Tag: Reviews

#6Degrees of Separation – A book chain from Prophet Song by Paul Lynch to James by Percival Everett

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It’s the first Saturday of the month which means it’s time for 6 Degrees of Separation.

Here’s how it works: a book is chosen as a starting point by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best and linked to six other books to form a chain. Readers and bloggers are invited to join in by creating their own ‘chain’ leading from the selected book.

Kate says: Books can be linked in obvious ways – for example, books by the same authors, from the same era or genre, or books with similar themes or settings. Or, you may choose to link them in more personal or esoteric ways: books you read on the same holiday, books given to you by a particular friend, books that remind you of a particular time in your life, or books you read for an online challenge. Join in by posting your own #6Degrees chain on your blog and adding the link in the comments section of each month’s post.   You can also check out links to posts on X using the hashtag #6Degrees.

Front cover of Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

This month’s starting book is Prophet Song by Paul Lynch which won the Booker Prize in 2023. It’s a book I haven’t read but is on my wishlist. Links from each title in the chain will take you to my review or the book description on Goodreads.

My first link is rather literal, but I hope not blasphemous, involving the name of a prophet from the Bible – Gideon. Gideon’s Day by J. J. Marric (the pseudonym of crime writer John Creasey) chronicles a day in the life of Detective Superintendent George Gideon of Scotland Yard during which he deals with various cases including alleged bribery, a robbery and a murder.

Gideon’s Day was made into a film starring Jack Hawkins who also took the leading role in the film adaptation of the novel The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Montsarrat. It’s set on board a small warship, HMS Compass Rose, tasked with escorting convoys across the Atlantic Ocean in World War Two.

Another book which features life aboard a ship during WW2 is Splinter on the Tide by Philip Parotti. Naval reservist Ash Miller is given command of a 110-foot wooden ‘submarine chaser’ tasked with protecting merchant ships from attack by German U-boats along the US Atlantic coast.

Another small boat features in The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor, based on a true story. Its 1940 and Alice King is escorting a group of children to Canada when a Nazi U-boat torpedoes their ship, the S.S. Carlisle, leaving a single lifeboat adrift in the storm-tossed Atlantic.

In How to Build A Boat by Elaine Feeny, 13-year-old Jamie is persuaded that building a boat is more practical than the perpetual motion machine he wanted to construct in an effort to connect with his mother who died when he was born.

Boatbuilding would be a useful skill for Huck and escaped slave, Jim, as they travel down the Mississippi River on a raft in James by Percival Everett, the author’s re-imagining of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The book was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2024 taking us full circle to the starting book.

My chain has taken me from dystopian Ireland to the Mississippi River. Where did your chain take you?

The Cruel Sea

#WWWWednesday – 26th February 2025

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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!

What I’m Currently Reading

Front cover of The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden (Viking)

It’s 1961 and the rural Dutch province of Overijssel is quiet. Bomb craters have been filled, buildings reconstructed, and the war is well and truly over. Living alone in her late mother’s country home, Isabel’s life is as it should be: led by routine and discipline. But all is upended when her brother Louis delivers his graceless new girlfriend, Eva, at Isabel’s doorstep-as a guest, there to stay for the season…

Eva is Isabel’s antithesis: sleeps late, wakes late, walks loudly through the house and touches things she shouldn’t. In response Isabel develops a fury-fuelled obsession, and when things start disappearing around the house-a spoon, a knife, a bowl-Isabel’ suspicions spiral out of control. In the sweltering peak of summer, Isabel’s paranoia gives way to desire – leading to a discovery that unravels all Isabel has ever known. The war might not be well and truly over after all, and neither Eva – nor the house in which they live – are what they seem.

Agricola: Warrior by Simon Turney (Aries via NetGalley)

In Nero’s Rome, ambition is a dangerous thing…

Agricola has won renown for his military exploits in Britannia. Now returned to Rome with his new family, he seeks to rise further – but life in the greatest city on earth proves more difficult than he expected. Roman politics are on a knife-edge – often literally. The Emperor Nero is unpredictable, the manner of his rule unstable.

Agricola soon finds himself posted to the troublesome province of Asia Minor. The local governor is ambitious and dangerous. Falling foul of such a man could mean certain death… and yet a rebellious young warrior like Agricola cannot stay silent for long.

When Agricola experiences personal tragedy, he seeks revenge. Rome, meanwhile, burns in a great fire… but further tumult is to come in the wake of Nero’s death. Agricola must tread a careful path to stay alive through the Year of the Four Emperors… a year of blood and ruin throughout the empire.

What I’ve Just Read

Woman in Blue by Douglas Bruton (Fairlight)

The Paris Dancer by Nicola Rayner (Aria)

Paris, 1938. Annie Mayer arrives in France with dreams of becoming a ballerina. But when the war reaches Paris, she’s forced to keep her Jewish heritage a secret. Then a fellow dancer offers her a lifeline: a ballroom partnership that gives her a new identity. Together, Annie and her partner captivate audiences across occupied Europe, using her newfound fame and alias to aid the Resistance.

New York, 2012. Miriam, haunted by her past, travels from London to New York to settle her great-aunt Esther’s estate. Among Esther’s belongings, she discovers notebooks detailing a secret family history and the story of a brave dancer who risked everything to help Jewish families during the war.

As Miriam uncovers Esther’s life in Europe, she realises the story has been left for her to finish. Grappling with loss and the possibility of new love, Miriam must find the strength to reconcile her past and embrace her future. (Review to follow)

Butter by Asako Yuzuki, translated by Polly Barton (Fourth Estate)

There are two things that I can simply not tolerate: feminists and margarine.

Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in Tokyo Detention Centre convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, who she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has captured the nation’s imagination but Kajii refuses to speak with the press, entertaining no visitors. That is, until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew and Kajii can’t resist writing back.

Rika, the only woman in her news office, works late each night, rarely cooking more than ramen. As the visits unfold between her and the steely Kajii, they are closer to a masterclass in food than journalistic research. Rika hopes this gastronomic exchange will help her soften Kajii but it seems that she might be the one changing. With each meal she eats, something is awakening in her body, might she and Kaji have more in common than she once thought?

Inspired by the real case of the convicted con woman and serial killer, “The Konkatsu Killer”, Asako Yuzuki’s Butter is a vivid, unsettling exploration of misogyny, obsession, romance and the transgressive pleasures of food in Japan. (Review to follow)

What I’ll Be Reading Next

Mrs Hudson and the Capricorn Incident by Martin Davies (Allison & Busby via NetGalley)

It is spring in Baker Street, and London is preparing itself for the wedding of the year. It will be an international spectacle in which the young and popular Count Rudolph Absberg, a political exile from his native land, will take the hand of the beautiful and accomplished Princess Sophia Kubinova. A lot depends on the marriage, for it is hoped that the union will ensure the security and independence of their homeland.

When the princess subsequently disappears in dramatic circumstances, members of the British establishment are quick to call on Mr Sherlock Holmes. He, in turn, needs the gifts of long-standing housekeeper Mrs Hudson and her able assistant, housemaid Flotsam, to solve this puzzling case on which rests the fate of nations.

The continuation of the intricately crafted Holmes & Hudson series is a treat for fans of the great detective’s original cases while they offer an inspired take on the rest of the famous Baker Street household.