#WWWWednesdays – 13th November ‘19

WWWWednesdays

Hosted by Taking on a World of Words, this meme is all about the three Ws:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

Why not join in too?  Leave a comment with your link at Taking on a World of Words and then go blog hopping!


Currently reading

I’m trying to keep up with books for blog tours as well as reading books from my Nonfiction November reading list.

the outrunThe Outrun by Amy Liptrot (audio book)

At the age of thirty, Amy Liptrot finds herself washed up back home on Orkney. Standing unstable on the island, she tries to come to terms with the addiction that has swallowed the last decade of her life.

As she spends her mornings swimming in the bracingly cold sea, her days tracking Orkney’s wildlife, and her nights searching the sky for the Merry Dancers, Amy discovers how the wild can restore life and renew hope.

The Listening WallsThe Listening Walls by Margaret Millar (paperback, courtesy of Pushkin Press)

Amy Kellogg is not having a pleasant vacation in Mexico. She’s been arguing nonstop with her friend and traveling companion, Wilma, and she wants nothing more than to go home to California. But their holiday takes a nightmarish turn when Wilma is found dead on the street below their room-an apparent suicide.

Rupert Kellogg has just returned from seeing his wife Amy through the difficulties surrounding the apparent suicide of her friend in Mexico. But Rupert is returning alone-which worries Amy’s brother. Amy was traumatized by the suicide, Rupert explains, and has taken a holiday in New York City to settle her nerves. But as gone girl Amy’s absence drags on for weeks and then months, the sense of unease among her family changes to suspicion and eventual allegations.

Wolf of WessexWolf of Wessex by Matthew Harffy (eARC, courtesy of Aria and NetGalley)

AD 838. Deep in the forests of Wessex, Dunston’s solitary existence is shattered when he stumbles on a mutilated corpse.

Accused of the murder, Dunston must clear his name and keep the dead man’s daughter alive in the face of savage pursuers desperate to prevent a terrible secret from being revealed.

Rushing headlong through Wessex, Dunston will need to use all the skills of survival garnered from a lifetime in the wilderness. And if he has any hope of victory against the implacable enemies on their trail, he must confront his long-buried past – becoming the man he once was and embracing traits he had promised he would never return to. The Wolf of Wessex must hunt again; honour and duty demand it.


Recently finished (click on titles for my review)

There’s Something About Darcy by Gabrielle Malcolm (eARC, courtesy of Endeavour Media)

The Tide Between Us by Olive Collins (e-book, review copy courtesy of the author)

1821: After the landlord of Lugdale Estate in Kerry is assassinated, young Art O’Neill’s innocent father is hanged and Art is deported to the cane fields of Jamaica as an indentured servant. On Mangrove Plantation he gradually acclimatises to the exotic country and unfamiliar customs of the African slaves, and achieves a kind of contentment. Then the new heirs to the plantation arrive.

His new owner is Colonel Stratford-Rice from Lugdale Estate, the man who hanged his father. Art must overcome his hatred to survive the harsh life of a slave and live to see the eventual emancipation which liberates his coloured children. Eventually he is promised seven gold coins when he finishes his service, but he doubts his master will part with the coins.

One hundred years later in Ireland, a skeleton is discovered beneath a fallen tree on the grounds of Lugdale Estate. By its side is a gold coin minted in 1870. Yseult, the owner of the estate, watches as events unfold, fearful of the long-buried truths that may emerge about her family’s past and its links to the slave trade. As the body gives up its secrets, Yseult realises she too can no longer hide. (Review to follow)

9781911445562The Tide Between Us


What Cathy (will) Read Next

Entertaining Mr PepysEntertaining Mr Pepys (Women of Pepys’ Diary #3) by Deborah Swift (e-book, courtesy of the author)

London 1666. Elizabeth ‘Bird’ Carpenter has a wonderful singing voice, and music is her chief passion. When her father persuades her to marry horse-dealer Christopher Knepp, she suspects she is marrying beneath her station, but nothing prepares her for the reality of life with Knepp. Her father has betrayed her trust, for Knepp cares only for his horses; he is a tyrant and a bully, and will allow Bird no life of her own.

When Knepp goes away, she grasps her chance and, encouraged by her maidservant Livvy, makes a secret visit to the theatre. Entranced by the music, the glitter and glamour of the surroundings, and the free and outspoken manner of the women on the stage, she falls in love with the theatre and is determined to forge a path of her own as an actress.

But life in the theatre was never going to be straightforward – for a jealous rival wants to spoil her plans, and worse, Knepp forbids it, and Bird must use all her wit and intelligence to change his mind.

