new arrivals

MyWeekinBooks

In Strangers’ Houses by Elizabeth Mundy (eARC, NetGalley)

There are some crimes you can’t sweep under the carpet . . .

Lena Szarka, a Hungarian cleaner working in London, knows all too well about cleaning up other people’s messes. When her friend Timea disappears, she suspects one of her clients is to blame. However, the police don’t share her suspicions and it is left to Lena to turn sleuth and find her friend.

Searching through their houses as she scrubs their floors, Lena desperately tries to find out what has happened. Only Cartwright, a police constable new to the job, believes that this will lead to the truth – and together they begin to uncover more of Islington’s seedy underbelly than they bargained for.

But Lena soon discovers it’s not just her clients who have secrets. And as she begins to unravel Timea’s past she starts to wonder if she really knew her friend at all.

The Summer Will Come by Soulla Christodoulou (eARC, courtesy of Rachel’s Random Resources)

Set in 1950s Cyprus, EOKA, British rule, the fight for Enosis – unity with Greeve. Two Cypriot families, living in different villages on the island, are coping with the unpredictability of this fractious time. Circumstances over a five year period push both families to emigrate to London where, as immigrants, they struggle to settle, face new challenges, trauma and cope with missing their homeland’s traditions and culture. Both families’ lives cross paths here and it seems that a happier future could be theirs. But at what cost?

A story of passion for a country in turmoil, family love, loyalty and treachery and how, sometimes, starting over isn’t always as imagined. (Temporary blurb, cover not yet available)

Mrs. Saint and the Defectives by Julie Lawson Timmer (ebook)

Markie, a fortysomething divorcée who has suffered a humiliating and very public fall from marital, financial, and professional grace, moves, along with her teenage son, Jesse, to a new town, hoping to lick her wounds in private. But Markie and Jesse are unable to escape the attention of their new neighbor Mrs. Saint, an irascible, elderly New European woman who takes it upon herself, along with her ragtag group of “defectives,” to identify and fix the flaws in those around her, whether they want her to or not.

What Markie doesn’t realize is that Mrs. Saint has big plans for the divorcée’s broken spirit. Soon, the quirky yet endearing woman recruits Markie to join her eccentric community, a world where both hidden truths and hope unite them. But when Mrs. Saint’s own secrets threaten to unravel their fragile web of healing, it’s up to Markie to mend these wounds and usher in a new era for the “defectives”—one full of second chances and happiness.

On What Cathy Read Next last week

Blog posts

Monday – I took part in the blog tour for Court of Lions by Jane Johnson, celebrating its publication in paperback. I also featured The Secret Life of Mrs London by Rebecca Rosenberg, which I’m looking forward to reading as part of the upcoming blog tour.

Tuesday – I shared my Top Ten Tuesday list of books I enjoyed despite them being out of my comfort zone. I also took part in the blog tour for An Argument of Blood by Matthew Willis & J. A. Ironside, the first part in a duology about William the Conqueror.

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. I also published my review of The Power-House by John Buchan, the first book in my Buchan of the Month reading project.

Thursday – I took part in the blog tour for Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves by Rachel Malik, one of my favourite books of 2017. I shared a fascinating Q&A with Rachel about the book and its inspiration. My Throwback Thursday post was my review of The Existence of Pity by Jeannie Zokan, a coming-of-age story set in Colombia (Kindle edition currently available for £0.99.)

Friday – I shared my Five Favourite January Reads.

Saturday – I took part in the blog tour for The Renaissance Club by Rachel Dacus, an imaginative time travel romance set in Italy.

Sunday – I published my review of The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar, a wonderful historical romp not without darker undertones.

Challenge updates

Goodreads 2018 Reading Challenge – 17 out of 156 books read, 3 more than last week
Classics Club Challenge – 9 out of 50 books read, same as last week
NetGalley/Edelweiss Reading Challenge 2018 (Silver) – 5 ARCs read and reviewed out of 25, 1 more than last week
From Page to Screen– 10 book/film comparisons out of 15 completed, same as last week
2018 TBR Pile Challenge – 3 out of 12 books read, 1 more than last week
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2018 – 10 books out of 50 read, 1 more than last week
When Are You Reading? Challenge 2018 – 4 out of 12 books read, same as last week
What’s In A Name Reading Challenge – 0 out of 6 books read, same as last week
Buchan of the Month – 1 out of 12 books read, same as last week

