new arrivals

MyWeekinBooks

A Pivotal Right (Shaking the Tree #2) by K. A. Servian (ebook, review copy courtesy of the author and Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours)

Florence struggled for breath as she stared in the face of a ghost. “Jack?”

Twenty years after being forced apart Jack and Florence have been offered a second chance at love. But can they find their way back to each other through all the misunderstandings, guilt and pain? And what of their daughter, Viola? Her plan to become a doctor is based on the belief she has inherited her gift for medicine from Emile, the man she believed was her father. How will she reconcile her future with the discovery that she is Jack’s child?

A Pivotal Right is the second book in the Shaking the Tree series set in colonial New Zealand. It continues the story of Jack and Florence begun in The Moral Compass.

The Monastery Murders (Stanton & Barling #2) by E. M. Powell (ebook, review copy NetGalley and Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours)

Their lives are ones of quiet contemplation – and brutal murder.

Christmas Eve, 1176. Brother Maurice, monk of Fairmore Abbey, awaits the night prayer bell. But there is only silence. Cursing his fellow brother Cuthbert’s idleness, he seeks him out – and in the darkness, finds him brutally murdered.

Summoned from London to the isolated monastery on the Yorkshire Moors, Aelred Barling, clerk to the King’s justices, and his messenger Hugo Stanton set about investigating the horrific crime. They quickly discover that this is far from a quiet monastic house. Instead, it seethes with bitter feuds, rivalries and resentments. But no sooner do they arrive than the killer strikes again – and again.

When Barling discovers a pattern to these atrocities, it becomes apparent that the murderer’s rampage is far from over. With everyone, including the investigators, now fearing for their lives, can Barling and Stanton unmask the culprit before more blood is spilled?

The Lion Tamer Who Lost by Louise Beech (ebook)

Long ago, Andrew made a childhood wish, and kept it in a silver box. When it finally comes true, he wishes it hadn’t.

Long ago, Ben made a promise and he had a dream: to travel to Africa to volunteer at a lion reserve. When he finally makes it, it isn’t for the reasons he imagined.

Ben and Andrew keep meeting in unexpected places, and the intense relationship that develops seems to be guided by fate. Or is it? What if the very thing that draws them together is tainted by past secrets that threaten everything?

A dark, consuming drama that shifts from Zimbabwe to England, and then back into the past, The Lion Tamer Who Lost is also a devastatingly beautiful love story, with a tragic heart.

Miss Marley by Vanessa Lafaye (proof copy, courtesy of HQ Stories)

Orphans Clara and Jacob Marley live by their wits, scavenging for scraps in the poorest alleyways of London, in the shadow of the workhouse. Every night, Jake promises his little sister ‘tomorrow will be better’ and when the chance to escape poverty comes their way, he seizes it despite the terrible price.

And so Jacob Marley is set on a path that leads to his infamous partnership with Ebenezer Scrooge. As Jacob builds a fortress of wealth to keep the world out, only Clara can warn him of the hideous fate that awaits him if he refuses to let love and kindness into his heart…

In Miss Marley, Vanessa Lafaye weaves a spellbinding Dickensian tale of ghosts, goodwill and hope – a perfect prequel to A Christmas Carol.

Pre-order Miss Marley from Amazon UK

On What Cathy Read Next last week

Blog posts

Monday – I published my review of The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason.

Tuesday – This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was Books By My Favourite Authors That I Still Haven’t Read. Plenty to choose from there… I also published my review of The Missing Girl by Jenny Quintana. Jenny is one of the many authors appearing at this year’s Henley Literary Festival which runs from Saturday 29^th September to Sunday 7^th October 2018.

Wednesday – WWW Wednesday is the opportunity to share what I’ve just finished reading, what I’m reading now and what I’ll be reading next…and to go blog hopping.

Thursday – My Throwback Thursday post was a review of Please, Mister Postman by Alan Johnson, the second in his award-winning series of memoirs. Alan is another author appearing at Henley Literary Festival 2018 and I’m excited to have a ticket to hear him speak on 30th September at the historic Kenton Theatre.

Friday – I shared my review of The Long and Winding Road by Alan Johnson, which continues the story of his life in and out of politics.

Saturday – I published my review of The Temptation by Vera Morris. Vera is appearing at Henley Literary Festival’s ‘Crime and Wine’ event alongside Vaseem Khan, author of Murder at the Grand Raj Palace, and Jessica Fellowes, author of Bright Young Dead.

Sunday – I republished my review of Dear Mrs. Bird by A J Pearce to mark the author’s appearance on 1st October at Henley Literary Festival 2018. I also shared my publication day review of crime mystery The Moving Blade (Detective Hiroshi #2) by Michael Pronko, set in a vividly rendered Tokyo.

