#WWWWednesday – 12th October 2022

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

SBS Special Boat SquadronSBS: Special Boat Squadron by Iain Gale (ARC, Head of Zeus)

From this moment on, you and your men, you don’t exist.

Formed in the darkest hours of the Second World War, as nation after nation fell before the unstoppable Axis advance, the task of the SBS was to strike back at an enemy no army could meet in the field. Trained in sabotage and surveillance, the Special Boat Squadron raided deep behind enemy lines, sowing chaos and capturing much-needed intelligence. Soldiers, adventurers and rogues, their methods were unorthodox, their success rate unprecedented.

Operation Anglo, 31 August 1942. Beneath the waves of the Mediterranean, HMS Traveller closes in on the coast of Rhodes. Aboard, eight SBS commandos check their weapons as they prepare to infiltrate and sabotage two Axis bomber fields. Only two of the eight commandos will make it back to alive. Ex-Black Watch Sgt Jim Hunter will be one of the lucky ones, but what he will face next will make Operation Anglo look like a cakewalk.

TheHoneyFarmontheHillThe Honey Farm on the Hill by Jo Thomas (Headline)

We never forget the one who got away.

Eighteen years ago Nell fell in love in the mountains of Crete and life changed for ever. Nell’s daughter, Demi, has never met her dad. Nell never saw him again. When she gets the chance to return to the hilltop town of Vounoplagia – where everything began – Nell can’t resist the urge to go back and find him.

Working on a honey farm perched high up in the hills, there’s plenty to keep her busy. And she will quickly realise the town harbours just as many secrets as she does.

But if Nell’s favourite romantic films are right, there’s a happy ending in store for each of us. All she has to do is seek out the magic of the mountains… 


Recently finished

The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho by Paterson Joseph (Dialogue Books)

Squire’s Hazard by Carolyn Hughes (Riverdown Books)


What Cathy (will) Read Next

Best of FriendsBest of Friends by Kamila Shamsie (ARC, Bloomsbury via Readers First)

Fourteen-year-old Maryam and Zahra have always been the best of friends, despite their different backgrounds. Maryam takes for granted that she will stay in Karachi and inherit the family business; while Zahra keeps her desires secret, and dreams of escaping abroad.

This year, 1988, anything seems possible for the girls; and for Pakistan, emerging from the darkness of dictatorship into a bright future under another young woman, Benazir Bhutto. But a snap decision at a party celebrating the return of democracy brings the girls’ childhoods abruptly to an end. Its consequences will shape their futures in ways they cannot imagine.

Three decades later, in London, Zahra and Maryam are still best friends despite living very different lives. But when unwelcome ghosts from their shared past re-enter their world, both women find themselves driven to act in ways that will stretch and twist their bond beyond all recognition.

 

The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2023: Some Longlist Contenders?

WalterScottPrizeThe deadline for publishers to submit books published in 2022 for The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2022 has now passed. The prize is open to novels written in English and first published in 2022 in the UK, Ireland or the Commonwealth. The majority of the storyline, i.e. over 50%, must take place at least 60 years ago.

Like other historical fiction fans, I shall be eagerly awaiting the announcement of the longlist in February 2023 and the shortlist a month or two after that. As in previous years, I’ll try (but probably fail) to read all the longlisted novels I haven’t already read.

It seems to me 2022 has been a spectacular year for historical fiction. Below are some I’ve read that I think might make the longlist, some books in my TBR pile which judging from reviews deserve a place, and a few others which look like possible contenders (subject in each case to them meeting all the eligibility criteria). Links from the titles will take you to my review or the book description on Goodreads.

Check back when the longlist is announced to see if any of my picks match the judges’ choices.


Books I’ve read

Books in my TBR pile

Books on my RADAR

Are any of your favourites on my list?  What other historical fiction novels published in 2022 do you think deserve to be on the longlist?