Read – Page 1171 – What Cathy Read Next…

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The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton (eARC, NetGalley)

My real name, no one remembers. The truth about that summer, no one else knows.

In the summer of 1862, a group of young artists led by the passionate and talented Edward Radcliffe descends upon Birchwood Manor on the banks of the Upper Thames. Their plan: to spend a secluded summer month in a haze of inspiration and creativity. But by the time their stay is over, one woman has been shot dead while another has disappeared; a priceless heirloom is missing; and Edward Radcliffe’s life is in ruins.

Over one hundred and fifty years later, Elodie Winslow, a young archivist in London, uncovers a leather satchel containing two seemingly unrelated items: a sepia photograph of an arresting-looking woman in Victorian clothing, and an artist’s sketchbook containing a drawing of a twin-gabled house on the bend of a river. Why does Birchwood Manor feel so familiar to Elodie? And who is the beautiful woman in the photograph? Will she ever give up her secrets?

Told by multiple voices across time, The Clockmaker’s Daughter is a story of murder, mystery and thievery, of art, love and loss. And flowing through its pages like a river is the voice of a woman who stands outside time, whose name has been forgotten by history, but who has watched it all unfold: Birdie Bell, the clockmaker’s daughter.

The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas (limited edition proof copy, courtesy of Head of Zeus)

1967: Four female scientists invent a time-travel machine. They are on the cusp of fame: the pioneers who opened the world to new possibilities. But then one of them suffers a breakdown and puts the whole project in peril…

2017: Ruby knows her beloved Granny Bee was a pioneer, but they never talk about the past. Though time travel is now big business, Bee has never been part of it. Then they receive a message from the future – a newspaper clipping reporting the mysterious death of an elderly lady…

The Psychology of Time Travel Signed 2018: When Odette discovered the body she went into shock. Blood everywhere, bullet wounds, flesh. But when the inquest fails to answer any of her questions, Odette is frustrated. Who is this dead woman that haunts her dreams? And why is everyone determined to cover up her murder?

The Romanov Empress by C. W. Gortner (ebook, review copy courtesy of HF Virtual Book Tours)

Even from behind the throne, a woman can rule.

Narrated by the mother of Russia’s last tsar, this vivid, historically authentic novel brings to life the courageous story of Maria Feodorovna, one of Imperial Russia’s most compelling women who witnessed the splendour and tragic downfall of the Romanovs as she fought to save her dynasty in the final years of its long reign.

Barely nineteen, Minnie knows that her station in life as a Danish princess is to leave her family and enter into a royal marriage—as her older sister Alix has done, moving to England to wed Queen Victoria’s eldest son. The winds of fortune bring Minnie to Russia, where she marries the Romanov heir and becomes empress once he ascends the throne. When resistance to his reign strikes at the heart of her family and the tsar sets out to crush all who oppose him, Minnie—now called Maria—must tread a perilous path of compromise in a country she has come to love.

Her husband’s death leaves their son Nicholas as the inexperienced ruler of a deeply divided and crumbling empire. Determined to guide him to reforms that will bring Russia into the modern age, Maria faces implacable opposition from Nicholas’s strong-willed wife, Alexandra, whose fervour has lead her into a disturbing relationship with a mystic named Rasputin. As the unstoppable wave of revolution rises anew to engulf Russia, Maria will face her most dangerous challenge and her greatest heartache.

Betty Church and the Suffolk Vampire by M. R. C. Kasasian (hardcover, advance reader copy courtesy of Head of Zeus)

September 1939. A new day dawns in Sackwater, not that this sleepy backwater is taking much notice…

Inspector Betty Church – one of the few female officers on the force – has arrived from London to fill a vacancy at Sackwater police station. But Betty isn’t new here. This is the place she grew up. The place she thought she’d left behind for good. Time ticks slowly in Sackwater, and crime is of a decidedly lighter shade. Having solved the case of the missing buttons, Betty’s called to the train station to investigate a missing bench. But though there’s no bench, there is a body. A smartly dressed man, murdered in broad daylight, with two distinctive puncture wounds in his throat.

While the locals gossip about the Suffolk Vampire, Betty Church readies herself to hunt a dangerous killer.

The Hidden Village by Imogen Matthews (ebook, review copy courtesy of the author)

Wartime Holland. Who can you trust?

Deep in the Veluwe woods lies a secret that frustrates the Germans. Convinced that Jews are hiding close by they can find no proof. The secret is Berkenhout, a purpose-built village of huts sheltering dozens of persecuted people.

Young tearaway Jan roams the woods looking for adventure and fallen pilots. His dream comes true when he stumbles across an American airman, Donald C. McDonald. But keeping him hidden sets off a disastrous chain of events.

Sofie, a Jewish Dutch girl, struggles to adapt to living in Berkenhout, away from her family and friends. As weeks turn to months, she’s worried they’ll abandon her altogether. Henk Hauer, head woodman, is in charge of building the underground huts and ensuring the Berkenhout inhabitants stay safe. But many grow suspicious of his liaisons with the Germans. Is he passing on secret information that could endanger lives?

All it takes is one small fatal slip to change the course of all their lives forever.

On What Cathy Read Next last week

Blog posts

Monday – I joined the blog tour for Forsaking All Other by Catherine Meyrick, sharing my review of this historical romance set in Tudor England.

Tuesday – Another blog tour and another review, this time for Summer of Love by Caro Fraser, the follow-up to her historical novel The Summer House Party. My Top Ten Tuesday list was on the topic of Books That Awaken the Travel Bug in Me.

