memes – Page 68 – What Cathy Read Next…

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 NetGalley ARC and a book for my personal Backlist Burrow reading challenge.

Munich Wolf by Rory Clements (eARC, Zaffre via NetGalley)

Munich in the 1930s is a magnet for young, rich, aristocratic Brits. They come to learn German, but also to go wild, free at last from the suffocating constraints of strait-laced England. They ski in the Alps, swim in the lakes, drink in the beer cellars and fall for the charms of dashing SS officers. What they don’t see – or choose to ignore – is the cold, brutal, underbelly of the Nazi movement which considers Munich its spiritual home.

But not every German is a Nazi. Murder squad detective Sebastian Wolff is one of those walking a tight line between doing his job and falling foul of the political party he abhors.

When a high-born English girl is murdered, Wolff is ordered to solve the crime. He has a fine record and, importantly, he is fluent in English. But he realises the mission is a poison chalice, for Hitler is taking a personal interest in the case – as is his young English acolyte Miss Unity Mitford.

Wolff is hemmed in on all sides. At work, he is watched closely by the secret police, at home he could be denounced at any moment by his own son, a fervent member of the Hitler Youth. And when he begins to suspect that the killer might be linked to the highest reaches of the Nazi hierarchy, he fears his task is simply impossible – and that he will become the killer’s next victim.

The Slowworm’s Song by Andrew Miller (Sceptre)

An ex-soldier and recovering alcoholic living quietly in Somerset, Stephen Rose has just begun to form a bond with Maggie, the daughter he barely knows, when he receives a summons – to an inquiry in Belfast about an incident during the Troubles, which he hoped he had long outdistanced. Now, to testify about it could wreck his fragile relationship with Maggie. And if he loses her, he loses everything.

He decides instead to write her an account of his life – a confession, a defence, a love letter. Also a means of buying time. But as time runs out, the day comes when he must face again what happened in that distant summer of 1982.

Recently finished

The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan (Hodder & Stoughton)

Back Trouble by Clare Chambers (Cornerstone)

On the brink of forty, newly single with a failed business, Philip thought he’d reached an all-time low when a topple on a London street lays him literally flat. So, bedbound and bored, Philip starts to write the story of his life.

But the mundane catalogue of seaside holidays, broken relationships and unspoken truths, reveals more surprises, both comic and touching, than Philip or his family ever bargained for. Even, perhaps, a happy ending. (Observant and amusing – full review to follow)

What Cathy (will) Read Next

All Day at the Movies by Fiona Kidman (Gallic Books)

When war widow Irene Sandle goes to work in New Zealand’s tobacco fields in 1952, she hopes to start a new, independent life for herself and her daughter – but the tragic repercussions of her decision will resonate long after Irene has gone.

Each of Irene’s children carries the events of their childhood throughout their lives, played out against a backdrop of great change – new opportunities emerge for women, but social problems continue to hold many back. Headstrong Belinda becomes a successful filmmaker, but struggles to deal with her own family drama as her younger siblings are haunted by the past.

A sweeping saga covering half a century, this is a powerful exploration of family ties and heartbreaks, and of learning to live with the past.

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 Books I Hope Santa Brings. Realistically Santa is unlikely to bring me any books because friends and family rarely buy me them. They don’t know what I already own – let’s face it, sometimes I don’t either – or what I’ve already read. However if I’m fortunate enough to receive a gift card, here are some that might be on my shopping list. If one or more of these books has appeared on your ‘Best Books of 2023’ list, then thank you for the recommendation. Links from the titles will take you to the full book description on Goodreads.

His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet – The year is 1869. A brutal triple murder in a remote community in the Scottish Highlands leads to the arrest of a young man by the name of Roderick Macrae.
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett – It’s spring and Lara’s three grown daughters have returned to the family orchard. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the one story they’ve always longed to hear – of the film star with whom she shared a stage, and a romance, years before.
Light Over Liskeard by Louis de Bernières – Q wants a simpler and safer life. His work as a quantum cryptographer for the government has led him to believe a crisis is imminent for civilisation and he’s looking for somewhere to ride out what’s ahead.
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch – On a dark, wet evening in Dublin, scientist and mother-of-four Eilish Stack answers her front door to find the GNSB on her step. Two officers from Ireland’s newly formed secret police are here to interrogate her husband, a trade unionist.
So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan – After an uneventful Friday at the Dublin office, Cathal faces into the long weekend and takes the bus home. There, his mind agitates over a woman named Sabrine, with whom he could have spent his life, had he acted differently.
Prize Women by Caroline Lea – Toronto, Canada, 1926. Best friends Lily di Marco and Mae Thebault were once inseparable. They lived under the same roof and cared for each other’s children. But with mouths to feeds and demanding husbands to keep happy, both women are forced into terrible decisions as the Great Depression tightens its grip.
The Spirit Engineer by A. J. West – Belfast, 1914. Two years after the sinking of the Titanic, high society has become obsessed with spiritualism in the form of seances that attempt to contact the spirits of loved ones lost at sea.
Limberlost by Robbie Arnott – Ned West dreams of sailing across the river on a boat of his very own. To Ned, a boat means freedom – the fresh open water, squid-rich reefs, fires on private beaches – a far cry from life on Limberlost, the family farm, where his father worries and grieves for Ned’s older brothers.
Not One of Us (Teifi Valley Coroner #4) by Alis Hawkins – Harry Probert-Lloyd, is struggling: with the blindness that drove him home from London, with the county magistrates and with an estate teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. He needs an escape, so when Dr Benton Reckitt is asked to give a second opinion on the apparently natural death of young Lizzie Rees, Harry willingly goes with him.
Disobedient by Elizabeth Fremantle – Rome 1611. Artemisia Gentileschi dreams of becoming a great artist. Motherless, she grows up among a family of painters — men and boys. She knows she is more talented than her brothers, but she cannot choose her own future.