WWW Wednesdays – 3rd October ‘18

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

MacbethMacbeth by Jo Nesbo (eARC, courtesy of NetGalley)

He’s the best cop they’ve got.

When a drug bust turns into a bloodbath it’s up to Inspector Macbeth and his team to clean up the mess.

He’s also an ex-drug addict with a troubled past.

He’s rewarded for his success. Power. Money. Respect. They’re all within reach.

But a man like him won’t get to the top.

Plagued by hallucinations and paranoia, Macbeth starts to unravel. He’s convinced he won’t get what is rightfully his.

Unless he kills for it.

LittleLittle by Edward Carey (ARC, courtesy of Gallic Books)

“There is a space between life and death: it’s called waxwork.s”

In 1761, a tiny, odd-looking girl named Marie is born in a village in Alsace. After the death of her parents, she is apprenticed to an eccentric wax sculptor and whisked off to the seamy streets of Paris, where they meet a domineering widow and her quiet, pale son. Together, they convert an abandoned monkey house into an exhibition hall for wax heads, and the spectacle becomes a sensation.

As word of her artistic talent spreads, Marie is called to Versailles, where she tutors a princess and saves Marie Antoinette in childbirth. But outside the palace walls, Paris is roiling: The revolutionary mob is demanding heads, and . . . at the wax museum, heads are what they do.

Pre-order Little from Amazon UK


Recently finished (click on title for review)

The TemptationThe Temptation (The Anglian Detective Agency #2) by Vera Morris (ebook)

Where is David Pemberton?

It’s 1971. Thirteen year old David has been missing for two years. It’s now up to Laurel Bowman and Frank Diamond, partners in the newly formed Anglian Detective Agency, to find him.  But how do you solve a cold case with no leads? Are there connections to the brutal deaths of three local residents?

As their first big case unravels, they uncover a circle of temptations, destruction and deceit.

But the closer they get to solving the case, the more exposed they are to danger. And now both Laurel’s and Frank’s lives are at risk.

The Moving BladeThe Moving Blade (Detective Hiroshi #2) by Michael Pronko (eARC, courtesy of the author)

When the top American diplomat in Tokyo, Bernard Mattson, is killed, he leaves more than a lifetime of successful Japan-American negotiations. He leaves a missing manuscript, boxes of research, a lost keynote speech and a tangled web of relations.

When his alluring daughter, Jamie, returns from America wanting answers, finding only threats, Detective Hiroshi Shimizu is dragged from the safe confines of his office into the street-level realities of Pacific Rim politics.

With help from ex-sumo wrestler Sakaguchi, Hiroshi searches for the killer from back alley bars to government offices, through anti-nuke protests to military conspiracies. When two more bodies turn up, Hiroshi must choose between desire and duty, violence or procedure, before the killer silences his next victim.

The Thirteenth TaleThe Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (ebook)

All children mythologize their birth…So begins the prologue of reclusive author Vida Winter’s collection of stories, which are as famous for the mystery of the missing thirteenth tale as they are for the delight and enchantment of the twelve that do exist.

The enigmatic Winter has spent six decades creating various outlandish life histories for herself — all of them inventions that have brought her fame and fortune but have kept her violent and tragic past a secret. Now old and ailing, she at last wants to tell the truth about her extraordinary life. She summons biographer Margaret Lea, a young woman for whom the secret of her own birth, hidden by those who loved her most, remains an ever-present pain. Struck by a curious parallel between Miss Winter’s story and her own, Margaret takes on the commission.

As Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good, Margaret is mesmerized. It is a tale of gothic strangeness featuring the Angelfield family, including the beautiful and willful Isabelle, the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline, a ghost, a governess, a topiary garden and a devastating fire.

Margaret succumbs to the power of Vida’s storytelling but remains suspicious of the author’s sincerity. She demands the truth from Vida, and together they confront the ghosts that have haunted them while becoming, finally, transformed by the truth themselves. (Review to follow)


What Cathy (will) Read Next

A House of GhostsA House of Ghosts by W. C. Ryan (hardcover, courtesy of Zaffre and Readers First)

Winter 1917 – As the First World War enters its most brutal phase, back home in England, everyone is seeking answers to the darkness that has seeped into their lives.

At Blackwater Abbey, on an island off the Devon coast, Lord Highmount has arranged a spiritualist gathering to contact his two sons who were lost in the conflict. But as his guests begin to arrive, it gradually becomes clear that each has something they would rather keep hidden. Then, when a storm descends on the island, the guests will find themselves trapped. Soon one of their number will die.