Based on events depicted in the famous Diary of Samuel Pepys, Entertaining Mr Pepys brings London in the 17th century to life. It includes the vibrant characters of the day such as the diarist himself and actress Nell Gwynne, and features a dazzling and gripping finale during the Great Fire Of London.

#BlogTour #BookReview There’s Something About Darcy by Gabrielle Malcolm @EndeavourQuill

Darcy Blog Tour Banner

Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for There’s Something About Darcy by Gabrielle Malcolm. Thanks to Hannah at Endeavour Media for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my review copy.


9781911445562About the Book

For some, Colin Firth emerging from a lake in that clinging wet shirt is one of the most iconic moments in television. What is it about the two-hundred-year-old hero that we so ardently admire and love?

Dr Malcolm examines Jane Austen’s influences in creating Darcy’s potent mix of brooding Gothic hero, aristocratic elitist and romantic Regency man of action. She investigates how he paved the way for later characters like Heathcliff, Rochester and even Dracula, and what his impact has been on popular culture over the past two centuries. For twenty-first century readers the world over have their idea of the ‘perfect’ Darcy in mind when they read the novel and will defend their choice passionately.

In this insightful and entertaining study, every variety of Darcy jostles for attention: vampire Darcy, digital Darcy, Mormon Darcy and gay Darcy. Who does it best and how did a clergyman’s daughter from Hampshire create such an enduring character?

Format: Paperback, ebook                        Publisher: Endeavour Quill
Publication date: 11th November 2019 Genre: Nonfiction, Literary Criticism

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk | Hive (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find There’s Something About Darcy on Goodreads


My Review

There were many elements I enjoyed in this exploration of the continuing literary and cultural influence of the hero of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. For instance, Gabrielle Malcolm traces the influence of earlier authors – Samuel Richardson, Ann Radcliffe and others – on the creation of the character of Darcy. I also liked the way the author examined the growth of Darcy’s character throughout the novel. I wouldn’t have minded more of this type of close reading and textual analysis, although perhaps that’s the former Open University MA English student coming out in me!

The sections where the author explores contemporary reaction to Pride and Prejudice were fascinating. Charlotte Bronte had mixed feelings apparently although Dr. Malcolm argues Edward Rochester, the hero of Jane Eyre, and Darcy have much in common.  However, she also goes on to point out key differences between them.

I confess I found some of the detours into figures like Beau Brummell and Sir Henry Irving less interesting and the plot summaries of novels such as The Scarlet Pimpernel and the works of Georgette Heyer a little too detailed. However, I enjoyed the author’s analysis of Pride and Prejudice sequels such as the highly-regarded Longbourn by Jo Baker, the definitely less well-regarded (by Austen fans at least) Pemberley by Emma Tennant, and of the various TV/film adaptations of Pride and Prejudice, including of course the one with ‘that scene’.

In support of the numerous sequels, spin-offs and retellings of Pride and Prejudice, many of which the author explores in some detail, Gabrielle Malcolm makes the persuasive argument that Austen’s own letters reveal she imagined a future for Darcy and Elizabeth. I think we can safely assume that had she written her own sequel it would not have involved zombies…

Along the way, Gabrielle Malcolm addresses what she terms ‘the Darcy problem’, namely why would a young woman as intelligent as Elizabeth be attracted to such a proud, arrogant man? She concludes that Darcy symbolises ‘an ideal of authority, honesty and protection’ and argues he will endure for years to come because readers are drawn to the idea of a hero who shows ‘his inner sensitivity beneath the tough, proud, awkward, sometimes cruel, exterior’.

The publishers describe There’s Something About Darcy as ‘a must-read for every Darcy and Jane Austen fan’. The final chapters of the book in which the author explores the rise of fan fiction and its various manifestations are likely to appeal to those looking for recommendations to satisfy their appetite for new twists on Pride and Prejudice and Darcy in particular.

Although for me there were a few too many detours from the main subject, There’s Something About Darcy is an interesting, in-depth look at the appeal and afterlife of Austen’s most well-known fictional hero.

In three words: Detailed, informative, insightful

Try something simgailar: The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things
by Paula Byrne

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Gaby Malcolm 3About the Author

Dr. Gabrielle Malcolm lectures and writes about Jane Austen in popular culture and the global fan phenomena surrounding Austen’s work.

She is the author of Fan Phenomena: Jane Austen and is a regular speaker at the annual Jane Austen Festival in Bath, and the Jane Austen Regency Week in Chawton. She lives in Bath.

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Darcy Blog Tour Schedule