This month the starting point is What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez, which centres around a woman dying of cancer. This brought to mind The Winter House by Nicci Gerrard where a group of friends travel to Scotland to be with another friend who is also terminally ill with cancer.
Scotland is the link to my next book, Strings of Murder by Oscar de Muriel, the first in a Victorian mystery series that features a mismatched pair of detectives. McGray believes that the supernatural is behind many of their cases and Frey believes there is a
more logical explanation.Shilly and Anna are another Victorian detecting duo, who share similar sentiments as McGray and Frey when it comes to solving a crime. Anna is too quick to dismiss any other-worldly interventions in their cases, while Shilly experiences events that cannot always be explained by logic. In Katherine Stansfield's novel The Mermaid's Call, Shilly and Anna investigate a murder that many villagers believe is the work of a mermaid.
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Secrets of the Sea House by Elisabeth Gifford, is a dual timeline narrative that also explores the mythology of mermaids and tells of a secret discovered beneath an old house.
Another old house with secrets is Nanreath Hall on the clifftops of Cornwall. Secrets of Nanreath Hall is Alix Rickloff's debut novel set during World War II and 1913. It links to my final book, also a debut novel, by one of the characters being an artist. In At Summer's End by Courtney Ellis, during the summer of 1922 Alberta Preston is commissioned to paint an earl's country estate and becomes entangled in the lives of its residents.
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My chain this month has included the terminally ill, Scotland, unusual Victorian detective duos, mermaids, old houses and artists.
Next month, the starting point is Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton.
I don't know any of these books, but it is a really interesting chain.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Davida!
DeleteThese are all unknown to me, but each of them sounds worth a try. An interesting chain.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Margaret!
DeleteSuch an atmospheric chain!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Susan!
DeleteVery original. You've done such an interesting chain.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lisa!
DeleteI haven't come across any of these books, but I think they together very well.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Margaret!
DeleteNice. I'm going to look into Strings of Murder.
ReplyDeleteMy quirky chain is here: https://wordsandpeace.com/2021/11/06/six-degrees-of-separation-from-asking-to-spelling/
Thank you, Emma! I hope you decide to read it.
DeleteThe Secrets of Nanreath Hall is the only one I had on my TBR but I am adding to that now. Great chain!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Constance! Always pleased to know I've added to someone's TBR.
DeleteI too haven't heard of any of these books (which is one of the many joys of taking part in 6 Degrees!
ReplyDeleteI would like to read At Summer's End, which put me in mind of Catherine Alliott's A Cornish Summer (in which a divorced artist is summoned to her ex's family mansion in Cornwall to paint a portrait of the patriarch - only to find her ex, his new wife and their perfect children already in residence). I'm sure they're two very different stories though!
Mermaids seem to be a Thing at the moment - an American book podcast that I listen to mentions Into The Drowning Deep practically every week (but that still hasn't persuaded me to read it - sounds far too scary...) and I've just borrowed Kate Ellis's The Mermaid's Scream from the library.
I enjoyed your chain.
Yes, 6 Degrees is great for bringing books to our attention.
DeleteI hope you get to read At Summer's End.
I'll have to check out both those mermaid books.
Thanks, Rosemary Kaye.