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 featured an extract from With Or Without You, the latest book by Shari Low as part of the blog tour.

Thursday – I published an introduction to this month’s Buchan of the Month, The Half-Hearted. I also shared my write-up of a fascinating evening spent in the company of best-selling historian and novelist, Alison Weir, at my local Waterstones in Reading.

Friday – I published my review of The Poison Bed by E. C. Fremantle, a terrific historical mystery set in the court of James I that had as many twists as a modern day psychological thriller. It was also time for another of my Fact in Fiction Friday features where I pick out interesting things I’ve learned through reading novels.

Saturday – The final blog tour of the week was for The Reading Party by Fenella Gentleman and a great guest post by Fenella about how the germ of an idea during a creative writing exercise grew into her first novel.

Challenge updates

Goodreads 2018 Reading Challenge – 90 out of 156 books read, 4 more than last week
Classics Club Challenge – 15 out of 50 books read, same as last week
NetGalley/Edelweiss Reading Challenge 2018 (Gold) – 33 ARCs read and reviewed out of 50, 2 more than last week
From Page to Screen– 10 book/film comparisons out of 15 completed, same as last week
2018 TBR Pile Challenge – 5 out of 12 books read, same as last week
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2018 – 46 books out of 50 read, 3 more than last week
When Are You Reading? Challenge 2018 – 7 out of 12 books read, same as last week
What’s In A Name Reading Challenge – 1 out of 6 books read, same as last week
Buchan of the Month – 5 out of 12 books read, same as last week
NEW 20 Books of Summer Challenge – 4 out of 20 books read, 2 more than last week

On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

Planned posts

Guest Post: Cold Flood by R J Corgan
Guest Post: Artist, Soldier, Lover, Muse by Arthur D. Hittner
Book Review: The Mountain Man’s Badge by Gary Corbin
Book Review: The King’s Daughter by Stephanie Churchill
Book Review: Old Baggage by Lissa Evans
Book Review: Darkest Hour by Anthony McCarten

Fact in Fiction

Reading is entertainment but it can also be education – new words, myth that turns out to be reality and vice versa. Here are just a few of the things I learned from the books I read this week. Click on the title of the book to read my review.

In Forsaking All Other by Catherine Meyrick, the heroine of the book, Bess Stoughton, finds herself in conflict with her role as dutiful daughter when her father insists she marry a man she despises but who will bring financial benefit to her family. Widowed, she has no money of her own because the family of Myles Stoughton, the man she married, have refused to pay something called a ‘jointure’. Bess protests to her father, “An unmarried woman brings a dowry to her marriage, a widow her jointure. The Stoughtons have cheated us. They took the dowry you offered but refused to pay the jointure that is my right now Myles is dead.” I wasn’t familiar with the term jointure but have since learned that it refers to a form of marriage settlement in which land or money was settled on a couple often ‘in survivorship’, meaning it should be held by the survivor if widowed.

Source: Tudor Times blog

In the same book, I came across references to something I’ve previously wondered about, namely ‘small beer’. Curiously it seemed to be often drunk at breakfast. So, my second fascinating fact is that ‘small beer’ was the name given to ale or beer produced from the third mash (the fermented mixture of water and barley). The strongest ale was produced from the first mash and an average strength brew from the second mash. Being the product of the third mash, small ale or beer was weak and therefore appropriate for being imbibed at breakfast or even by children. It was also a good source of vitamin B.

Source: Tudor Times blog

One of the things I enjoyed about Summer of Love by Caro Fraser, set mainly in the London of the late 1950s and 1960s, was the walk-on parts for now famous figures from art, fashion and music. In one scene, set in 1962, Avril, one of the main characters in the book, is taken to a basement club in Soho. There she and her companion, Philip, see on stage ‘a young man in a corduroy jacket backed by three guitarists and a drummer’. When the song ends, Avril is asked by Philip, “Do you like it?” and she replies diplomatically, “They’re very dynamic”. She asks what the group is called. He replies, “I’m not sure. But the singer chappie is Mick Jagger. He sometimes sings with another blues band that plays here”. This prompted me to find out more about The Rolling Stones’ first appearance on the music scene. It turns out it was on 12^th July 1962 at the Marquee Club in Oxford Street. They were standing in for Alex Korner’s band who had been offered a prestigious spot on BBC Radio’s Jazz Club.

Source: udiscovermusic blog

Sugar Money by Jane Harris is set partly in Martinique and partly in Grenada in the 1760’s. It has some great descriptions of the landscape, wildlife, culture and people of Grenada. What particularly caught my eye was mention of the sound of tree frogs at night. In fact, I’ve learnt that Grenada has two species of tree frog: the delightfully named Johnstone’s whistling frog and the Highland piping frog. They are both nocturnal and create a ‘chirping’ sound throughout the night.

Source: Grenada Cultural Foundation

In The Poison Bed by E. C. Fremantle, part of the struggle for power and influence by the various factions in the court of James I is over the appointment of an individual to the position of Master of the Horse. To a modern day reader this doesn’t sound like a particularly prestigious position but in the Tudor and Stuart period it was an important role in the Sovereign’s household. The Master of the Horse was the third dignitary of the court, it was an office of cabinet rank and the holder would be a peer and a privy councillor. In the UK today, the role is primarily ceremonial and only relevant on state occasions when the Sovereign is mounted.

Source: Wikipedia

What did you learn from your reading this week?