On What Cathy Read Next last week
Blog posts
Tuesday – My take on this week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was Literary Pets. I also shared my Five Favourite October Reads.
Wednesday – WWW 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 joined the blog tour for The House in the Hollow by Allie Cresswell.
Thursday – I published my review of The Morning Star by Gita V. Reddy.
Friday – In response to this week’s prompt for NonFiction November, I shared some memoirs highlighting the benefits of the natural world for physical and mental wellbeing.
Saturday – I published my review of Three Women and a Boat by Anne Youngson.
As always, thanks to everyone who has liked, commented on or so shared my blog posts on social media.
New arrivals
The Last Days of Ellis Island by Gaëlle Josse, trans. Natasha Lehrer (giveaway prize, courtesy of World Editions)
New York, November 3, 1954. In a few days, the immigration inspection station on Ellis Island will close its doors forever. John Mitchell, an officer of the Bureau of Immigration, is the guardian and last resident of the island. As Mitchell looks back over forty-five years as gatekeeper to America and its promise of a better life, he recalls his brief marriage to beloved wife Liz, and is haunted by memories of a transgression involving Nella, an immigrant from Sardinia.
Told in a series of poignant diary entries, this is a story of responsibility, love, fidelity, and remorse.
The Rose Code by Kate Quinn (eARC, courtesy of Harper Collins via NetGalley)
1940. As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes.
Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything – beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses – but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets. Imperious self-made Mab, product of east-end London poverty, works the legendary codebreaking machines as she conceals old wounds and looks for a socially advantageous husband.
Both Osla and Mab are quick to see the potential in local village spinster Beth, whose shyness conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles, and soon Beth spreads her wings as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts. But war, loss, and the impossible pressure of secrecy will tear the three apart.
1947. As the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip whips post-war Britain into a fever, three friends-turned-enemies are reunited by a mysterious encrypted letter – the key to which lies buried in the long-ago betrayal that destroyed their friendship and left one of them confined to an asylum. A mysterious traitor has emerged from the shadows of their Bletchley Park past, and now Osla, Mab, and Beth must resurrect their old alliance and crack one last code together. But each petal they remove from the rose code brings danger – and their true enemy – closer…
On What Cathy Read Next this week
Currently reading
Planned posts
- Book Review: Blitz Writing: Night Shift & It Was Different At The Time by Inez Holden
- Top Ten Tuesday
- Waiting on Wednesday
- Book Review: 337 by M. Jonathan Lee
- Blog Tour/Book Review: Imperfect Alchemist by Naomi Miller
- Book Review: This Green and Pleasant Land by Ayisha Malik
- Book Review: Cesare by Jerome Charyn
What Cathy Read Next... 