On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

Planned posts

Buchan of the Month: Introducing John Macnab
Review: The Optickal Illusion by Rachel Halliburton
Blog Tour/Excerpt: The Once and Future Queen by Nicole Evelina
Throwback Thursday: The Somme Legacy by M J Lee
Excerpt: The Circumstantial Enemy by John R Bell
Blog Tour/Q&A: The Runaway Wife by Rosie Clarke
Excerpt: Fred’s Funeral by Sandy Day

MyWeekinBooks

New arrivals

The Burning Chambers by Kate Mosse (eARC, NetGalley)

Carcassonne 1562: Nineteen-year-old Minou Joubert receives an anonymous letter at her father’s bookshop. Sealed with a distinctive family crest, it contains just five words: SHE KNOWS THAT YOU LIVE. But before Minou can decipher the mysterious message, a chance encounter with a young Huguenot convert, Piet Reydon, changes her destiny forever. For Piet has a dangerous mission of his own, and he will need Minou’s help if he is to get out of La Cité alive.

Toulouse: As the religious divide deepens in the Midi, and old friends become enemies, Minou and Piet both find themselves trapped in Toulouse, facing new dangers as sectarian tensions ignite across the city, the battle-lines are drawn in blood and the conspiracy darkens further. Meanwhile, as a long-hidden document threatens to resurface, the mistress of Puivert is obsessed with uncovering its secret and strengthening her power . . .

The Illumination of Ursula Flight by Anne-Marie Crowhurst (eARC, NetGalley)

Born on the night of an ill-auguring comet just before Charles II’s Restoration, Ursula Flight has a difficult future written in the stars. Against the custom of the age she begins an education with her father, who fosters in her a love of reading, writing and astrology.

Following a surprise meeting with an actress, Ursula yearns for the theatre and thus begins her quest to become a playwright despite scoundrels, bounders, bad luck and heartbreak.

The Pharmacist’s Wife by Vanessa Tait (eARC, NetGalley)

Love. Desire. Vengeance. A deadly alchemy.

When Rebecca Palmer’s new husband opens a pharmacy in Victorian Edinburgh, she expects to live the life of a well-heeled gentlewoman. But her ideal is turns to ashes when she discovers her husband is not what he seems. As Rebecca struggles to maintain her dignity in the face of his infidelity and strange sexual desires, Alexander tries to pacify her so-called hysteria with a magical new chemical creation. A wonder-drug he calls heroin.

Rebecca’s journey into addiction takes her further into her past, and her first, lost love, while Alexander looks on, curiously observing his wife’s descent. Meanwhile, Alexander’s desire to profit from his invention leads him down a dangerous path that blurs science, passion, and death. He soon discovers that even the most promising experiments can have unforeseen and deadly consequences…

Friends and Traitors (Inspector Troy #8) by John Lawton (eARC, NetGalley)

It is 1958. Chief Superintendent Frederick Troy of Scotland Yard, newly promoted after good service during Nikita Khrushchev’s visit to Britain, is not looking forward to a Continental trip with his older brother, Rod. Rod was too vain to celebrate being fifty so instead takes his entire family on ‘the Grand Tour’ for his fifty-first birthday: Paris, Sienna, Florence, Vienna, Amsterdam. Restaurants, galleries and concert halls. But Frederick Troy never gets to Amsterdam.

After a concert in Vienna he is approached by an old friend whom he has not seen for years – Guy Burgess, a spy for the Soviets, who says something extraordinary: ‘I want to come home.’ Troy dumps the problem on MI5 who send an agent to de-brief Burgess – but the man is gunned down only yards from the embassy, and after that, the whole plan unravels with alarming speed and Troy finds himself a suspect. As he fights to prove his innocence, Troy finds that Burgess is not the only ghost who returns to haunt him.

Waking Isabella by Melissa Muldoon (ebook, review copy courtesy of Rachel’s Random Resources)

While filming a documentary about Isabella de’ Medici – the Renaissance princess who was murdered by her husband – Nora, an assistant researcher, begins to connect with the lives of two remarkable women from the past. Unravelling the stories of Isabella, the daughter of a fifteenth-century Tuscan duke, and Margherita, a young girl trying to survive the war in Nazi-occupied Italy, Nora begins to question the choices that have shaped her own life up to this point. As she does, hidden beauty is awakened deep inside of her, and she discovers the keys to her creativity and happiness. It is a story of love and deceit, forgeries and masterpieces – all held together by the allure and intrigue of a beautiful Tuscan ghost.