It's Monday! What Are you Reading?

This weekly meme is hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date.

I spent a lot of time last week searching out books and adding them to various lists rather than actually doing much reading.

I did finish The Tailor's Girl by Fiona McIntosh. I enjoyed this well written post World War I romance and hope to read more books by this author.

The other book I finished last week, The Crimes of Charlotte Brontë by James Tully, was a very interesting re-look at the lives of the Brontës. The author is a retired criminologist with specialist knowledge of 19th century poisons. Finding discrepancies in the accounts of the Brontës' lives and deaths, he decided to research further and was inspired to present his findings in the form of a novel. It is a believable alternative to what we know of this family and as the title suggests Charlotte Brontë does not fair too well. He depicts her as a villain, an accessory to murder motivated by greed, which upset a few people when the novel was first released.

This week I'm reading Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. I've only read a few pages so have not read enough to form an opinion, but it's off to a good start.

I'm also reading a novel that I've wanted to read for a long time but never got around to it, The Flight of the Heron by D.K. Broster. It was first released in 1925 and is the first novel of her Jacobite trilogy.

I recently read an excerpt of S.J. Deas' English Civil War novel, The Royalist and I'm eager to read more. A copy is on its way to me. Hopefully, I'll receive it by the time I've finished the two books I'm reading this week otherwise I'll have to sort through my TBR pile.

What I Read Last Week

The Tailor's Girl by Fiona McIntosh

A humble soldier, known only as 'Jones', wakes in hospital with no recollection of his past. The few fleeting fragments of memory he glimpses are horrifying moments from the battlefield at Ypres. His very identity becomes a puzzle he must solve. Then Eden Valentine comes gliding into his world, a stunning tailoress who has a dream of her own business in high fashion but whose duty to her family may never permit her to fulfil. Her fiancé resents the intrusion of the disarming Jones who is in desperate need of her help to unravel his past. Surrounding the mystery is Alex Wynter, the influential heir to an industrial empire and country manor Larksfell Hall. With his aristocratic family still reeling from a recent tragedy, he brings news that will further rock the foundations of their privileged lives. When their three very different worlds collide, the pieces of the past finally fall into place and lead them into wildly unexpected futures. What they discover will bring shattering consequences that threaten to tear apart far more than just the heart of the tailor's girl.

The Crimes of Charlotte Brontë by James Tully

The story of the lives of the Bronte family is as haunting and tragic as their novels: three sisters and an alcoholic brother shut in the bleak and claustrophobic parsonage at Haworth.
Noted criminologist James Tully became fascinated by inconsistencies he found in the accounts of the lives and deaths of the Brontes, and soon became enmeshed in seeking out the mysteries of Haworth. So dark and unexpected were the results of his researches, he decided to tell the story in the form of a novel which brings to the fore many disturbing questions ... All of which leads to one final question: Was there a cold-blooded and calculating murderer at the heart of the Bronte household?

What I'm Reading Today

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

I have two weeks. You'll shoot me at the end no matter what I do.
That's what you do to enemy agents. It's what we do to enemy agents. But I look at all the dark and twisted roads ahead and cooperation is the easy way out. Possibly the only way out for a girl caught red-handed doing dirty work like mine - and I will do anything, anything to avoid SS-Hauptsturmführer von Linden interrogating me again. He has said that I can have as much paper as I need. All I have to do is cough up everything I can remember about the British War Effort. And I'm going to. But the story of how I came to be here starts with my friend Maddie. She is the pilot who flew me into France - an Allied Invasion of Two. We are a sensational team.

The Flight of the Heron by D.K. Broster

1745. When Bonnie Prince Charlie lands in Scotland, the mountains and glens of the Highlands ring to the pipes and drums of the clans who flock to his banner. Charged with excitement, heroism and romance, this stirring tragic adventure that is the unforgettable story of the 'King Over the Water', has never been better told.

What I Hope to Read Next

The Royalist by S.J. Deas

William Falkland is a dead man. A Royalist dragoon who fought against Parliament, he is currently awaiting execution at Newgate prison. Yet when he is led away from Newgate with a sack over his head, it is not the gallows to which they take him, but to Oliver Cromwell himself. Cromwell has heard of Falkland's reputation as an investigator and now more than ever he needs a man of conscience. His New Model Army are wintering in Devon but mysterious deaths are sweeping the camp and, in return for his freedom, Falkland is despatched to uncover the truth. With few friends and a slew of enemies, Falkland soon learns there is a dark demon at work, one who won't go down without a fight. But how can he protect the troops from such a monster and, more importantly, will he be able to protect himself?