My Week in Books – 27th December 2020

MyWeekinBooks

On What Cathy Read Next last week

Blog posts

Monday – I published my review of Winterkill (Dark Iceland #6) by Ragnar Jónasson as part of the blog tour.

Tuesday This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was Books I Hope Santa Brings. (Spoiler: He didn’t.)

WednesdayWWW Wednesday is the opportunity to share what I’ve just read, what I’m currently reading and what I plan to read next…as well as have a good nose around to see what other bloggers are reading. Before signing off for the Christmas break, I also published my review of my last Buchan of the Month for 2020, The Long Traverse by John Buchan.

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


New arrivals

9781471196805When The World Was Ours by Liz Kessler (ARC, courtesy of Simon & Schuster)

Three friends. Two sides. One memory.

Vienna, 1936. Three young friends – Leo, Elsa and Max – spend a perfect day together, unaware that around them Europe is descending into a growing darkness, and that events soon mean that they will be cruelly ripped apart from each other. With their lives taking them across Europe – to Germany, England, Prague and Poland – will they ever find their way back to each other? Will they want to?  

Inspired by a true story, When The World Was Ours shows how the bonds of love, family and friendship allow glimmers of hope to flourish, even in the most hopeless of times.

9781472235947The Drowned City (Daniel Pursglove #1) by K.J. Maitland (eARC, courtesy of Headline via NetGalley)

1606. A year to the day that men were executed for conspiring to blow up Parliament, a towering wave devastates the Bristol Channel. Some proclaim God’s vengeance. Others seek to take advantage.

In London, Daniel Pursglove lies in prison waiting to die. But Charles FitzAlan, close adviser to King James I, has a job in mind that will free a man of Daniel’s skill from the horrors of Newgate. If he succeeds.

For Bristol is a hotbed of Catholic spies, and where better for the lone conspirator who evaded arrest, one Spero Pettingar, to gather allies than in the chaos of a drowned city? Daniel journeys there to investigate FitzAlan’s lead, but soon finds himself at the heart of a dark Jesuit conspiracy – and in pursuit of a killer.
 

9780241423301The Metal Heart by Caroline Lea (eARC, courtesy of Michael Joseph via NetGalley) 

Orkney, 1940. On a remote island, a prisoner-of-war camp is constructed to house five hundred Italian soldiers. Upon arrival, a freezing Orkney winter and divided community greets them. Orphaned sisters Dorothy and Constance volunteer to nurse the men. Dot is immediately drawn to Cesare, a young man fighting on the wrong side and broken by war and destruction.

The soldiers spend their days building a secret barricade between the islands. By night, however, they construct a reminder of their native land – an exquisite chapel. As tensions between the islanders and outsiders grow, the sisters’ loyalty is tested. Will Dot choose love, or family?

Outlook-23wc5vhfShe Came To Stay by Eleni Kyriacou (eARC, courtesy of Hodder & Stoughton via NetGalley)

In a city of strangers, who can you trust?

London, 1952. Dina Demetriou has travelled from Cyprus for a better life. She’s certain that excitement, adventure and opportunity are out there, waiting – if only she knew where to look. Her passion for clothes and flair for sewing land her a job repairing the glittering costumes at the notorious Pelican Revue. It’s here that she befriends the mysterious and beautiful Bebba.

With her bleached-blonde hair and an appetite for mischief, Bebba is like no Greek Dina has ever met before. She guides Dina around the fashionable shops, bars and clubs of Soho, and Dina finally feels life has begun. But Bebba has a secret. And as thick smog brings the city to a standstill, the truth emerges with devastating results. Dina’s new life now hangs by a thread. What will be left when the fog finally clears? And will Dina be willing to risk everything to protect her future?

9780704374515Saving The World- Women: The Twenty-First Century’s Factor for Change by Paola Diana (review copy, courtesy of Quartet Books and Midas PR)

A passionate call for international gender equality by a leading entrepreneur; this smart, accessible and inspiring book makes the case for why all nations need more women at the top of politics and economics.

“The status of women is a global challenge; it touches every human being without exception. How is it possible that countries where women have achieved political, economic and social rights after exhausting struggles remain seemingly indifferent to the egregiousness of other nations where the status of women is still tragic? The time has come to help those left behind.”


On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

Planned posts

  • Book Review: Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult 
  • Top Ten Tuesday: Favourite Books of 2020
  • Waiting on Wednesday
  • Book Review: Elmet by Fiona Mozley
  • #6Degrees of Separation

My Week in Books – 20th December 2020

MyWeekinBooks

On What Cathy Read Next last week

Blog posts

Monday – I shared some thoughts on historical novels published in 2020 that might be contenders for The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2021

Tuesday This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was Books On My Winter 2020/21 TBR. I also shared my review of the first in a new series set in the Viking age, A Time For Swords by Matthew Harffy, as part of the blog tour.

