind him lies the past and before him the West Country, spread out like a tapestry. But a wanderer is never alone for long, try as he might – and soon Leo is taken in by gypsies, with their wagons, horses, and vivid attire. Yet he knows he cannot linger and must forge on toward the western horizon.
Leo’s love, Lottie, is at home. Life on the estate continues as usual, yet nothing is as it was. Her father is distracted by the promise of new love and Lottie is increasingly absorbed in the natural world: the profusion of wild flowers in the meadow, the habits of predators, and the mysteries of anatomy. And of course, Leo is absent. How will the two young people ever find each other again?
Recently finished
Links from the title will take you to my review or the book’s entry on Goodreads
The Scarlet Code by C. S. Quinn (hardcover, courtesy of Readers First)
1789. The Bastille has fallen… As Parisians pick souvenirs from the rubble, a killer stalks the lawless streets. His victims are female aristocrats. His executions use the most terrible methods of the ancient regime.
English spy Attica Morgan is laying low in Paris, helping nobles escape. When her next charge falls victim to the killer’s twisted machinations, Attica realises she alone can unmask him. But now it seems his deadly sights are set on her.
As the city prisons empty, and a mob mobilises to storm Versailles, finding a dangerous criminal is never going to be easy. Attica’s only hope is to enlist her old ally, reformed pirate Jemmy Avery, to track the killer though his revolutionary haunts. But even with a pirate and her fast knife, it seems Attica might not manage to stay alive.
The Borrowed Boy by Deborah Klée (eARC, courtesy of the author and Rachel’s Random Resources)
A borrowed boy, a borrowed name and living on borrowed time.
What do you put on a bucket list when you haven’t done anything with your life? No interesting job, no lovers, no family, no friends. Believing she has only weeks left to live, Angie Winkle vows to make the most of every minute.
Going back to Jaywick Sands, is top of her bucket list. Experiencing life as a grandmother is not, but the universe has other plans and when four-year-old Danny is separated from his mum on the tube, Angie goes to his rescue. She tries to return him to his mum but things do not go exactly as planned and the two of them embark on a life-changing journey.
Set in Jaywick Sands, once an idyllic Essex holiday village in the 70s, but now a shantytown of displaced Londoners, this is a story about hidden communities and our need to belong.
Fortress of Fury (The Bernicia Chronicles, #7) by Matthew Harffy (eARC, courtesy of Aries via NetGalley)
AD 647. Anglo-Saxon Britain. War hangs heavy in the hot summer air as Penda of Mercia and his allies march into the north. Caught unawares, the Bernician forces are besieged within the great fortress of Bebbanburg. It falls to Beobrand to mount the defence of the stronghold, but even while the battle rages, old and powerful enemies have mobilised against him, seeking vengeance for past events.
As the Mercian forces tighten their grip and unknown killers close in, Beobrand finds himself in a struggle with conflicting oaths and the dreadful pull of a forbidden love that threatens to destroy everything he holds dear.
With the future of Northumbria in jeopardy, will Beobrand be able to withstand the powers that beset him and find a path to victory against all the odds?
The Bird in the Bamboo Cage by Hazel Gaynor (eARC, courtesy of HarperCollins via NetGalley)
When war imprisons them, only kindness will free them…
China, 1941. With Japan’s declaration of war on the Allies, Elspeth Kent’s future changes forever. When soldiers take control of the missionary school where she teaches, comfortable security is replaced by rationing, uncertainty and fear.
Ten-year-old Nancy Plummer has always felt safe at Chefoo School. Now the enemy, separated indefinitely from anxious parents, the children must turn to their teachers – to Miss Kent and her new Girl Guide patrol especially – for help. But worse is to come when the pupils and teachers are sent to a distant internment camp. Unimaginable hardship, impossible choices and danger lie ahead.
Inspired by true events, this is the unforgettable story of the life-changing bonds formed between a young girl and her teacher, in a remote corner of a terrible war. (Review to follow 13th August for blog tour)
What Cathy (will) Read Next
The Girl from Vichy by Andie Newton (eARC, courtesy of Head of Zeus via NetGalley)
1942, occupied France. As the war in Europe rages on, Adèle Ambeh dreams of a France that is free from the clutches of the new regime. The date of her marriage to a ruthless man is drawing closer, and she only has one choice – she must run.
With the help of her mother, Adèle flees to Lyon, seeking refuge at the Sisters of Notre Dame de la Compassion. From the outside this is a simple nunnery, but the sisters are secretly aiding the French Resistance, hiding and supplying the fighters with weapons.
While it is not quite the escape Adèle imagined, she is drawn to the nuns and quickly finds herself part of the resistance. But her new role means she must return to Vichy, and those she left behind, no matter the cost. Each day is filled with a different danger and as she begins to fall for another man, Adèle’s entire world could come crashing down around her.
Adèle must fight for her family, her own destiny, as well as her country.
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.
This week’s topic is Books That Should Be Adapted Into Movies. I’ve picked ten books that I think would make great films or TV series, with one or two casting suggestions for good measure. Links from each title will take you to my review.
When I reviewed Old Baggage by Lissa Evans in 2018, I remember thinking it would make a great play or one-off drama and suggesting Dame Maggie Smith and Dame Judi Dench would perfect to play Mattie and Florrie.
These next two – The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and The Music Shop – are a bit of a cheat because I learned from watching a recent online interview with Rachel Joyce that she is working on screenplays for both of them.
Because it’s set over the course of only a few days, I think Munich by Robert Harris would make a superb film or TV drama. Kenneth Branagh comes to mind, although I’m not quite sure for which part.
I can’t call myself a John Buchan fan without suggesting one of his books for the small or big screen treatment. I’d go with Mr. Standfast because it is set in some great locations, contains some terrific action scenes and includes (unusually for Buchan) a romantic storyline featuring a strong female character (so a director wouldn’t be forced to invent female characters as Alfred Hitchcock had to do for his film version of The Thirty-Nine Steps.) Mr. Standfast also has a very poignant ending and who doesn’t like a good weep as the credits roll?
What Cathy Read Next... 