On What Cathy Read Next last week
Monday – I published my review of historical mystery, The Montford Maniac by M.R.C. Kasasian.
Tuesday – I came up with my own topic for this week’s Top Ten Tuesday sharing an update on My Winter 2023-2024 To-Read List.
Wednesday – As always WWW Wednesday is a weekly opportunity to share what I’ve just read, what I’m currently reading and what I plan to read next… and to take a peek at what others are reading. I also took a look at the books on the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2024 Shortlist.
Thursday – I shared My Top 5 April 2024 Reads.
Friday – I published my review of historical novel, Darkness Does Not Come At Once by Glenn Bryant.
Saturday – I took part in the monthly #6Degrees of Separation meme forging a book chain from The Anniversary by Stephanie Butler to The Bell in the Lake by Lars Mytting.
New arrivals
Heart, Be at Peace by Donal Ryan (eARC, Transworld via NetGalley)
‘I said it before. Madness comes circling around. Ten-year cycles, as true as the sun will rise…’
Some things can send a heart spinning; others will crack it in two. In a small town in rural Ireland, the local people have weathered the storms of economic collapse and are looking towards the future. The jobs are back, the dramas of the past seemingly lulled, and although the town bears the marks of its history, new stories are unfolding.
But a fresh menace is creeping around the lakeshore and the lanes of the town, and the peace of the community is about to be shattered in an unimaginable way. Young people are being drawn towards the promise of fast money whilst the generation above them tries to push back the tide of an enemy no one can touch…
Alvesdon by James Holland (eARC, Transworld via NetGalley)
The village of Alvesdon has been home to the Castells for generations. But the year is 1939 and the peace and tranquillity there is about to be shattered once more by the stormclouds of war in Europe. As three generations of the family gather, they must all face the prospect of their lives being transformed beyond recognition the moment Britain declares war on Germany.
When the inevitable happens and Britain finds itself at war, the younger members of the family and farm workers are called up to fight and those who remain must battle to keep the home fires burning and the farm afloat. The gentle certainties of rural life are replaced by the urgent clamour of war, in the air, at sea and on land, where events unfold with dizzying rapidity and unexpected consequences.
Stretching from the glorious summer of 1939 to the Battle of Britain the following year, acclaimed historian James Holland paints a compelling and immersive fictional portrait of how the war changed everything. For one family and for a community, their way of life can never really be the same again…
On What Cathy Read Next this week
Currently reading
Planned posts
- Book Review: James by Percival Everett
- Book Review: Under the Banner of Valor by Gary Corbin
What Cathy Read Next... 