My Week in Books – 25th February 2024

MyWeekinBooksOn What Cathy Read Next last week

Monday – I published my review of The Slowworm’s Song by Andrew Miller.

Tuesday – This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was Bookish Superpowers I Wish I Had.

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. 

Thursday – I published my review of historical crime novel, Notes of Change by Susan Grossey.

Friday – I shared the longlist for The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2024 which was announced on 22nd February.


New arrivals

Two books on the longlist for The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2024 and a book club pick.

A Better PlaceA Better Place by Stephen Daisley (Text Publishing) Longlisted for The Walter Scott Prize 2024

The old people in the district would often say that Roy was not quite the same after he come back. There was a brother. A twin brother, Tony. Tony Mitchell, different boy but a good rugby player. Bit of a mental case, they said, but Roy would have none of it. He always stayed close to Tony when they were growing up. They both went off to fight, must have been 1940. Only the one come back, though.

Crete, they thought. We lost Tony over there.

For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy on my Little PainFor they great pain have mercy on my little pain by Victoria Mackenzie (Bloomsbury) Longlisted for The Walter Scott Prize 2024

In the year of 1413, two women meet for the first time in the city of Norwich.

Margery has left her fourteen children and husband behind to make her journey. Her visions of Christ – which have long alienated her from her family and neighbours, and incurred her husband’s abuse – have placed her in danger with the men of the Church, who have begun to hound her as a heretic.

Julian, an anchoress, has not left Norwich, nor the cell to which she has been confined, for twenty-­three years. She has told no one of her own visions – and knows that time is running out for her to do so.

The two women have stories to tell one another. Stories about girlhood, motherhood, sickness, loss, doubt and belief; revelations more the powerful than the world is ready to hear. Their meeting will change everything.

Our Souls at NightOur Souls at Night by Kent Huruf (Picador)

Addie Moore’s husband died years ago, so did Louis Waters’ wife, and, as neighbours in Holt, Colorado they have naturally long been aware of each other.

With their children now far away both live alone in houses empty of family. The nights are terribly lonely, especially with no one to talk to.

Then one evening Addie pays Louis an unexpected visit.


On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading


Planned posts

  • Book Review: All Day at the Movies by Fiona Kidman
  • Book Review: Perfume River by Robert Olen Butler
  • Book Review: The Other Princess by Denny S. Bryce

My Week in Books – 18th February 2024

MyWeekinBooksOn What Cathy Read Next last week

Monday – I published my review of How to be Brave by Louise Beech.

Tuesday – This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was a freebie on the theme of love. My list was Books for Lovers… of Gardens.  I also shared my review of thriller, The Shadow Network by Tony Kent.

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. 

Friday – I published my review of His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet.


New arrivals

Sword of the War GodSword of the War God by Tim Hodkinson (ARC, Head of Zeus)

436 AD. The Burgundars are confident of destroying Rome’s legions. Their forces are strong and they have beaten the Romans in battle before. But they are annihilated, their king killed, his people scattered. Their fabled treasure is lost. For Rome has new allies: the Huns, whose taste for bloodshed knows no bounds.

Many years later, the Huns, led by the fearsome Attila, have become the deadliest enemies of Rome. Attila seeks the Burgundars’ treasure, for it includes the legendary Sword of the War God, said to make the bearer unbeatable.

No alliance can defeat Attila by conventional means. With Rome desperate for help, a one-eyed old warlord from distant lands and his strange band of warriors may have the answers… but oaths will be broken and the plains of Europe will run with blood before the end.

The Story CollectorThe Story Collector by Iris Costello (ARC, Penguin UK)

London, 1915: Tarot reader Katerina is trying to hold her life together amid the wartime chaos. When she opens a bakery that offers divination alongside sweet treats, she is hailed as a beacon of hope. But Katerina is hiding a dark truth that could cost her everything.

Germany, 1918: A mute British soldier is taken to a prisoner of war camp where he meets Miriam, a researcher. She is drawn to his gentle manner and secretly vows to help him. But soon she will have to make an impossible will she save the one she loves, or herself?

Cornwall, Present Recently widowed Edie is astonished to discover a mysterious box hidden in the wall of her newly renovated cottage. As Edie starts to investigate, she uncovers a secret that has lain hidden for over a century…

A Place Without PainA Place Without Pain by Simon Bourke (review copy, courtesy of the author)

Aidan Collins has always been an outsider, a weirdo, an oddball. But the arrival of his worldly, urbane cousin Dan, changes his life completely. Dan introduces Aidan to alcohol, to girls, to a life beyond the four walls of his bedroom, and eventually, to the night out to end all nights out in Dublin.

What he sees in the capital, what he’s exposed to, also changes Aidan’s life, but not in a good way. A scene behind a closed door haunts him, torments him, leaving behind scars which may never heal.

In the Garden of SorrowsIn the Garden of Sorrows by Karen Jewell (eARC, courtesy of the author)

Isabel Fuller, a strong, once passionate woman, is deadened with grief by the death of her oldest son in the First World War, haunted by visions of him dying alone, and bitter at her husband for encouraging him to enlist.

When a young, charismatic preacher arrives for a revival one summer, he awakens in Isabel an intense attraction and feelings long forgotten. When she finally succumbs to his seduction, their affair pushes Isabel’s marriage to the breaking point. 


On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading


Planned posts

  • Book Review: Remember, Remember by Elle Machray
  • Book Review: The Slowworm’s Song by Andrew Miller