My Week in Books – 27th October ‘19

MyWeekinBooks

On What Cathy Read Next last week

Blog posts

Monday – I published my review of the final event I attended at this year’s Henley Literary Festival – Anne De Courcy talking about her book Chanel’s Riviera.  I also republished my review of The Conviction of Cora Burns by Carolyn Kirby to celebrate its imminent publication in paperback.

Tuesday –  The Top Ten Tuesday topic was Books I’d Give Different Titles To. I wimped out a bit on this instead sharing a list of books that have been published under different titles.

WednesdayWWW 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 took part in the birthday book blitz for The Summer Springsteen’s Songs Saved Me by Barbara Quinn and republished my review of Stealing Roses by Heather Cooper to coincide with its publication in paperback.

Friday – I shared my reading list for the Nonfiction November Reading Challenge which starts next week and continues throughout November.

As always, thanks to everyone who has liked, commented on or shared my blog posts on social media this week.


New arrivals

Mrs Ps Book of SecretsMrs P’s Book of Secrets by Lorna Gray (eARC, courtesy of One More Chapter and NetGalley)

The Cotswolds, Christmastime 1946: A young widow leaves behind the tragedy of her wartime life, and returns home to her ageing aunt and uncle. For Lucy – known as Mrs P – and the people who raised her, the books that line the walls of the family publishing business bring comfort and the promise of new beginnings.

But the kind and reserved new editor at the Kershaw and Kathay Book Press is a former prisoner of war, and he has his own shadows to bear. And when the old secrets of a little girl’s abandonment are uncovered within the pages of Robert Underhills’s latest project, Lucy must work quickly if she is to understand the truth behind his frequent trips away.

For a ghost dwells in the record of an orphan girl’s last days. And even as Lucy dares to risk her heart, the grief of her own past seems to be whispering a warning of fresh loss.

There are no white shrouded spectres here, no wailing ghouls. Just the echoes of those who have passed, whispering that history is set to repeat itself.

The Honourable Life of Thomas ChayneThe Honourable Life of Thomas Chayne by Cynthia Jefferies (eARC, courtesy of Allison & Busby and NetGalley)

Thomas Chayne has never managed to impress his overbearing father, and when a small act of rebellion has lasting consequences, Thomas finds himself exiled in disgrace.

But with England on the brink of civil war, a larger revolution is in the air and Thomas has an opportunity to prove his worth by rallying a troop of royalists to defend Oxford from the escalating violence.

But he soon faces an impossible choice between honouring his family and his loyalty to the crown …


On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

Planned posts

  • Book Review: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
  • NonFiction November Week 1 : Your Year in Nonfiction
  • Top Ten Tuesday: Halloween Freebie
  • Waiting on Wednesday
  • Book Review: Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout
  • Book Review: The House of the Four Winds by John Buchan
  • Blog Tour/Book Review: The House That Alice Built by Chris Penhall
  • Six Degrees of Separation

My Week in Books – 20th October ‘19

MyWeekinBooks

On What Cathy Read Next last week

Blog posts

Tuesday –  The Top Ten Tuesday topic was Extraordinary Book Titles. I also joined the blog tour for Don’t Get Involved by F. J. Curlew, sharing my review of this thriller set in Ukraine.

WednesdayWWW 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 introduction to my Buchan of the Month, The House of the Four Winds by John Buchan.  I also published my review of one of the events I attended at Henley Literary Festival 2019, namely David Suchet talking about his photo memoir, Behind the Lens.

Friday – I shared my review of another event I attended at Henley Literary Festival 2019, namely Victoria Hislop talking about her latest book, Those Who Are Loved.

Saturday – I shared my review of The Glittering Hour by Iona Grey as part of the blog tour.

As always, thanks to everyone who has liked, commented on or shared my blog posts on social media this week.


New arrivals

Mrs Palfrey at the ClaremontMrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor (ebook)

On a rainy Sunday in January, the recently widowed Mrs. Palfrey arrives at the Claremont Hotel where she will spend her remaining days.

Her fellow residents are magnificently eccentric and endlessly curious, living off crumbs of affection and snippets of gossip. Together, upper lips stiffened, they fight off their twin enemies—boredom and the Grim Reaper.

Then one day Mrs. Palfrey strikes up an unexpected friendship with Ludo, a handsome young writer, and learns that even the old can fall in love.

cover176261-mediumThe Boy With Blue Trousers by Carol Jones (eARC, courtesy of Head of Zeus and NetGalley)

On the goldfields of 19th-century Australia, two very different girls are trying to escape their past.

1856, China. In the mulberry groves of the Pearl River Delta, eighteen-year-old Little Cat carries a terrible secret. And so, in disguise as a boy in blue trousers, she makes the long and difficult passage to Australia, a faraway land of untold riches where it is said the rivers run with gold.

1857, Australia. Violet Hartley has arrived off the boat from England, fleeing scandal back home. Like the Chinese immigrants seeking their fortunes on the goldfields, Violet is seduced by the promise of a new frontier. Then she meets Little Cat, a woman who, like her, is trying to escape her past.

As their fates inextricably, devastatingly entwine, their story becomes one of freedom, violence, love and vengeance, echoing across the landscapes of two great continents.


On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

 

Planned posts

  • Event Review: Anne De Courcy at Henley Literary Festival 2019
  • Top Ten Tuesday
  • Waiting on Wednesday
  • Blog Tour/Book Review: The Summer Springsteen’s Songs Saved Me by Barbara Quinn