Tag: Read

My Week in Books – 28th January ’18

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MyWeekinBooks

New arrivals  

The Burning ChambersThe 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 FlightThe 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.

TThe Pharmacist's Wifehe 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 TraitorsFriends 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 IsabellaWaking 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.

On What Cathy Read Next last week

Blog posts

Monday – I took part in the blog tour for Hattie’s Home by Mary Gibson, publishing a fascinating Q&A with Mary.  Bermondsey, biscuits and ‘bambeaters’ were on the agenda!

Tuesday – I joined the blog tour for The Moral Compass by K. A. Servian and shared my review of this engaging coming-of-age story novel set in 19th century New Zealand.

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 hosted the final stop on the blog tour for Traitor (Mercia Blakewood #3) by David Hingley, publishing my review of this lively historical mystery set in the court of Charles II and featuring a fantastic female protagonist.

Friday – I shared my review of Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout for this month’s New Year, New Author theme of The BookBum Club on Goodreads.

Saturday – As part of my From Page to Screen reading project I published my (spoiler free) comparison of the book and film versions of Carol by Patricia Highsmith.

Sunday – I published my review of The Coffin Path by Katherine Clements, a creepily atmospheric story set in 17th century Yorkshire.

Challenge updates

  • Goodreads 2018 Reading Challenge – 14 out of 156 books read, 5 more than last week
  • Classics Club Challenge – 9 out of 50 books read, 1 more than last week (Yay! Progress…)
  • NetGalley/Edelweiss Reading Challenge 2018 (Silver) – 4 ARCs read and reviewed out of 25, 1 more than last week
  • From Page to Screen– 10 book/film comparisons out of 15 completed, 1 more than last week
  • 2018 TBR Pile Challenge – 3 out of 12 books read, 1 more than last week
  • Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2018 – 9 books out of 50 read, 3 more than last week
  • When Are You Reading? Challenge 2018 – 4 out of 12 books read, 2 more than 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, 1 more than last week

On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

Planned posts

  • Blog Tour/Review: Court of Lions by Jane Johnson
  • Blog Tour/Spotlight: An Argument of Blood by Matthew Willis & J. A. Ironside
  • Review: Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman
  • Review: The Power-House by John Buchan
  • Blog Tour/Q&A & Review: Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves by Rachel Malik
  • Throwback Thursday: The Existence of Pity by Jeannie Zokan
  • My Five Favourite January Reads
  • Blog Tour/Review: The Renaissance Club by Rachel Dacus

Book Review: The Coffin Path by Katherine Clements

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TheCoffinPathAbout the Book

Maybe you’ve heard tales about Scarcross Hall, the house on the old coffin path that winds from village to moor top. They say there’s something up here, something evil.

Mercy Booth isn’t afraid. The moors and Scarcross are her home and lifeblood. But, beneath her certainty, small things are beginning to trouble her. Three ancient coins missing from her father’s study, the shadowy figure out by the gatepost, an unshakeable sense that someone is watching.

When a stranger appears seeking work, Mercy reluctantly takes him in. As their stories entwine, this man will change everything. She just can’t see it yet.

Format: Hardcover, eBook (284 pp.)           Publisher: Headline Review
Published: 8th February 2018                       Genre: Historical Fiction

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk ǀ  Amazon.com
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Coffin Path on Goodreads

My Review

The Coffin Path’s striking opening line – “I was born with blood on my hands” – sets the scene for a story full of atmosphere and chilling moments.  Ancient curses, family secrets, a remote moorland setting and a crumbling old house reached only by an ancient track called the coffin path – what more do you want?

Very much in the tradition of M. R. James, the sinister atmosphere the author creates comes more from suggestion than full-blown in your face horror.   Noises from empty rooms, objects moving or disappearing without seeming human intervention, sudden chills or unusual scents are far scarier and unsettling to my mind than coming face-to-face with a monster.  There is one particular scene that definitely made me want to draw the bedcovers up over my head!  All the time the reader is made to wonder whether there is malicious human agency behind the goings-on, whether they are the product of a feverish or disturbed imagination – mass hysteria, even – or there is an actual supernatural presence.

As word of the strange occurrences at Scarcross Hall reach the wider community it’s not long before superstitious minds see the work of the Devil behind them and seek to assign blame.   Like other women down the ages, Mercy, as an independent-minded, unconventional and most importantly unmarried woman, is an easy target for their suspicions, especially when fuelled by grudges of a more personal nature.

Alongside the strange events in the house, the author presents a convincing and detailed picture of the everyday struggle to eke out a livelihood on a remote moorland farm.  There is some wonderful descriptive writing that conjures up the wild beauty of the moor that surrounds Scarcross Hall.  ‘Now, in this moment, the wind brings it to him: the rich savour of damp peat, must and decay, the metallic, coppery scent of snow and ancient, rainwashed stone, a hint of salt and sea storms.’  I also liked the use of alliteration in lines like, ‘He craves the comfort of it, longs for the liquidity of limbs, the gradual sink into silent contemplation.’

I have to say that although the story is set in the 17th century, I didn’t get an overwhelming sense of that period for a lot of the book.  It felt that events could believably have been taking place in the 18th or 19th century and that Mercy might easily have run into Emily Brontë whilst out on the moor.  However, this does change towards the end of the book as the events and upheaval of the recent Civil War become very central to the story.

The Coffin Path is a satisfyingly creepy ghost story that builds slowly to a dramatic climax as secrets are finally revealed.   I received an advance reader copy courtesy of NetGalley and publishers Headline in return for an honest and unbiased review.

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In three words: Atmospheric, creepy, sinister

Try something similar…The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (click here for my review) or The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

Katherine ClementsAbout the Author

Katherine was born in Littleborough, Lancashire and grew up in Surrey and Sheffield. She studied Ancient History and Archaeology at Manchester University, followed by a varied career in media, the charity sector and education. Most recently she worked for a national examination board where she led the development and launch of the UK’s first A Level qualification in Creative Writing.

Katherine’s critically acclaimed debut novel, The Crimson Ribbon, was published in 2014 and her second, The Silvered Heart, in 2015. Her work has been compared to the likes of Sarah Waters and Daphne du Maurier. Her third novel, The Coffin Path, will be published in February 2018.   Katherine is editor of Historia, the online magazine of the Historical Writers’ Association, and is a member of the HWA committee. She is a member of the Society of Authors and authors’ collective the Prime Writers and is an occasional contributor to Northern Soul. She is currently Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Manchester University.

She lives in Manchester and is working on her next novel.

Connect with Katherine

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