Some Excellent Reading Ahead

I’m supposed to be making good use of a week off work by catching up on a backlog of emails and reviews, reading and some long overdue blog maintenance. Instead, I’ve been distracted from these tasks by feeds heralding the release of some wonderful historical

The Classics Spin #17 ... The Spin Number Announced!

The number for the latest Classics Spin has been announced. The number is 3 which corresponds to Shirley by Charlotte Brontë on my list. Unfortunately, it was not the result I was hoping for, but at least it is a book from my own shelves and I don't have to go looking for a copy at the library; hence no reason for delay.

I loved Jane Eyre by the same author but with Shirley I've had a number of false starts, never making it past the first

The Classics Spin #17

This is my first Classics Club Spin. The reason I'm joining in this time is that I'm feeling guilty at neglecting my Classics Club list. This is a great incentive for me to read a classic over the next two months.

The rules for the spin are simple.

Make a list of twenty books that remain to be read on your Classics Club list. As a suggestion, your list can contain five

Blog Tour and Book Review: An Unquiet Ghost by Linda Stratmann

Welcome to the next stop on the blog tour for Linda Stratmann's latest Mina Scarletti novel, An Unquiet Ghost.

Synopsis

Brighton, 1871

Mina Scarletti, writer of horror stories but supernatural sceptic at heart, is becoming well known for unmasking those who fraudulently claim to be able to communicate with the dead. So it is no surprise to her when a young couple write to her seeking her advice.

They are George Fernwood and Mary Clifton, betrothed distant cousins with a family secret that is preventing them from getting married. Twenty years ago their alcoholic grandfather died in his bed.

Book Review: Four Respectable Ladies Seek Part-time Husband by Barbara Toner

A shortage of men due to the First World War and the flu pandemic, and the discrimination against women, is the backdrop of Barbara Toner's latest novel.

Set in a small country town in New South Wales, Australia, this wonderfully entertaining narrative comments on the social and political aspects of the time as men return from the war to resume their lives and the impact this has on the female population.

Synopsis

When Adelaide Nightingale, Louisa Worthington, Maggie O'Connell and Pearl McLeary threw caution to the winds in the most brazen way imaginable,