On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

Planned posts

Book Review: Paris Echo by Sebastian Faulks
Book Review: Macbeth by Jo Nesbo
Book Review: Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson
Book Review: Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading by Lucy Mangan
Book Review: The Dark Tide by Vera Brittain
Book Review: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

MyWeekinBooks

New arrivals

Another fairly busy week in the arrivals lounge…

The Blue by Nancy Bilyeau (eARC, courtesy of Endeavour Quill)

A novel of suspense that asks: What would you do for the most beautiful colour in the world?

The year is 1758, and a headstrong woman artist, 24-year-old Genevieve Planche, is caught up in a high-stakes competition to discover the ultimate colour that threatens to become as deadly as it is lucrative. The story sweeps readers from the worlds of the silk-weaving refugees of London’s Spitalfields and the luxury-obsessed drawing rooms of Grosvenor Square to the secretive porcelain factory of Derby and, finally, magnificent Sevres Porcelain, in the shadow of Versailles. And running through it all: the captivating history and dangerous allure of the colour blue.

The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware (ebook)

On a day that begins like any other, Hal receives a mysterious letter bequeathing her a substantial inheritance. She realizes very quickly that the letter was sent to the wrong person—but also that the cold-reading skills she’s honed as a tarot card reader might help her claim the money.

Soon, Hal finds herself at the funeral of the deceased…where it dawns on her that there is something very, very wrong about this strange situation and the inheritance at the center of it.

Full of spellbinding menace and told in Ruth Ware’s signature suspenseful style, this is an unputdownable thriller from the Agatha Christie of our time.

The Wooden Hill by Jamie Guiney (eARC, courtesy of Epoque Press)

As we climb the wooden hill to bed each night we trace our life’s journey from birth, then each step toward death, the final sleep.

This collection of short stories, by Jamie Guiney, explores what it is to be human at every stage of life, from the imminence of a new birth in ‘We Knew You Before You Were Born’, through to adolescence and the camaraderie of youthful friendships as portrayed in ‘Sam Watson & The Penny World Cup’.

Ultimately, all of our lives stride towards old age and the certainty of death, as poignantly evoked in the title story, ‘The Wooden Hill’.

Pre-order The Wooden Hill from Amazon UK

The Black Prince by Adam Roberts & Anthony Burgess (eARC, courtesy of Unbound and Random Things Tours)

The Black Prince is a brutal historical tale of chivalry, religious belief, obsession, siege and bloody warfare.

From disorientating depictions of medieval battles to court intrigues and betrayals, the campaigns of Edward II, the Black Prince, are brought to vivid life by an author in complete control of the novel as a way of making us look at history with fresh eyes, all while staying true to the linguistic pyrotechnics and narrative verve of Burgess’s best work.

Pre-order The Black Prince from Amazon UK

The Turn of Midnight (Black Death #2) by Minette Walters (hardcover, courtesy of Allen & Unwin and Readers First)

As the year turns from 1348 to 1349, the Black Death continues its relentless course across England. In Dorseteshire, the first county to be afflicted, the people of Develish begin to question if they are the lone survivors of this terrible pestilence.

Guided by their heretical mistress, Lady Anne, they wait inside the protection of a moat as their stores dwindle, knowing that when the food is gone they will have no choice but to leave. But where will they find safety in the desolate wasteland their county has become? And how can Lady Anne, a woman without rights herself, grant them the freedom they long for?

One man has the courage to find out.

Thaddeus Thurkell, a bastard serf, educated in secret by Lady Anne and risen to the post of steward, takes a band of raw, untested youths in search of supplies and news. As free-thinking and heretical as his admired mistress, Thaddeus makes a compelling leader, and his companions quickly learn to throw off the shackles of serfdom and set their minds to ensuring Develish’s future.

But what use is freedom that cannot be won lawfully? Aided and abetted by Lady Anne, Thaddeus conceives an audacious and dangerous plan to secure her people’s right to determine their fates for themselves. Neither foresees the life-threatening struggle over power, money and religion that follows – or the trial for heresy that will imperil all in Develish…

Pre-order The Turn of Midnight from Amazon UK

Little by Edward Carey (review copy courtesy of Gallic Books)

“There is a space between life and death: it’s called waxworks.”

The wry, macabre, unforgettable tale of an ambitious orphan in Revolutionary Paris, befriended by royalty and radicals alike, who transforms herself into the legendary Madame Tussaud.

In 1761, a tiny, odd-looking girl named Marie is born in a village in Alsace. After the death of her parents, she is apprenticed to an eccentric wax sculptor and whisked off to the seamy streets of Paris, where they meet a domineering widow and her quiet, pale son. Together, they convert an abandoned monkey house into an exhibition hall for wax heads, and the spectacle becomes a sensation. As word of her artistic talent spreads, Marie is called to Versailles, where she tutors a princess and saves Marie Antoinette in childbirth. But outside the palace walls, Paris is roiling: The revolutionary mob is demanding heads, and . . . at the wax museum, heads are what they do.

Pre-order Little from Amazon UK