Pre-order A House of Ghosts  from Amazon UK

The Turn of MidnightThe Turn of Midnight by Minette Walters (hardcover, courtesy of Allen & Unwin and Readers First)

As the year turns from 1348 to 1349, the Black Death continues its relentless course across England. In Dorsetshire, the first county to be afflicted, the people of Develish begin to question if they are the lone survivors of this terrible pestilence.

Guided by their heretical mistress, Lady Anne, they wait inside the protection of a moat as their stores dwindle, knowing that when the food is gone they will have no choice but to leave. But where will they find safety in the desolate wasteland their county has become? And how can Lady Anne, a woman without rights herself, grant them the freedom they long for?

One man has the courage to find out.

Thaddeus Thurkell, a bastard serf, educated in secret by Lady Anne and risen to the post of steward, takes a band of raw, untested youths in search of supplies and news. As free-thinking and heretical as his admired mistress, Thaddeus makes a compelling leader, and his companions quickly learn to throw off the shackles of serfdom and set their minds to ensuring Develish’s future.

But what use is freedom that cannot be won lawfully? Aided and abetted by Lady Anne, Thaddeus conceives an audacious and dangerous plan to secure her people’s right to determine their fates for themselves. Neither foresees the life-threatening struggle over power, money and religion that follows…

…or the trial for heresy that will imperil all in Develish…

Pre-order The Turn of Midnight from Amazon UK

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors I’d Love to Meet

Top Ten Tuesday new

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.

HenleyLiteraryFestivalThis week’s topic is Top Ten Authors I’d Love To Meet.  Having just returned from attending several events at Henley Literary Festival 2018, my list is a combination of the authors I met (or at least saw in person) and those I would have liked to meet if I’d been able to attend more events.

Click on the author name to view event details (some now past or sold out).  Henley Literary Festival started on Saturday 30th September and runs until Sunday 7th October 2018.   Later this week I’ll be posting detailed reviews of the events I attended.


Have met:

Alan Johnson – Former Labour politician and Home Secretary turned author of the award-winning memoirs This Boy, Please, Mister Postman and The Long and Winding Road.  Alan’s latest book, In My Life: A Music Memoir was published by Bantam Press in September 2018.  My husband was thrilled to chat briefly to Alan and have his copy of Please, Mister Postman signed at Henley Literary Festival on Sunday.

Diane Setterfield – Best-selling author of The Thirteenth Tale and Bellman & Black returns with her next book, Once Upon A River, due out in December.  The TV rights for the book have already been snapped up.  I was lucky enough to hear her read an excerpt from the book at Henley Literary Festival yesterday and leave with my own (signed) proof copy.

A J Pearce – Debut novelist who burst onto the scene in 2017 with Dear Mrs. Bird.  She’s currently working on her next book, a sequel to Dear Mrs. Bird.  Having loved the book, I was delighted to meet her in person at Henley Literary Festival yesterday.

Anne Youngson – Another debut novelist whose epistolary novel, Meet Me At the Museum was praised by other authors and critics alike.  I was delighted to meet Anne and have her sign my copy of her book at Henley Literary Festival yesterday.

Would have liked to meet:

Lucy Mangan – I recently read (and loved) Lucy’s book Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading but unfortunately couldn’t make her event at Henley Literary Festival today.  It would have been great to swap childhood favourites.

Sebastian Faulks – Author of Birdsong, Sebastian Faulk’s latest novel is Paris Echo which I read recently.  I’d have loved the chance to meet him and ask him about the book when he appeared on the first day of this year’s Henley Literary Festival.

Louis de Bernières – Another author I was sorry to have missed seeing at Henley Literary Festival as I loved Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and have a reservation request at my local library for his latest novel, So Much Life Left Over.

Anthony Horowitz – In my review of his book, The Word is Murder, I commented that ‘it was proof, if it were needed, that Anthony Horowitz is a very clever man’.  As someone who was a fan of the TV series Foyle’s War that he created and who has several of his books in my TBR pile, it would have been great to meet him at Henley Literary Festival  tomorrow.

Kate Mosse – I’ve enjoyed many of Kate Mosse’s previous books and rated her most recent novel, The Burning Chambers, one of her best.  How fascinating would it be to find out firsthand how she keeps producing such great historical fiction.

Vera Brittain –Since she died in 1970 it’s clearly impossible to meet the acclaimed author of Testament of Youth and many other works of fiction and non-fiction.  The next best thing perhaps would be to hear her biographer, Mark Bostridge, talk about Vera and the reissue by Virago of a special illustrated edition of Testament of Youth to mark the centenary of the First World War.