WednesdayWWW Wednesday is the opportunity to share what I’ve just read, what I’m currently reading and what I plan to read next…as well as have a good nose around to see what other bloggers are reading. I also published my review of The Running Wolf by Helen Steadman.

Thursday –  I took part in the 2020 edition of the My Life in Books meme. 

Saturday – I shared my review of The Diabolical Bones (The Brontë Mysteries #2) by Bella Ellis.

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


New arrivals

The High-Rise DiverThe High-Rise Diver by Julia von Lucadou, trans. by Sharmila Cohen (eARC, courtesy of World Editions via NetGalley)

Big Sister is watching you…

Riva is a “high-rise diver,” a top athlete with millions of fans, and a perfectly functioning human on all levels. Suddenly she rebels, breaking her contract and refusing to train. Cameras are everywhere in her world, but she doesn’t know her every move is being watched by Hitomi, the psychologist tasked with reining Riva back in.  Unquestionably loyal to the system, Hitomi’s own life is at stake: should she fail to deliver, she will be banned to the “peripheries,” the filthy outskirts of society.

For readers of The Handmaid’s Tale, The Circle, and Brave New World, this chilling dystopia constructs a world uncomfortably close to our own, in which performance is everything.

51PUQUXiz5LThe Girl at the Back of the Bus by Suzette D. Harrison (eARC, courtesy of Bookouture via NetGalley) 

Montgomery, Alabama, 1955. On a cold December evening, Mattie Banks packs a suitcase and leaves her family home. Sixteen years old and pregnant, she has already made the mistake that will ruin her life and disgrace her widowed mother. Boarding the 2857 bus, she sits with her case on her lap, hoping that the driver will take her away from disaster. Instead, Mattie witnesses an act of bravery by a woman named Rosa Parks that changes everything. But as Mattie strives to turn her life around, the dangers that first led her to run are never far away. Forging a new life in a harsh world at constant risk of exposure, Mattie will need to fight to keep her baby safe.

Atlanta, Georgia, present dayAshlee Turner is going home. Her relationship in ruins, her career held back by prejudice, she is returning to the family who have always been her rock. But Ashlee’s home is not the safe haven she remembers. Her beloved grandmother is dying and is determined to share her story before she leaves… When Ashlee finds a stack of yellowing letters hidden in her nana’s closet, she can’t help the curiosity that compels her to read, and she uncovers an old secret that could wreak havoc on her already grieving family. As she tries to make sense of what she has learned, Ashlee faces a devastating choice: to protect her loved ones from the revelations, or honor her grandmother’s wishes and follow the path to the truth, no matter where it may lead.

Dublin's GirlDublin’s Girl by Eimear Lawlor (eARC, courtesy of Aria via NetGalley)

Falling in love with the enemy is the ultimate act of betrayal…

1917 – A farm girl from Cavan, Veronica McDermott is desperate to find more to life than peeling potatoes. Persuading her family to let her stay with her aunt and uncle in Dublin so she can attend secretarial college, she has no idea what she is getting into. Recruited by Fr Michael O’Flanagan to type for Eamon De Valera, Veronica is soon caught up in the danger and intrigue of those fighing for Ireland’s independence from Britain.

The attentions of a handsome British soldier, Major Harry Fairfax, do not go unnoticed by Veronica’s superiors. But when Veronica is tasked with earning his affections to gather intelligence for Sinn Féin, it isn’t long before her loyalty to her countrymen and her feelings for Harry are in conflict. To choose one is to betray the other…

The Forgotten Life of Arthur PettingerThe Forgotten Life of Arthur Pettinger by Suzanne Fortin (eARC, courtesy of Aria via NetGalley)

Sometimes the past won’t stay hidden, it demands to be uncovered…

Arthur Pettinger’s memory isn’t what it used to be. He can’t always remember the names of his grandchildren, where he lives or which way round his slippers go. He does remember Maryse though, a woman he hasn’t seen for decades, but whose face he will never forget.

When Arthur’s granddaughter, Maddy moves in along with her daughter Esther, it’s her first step towards pulling her life back together. But when Esther makes a video with Arthur, the hunt for the mysterious Maryse goes viral.

There’s only one person who can help Maddy track down this woman – the one that got away, Joe. Their quest takes them to France, and into the heart of the French Resistance.

When the only way to move forwards is to look back, will this family finally be able to?


On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

Planned posts

  • Blog Tour/Book Review: Winterkill (Dark Iceland #6) by Ragnar Jónasson
  • Top Ten Tuesday
  • Waiting on Wednesday
  • Book Review: The Long Traverse by John Buchan