Six Degrees of Separation: From The End of the Affair to Lady's Maid

It's the first Saturday of the month and time to play Six Degrees of Separation. This meme is hosted by Kate of Books Are My Favourite and Best. The aim is to link six books to each other from the starting point.

This month the starting point is The End of the Affair by Graham Greene. I've not read any of this author's novels, although I do vaguely remember seeing the film based on one of his books, Our Man in Havana. Whether I enjoyed it or not, I also can't remember. As I'm lacking inspiration for my first link, I'll take the easy route and use the word affair.

Lauren Willig is a favourite author of mine and I'm linking to her first standalone novel.The Ashford Affair. This is a dual-time historical romance set in the Edwardian/post-World War I era of England and Africa, and present day New

York.

From affairs of the heart I'm moving on to more sinister deeds. In her novel The Shadows of Versailles (my review), Cathie Dunn sets her novel during the Affair of the Poisons, a time under King Louis IV's reign when France was scandalised by a series of murders involving poisoning and witchcraft linked to the aristocracy.

My next book takes me from French to Italian poisoners. Deborah Swift's The Poison Keepers (my review) introduced me to another family of poisoners rivalling the Borgias: Giulia Tofana and her mother, who sold a poison named 'Aqua Tofana' to women who wanted to be rid of their husbands.

Still staying with the theme of murder by poison, but incorporated in a more lighthearted way, is a novel I recently finished, A Royal Murder by Verity Bright (my review). This is #9 of the Lady Eleanor Swift cosy mystery series where a royal cousin is murdered at the Henley Regatta by poison in his glass of champagne.

Another recently finished novel in the cosy mystery genre is A Quiet Life in the Country by T.E. Kinsey. This is the first of the Lady Hardcastle mysteries set in the Edwardian era featuring amateur sleuths Lady Emily Hardcastle and her lady's maid, Florence Armstrong. They share a unique mistress and servant relationship, often sounding like a vaudeville act with their banter and comic one-liners. It is an interesting start to a series and I'm looking forward to reading more.

A recent second-hand purchase is a book that links to the previous one by its title Lady's Maid. This is Margaret Forster's fictional portrayal of Elizabeth Wilson, maid to the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Through her actions, Wilson enabled the love affair and eventual elopement of her mistress and Robert Browning. I'm hoping to read this book as part of the 2022 Chunkster Reading Challenge. Well, that's my Six Degrees of Separation for this month. It started with an affair of the heart and via poisoners, cosy mysteries and lady's maids, surprisingly, ended with one.

Next month (April 2, 2022) the starting point is Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield.