On the blog last week
Monday – I shared my sign-up post for the What’s In A Name? Challenge 2026.
Tuesday – This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was Books Covers With Striking Typography. I also published my review of historical novel Julia Sleeps by Zoe Caryl
Wednesday – As always WWW Wednesday is a weekly opportunity to share what I’ve just read, what I’m currently reading and what I plan to read next… and to take a peek at what others are reading.
Thursday – I shared my list for the latest Classics Club Spin.
Friday – I shared details of the twelve books on the longlist for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2026. I also published an excerpt from Baked Tapes, the debut novel by Bob Christenson.
Saturday – I took part in the #6Degrees of Separation meme forging a book chain from Flashlight by Susan Choi to The Huntingfield Paintress by Pamela Holmes.
New on my shelves
The River Days of Rosie Crow by Rebecca Stonehill (ARC, Stairwell Books)
Modern day: following a breakdown, Rose Crawford retreats to a quiet village. Discovering an old family tree and intrigued by their similar name, she is drawn to a woman named Rosie Crow who died young. As curiosity pervades her, Rose feels herself settling into a new skin, reconnecting with a latent love of storytelling.
19th Century Norfolk: Rosie Crow is spirited, illiterate and deeply connected to the land. She longs to communicate the stories she believes the river tells her but when worsening rural poverty stirs up disquiet, her differences – combined with entrenched witchcraft superstition – become the catalyst for devastating consequences.
Paper Sisters by Rachel Canwell (Northodox Press)
May 1914, and as the First World War approaches, three women are living, trapped between marsh, river, and fen. Their lives held fast by grief, the past, and the looming presence of a hospital. A hospital which has never admitted a single patient.
Eleanor longs to escape. To make a life with the man she loves, leaving her sister and all her ghosts behind.
Clara’s marriage is crumbling and violent, although she yearns for peace and security for both herself and her children.
Meanwhile, Lily, determined that nothing should change, will do anything to prevent life and her family from moving on. No matter the cost.
What I’m currently reading
I’m reading Time of the Child, one of the books on the shortlist for the Winston Graham Historical Prize 2026, The Shock of the Light from my NetGalley shelf and listening to the audiobook of Room 706.
Look out for…
- Book Review: Room 706 by Ellie Levenson
- Book Review: The Shock of the Light by Lori Inglis Hall
What Cathy Read Next... 