The Wistful and the Good by G. M. BakerRead an Excerpt

Publication Date: 4th April 2022
Publisher: Stories All the Way Down
Page Length: 341 Pages
Series: Cuthbert’s People #1
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

The mighty are undone by pride, the bold by folly, and the good by wistfulness.  

Elswyth's mother was a slave, but her father is a thegn, and Drefan, the man she is to marry, is an ealdorman's son. But though Elswyth is content with the match, and waits only for Drefan to notice that she has come to womanhood, still she finds herself gazing seaward, full of wistful longing.

From the sea come Norse traders, bringing wealth, friendship, and tales of distant lands.

A Fatal Crossing by Tom Hindle Book Review

Synopsis

November 1924. The Endeavour sets sail from Southampton carrying 2,000 passengers and crew on a week-long voyage to New York.

When an elderly gentleman is found dead at the foot of a staircase, ship's officer Timothy Birch is ready to declare it a tragic accident. But James Temple, a strong-minded Scotland Yard inspector, is certain there is more to this misfortune than meets the eye.

Birch agrees to investigate, and the trail quickly leads to the theft of a priceless painting. Its very existence is known only to its owner . . . and the dead man.

With just days remaining until they reach New York, and even Temple's purpose on board

Classics Club Spin #30: The Number Has Been Announced!

The result of the Spin has been announced. It is #5!

In the 20 books I'd listed for this spin, five were set in Australia and I was hoping for one of these.

Well, I'm very happy with the outcome of the spin as I Know My Love by Catherine Gaskin, set in 1850s Australia, was #5 on my list. I need to read this book by August 7th, 2022.

Gaskin is more famous for her other novel set in colonial Australia, Sara Dane, which was my introduction to this author in my early teenage years.

Classics Club Spin #30

Another Classics Club Spin is coming up!

My track record with Classics Club spins is woeful, not that I've participated in that many. I hope this time I've chosen my books wisely and that I'll finish reading whatever the spin dictates AND post a review.

Last Nocturne by M.J. Trow Book Review

Synopsis

Private detectives Grand & Batchelor's latest case draws them into the arcane world of high art and high society in this compelling Victorian mystery.

London. May, 1878. Private enquiry agents Matthew Grand and James Batchelor have been hired by the artist James Whistler to dig into the past of outspoken critic John Ruskin, with whom he has an ongoing feud. Not particularly optimistic of success, the two detectives are sidetracked from the investigation by the murder of a prostitute in nearby Cremorne Gardens. Her body posed on a park bench, a book on birth control sitting on her lap, Clara Jenkins is not the first young woman to have met a similarly grisly fate - and she won't be the last.

The French for Murder by Verity Bright Book Review

Publication Date: May 30, 2022
Publisher: Bookouture
Series: A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery #10
Format: ebook, print and audio
Genre: Historical Fiction/Cosy Mystery

Synopsis

A grand villa, croissants for breakfast and a dead body in the wine cellar… Lady Swift can’t seem to take a vacation from murder!

Summer 1923. Lady Eleanor Swift is finally persuaded by her butler, Clifford, to take a villa in the south of France for the season. She plans to do what a glamorous lady abroad should: long lunches on the balcony followed by lazy afternoons lounging by the pool. Even Gladstone the bulldog is looking forward to a daily paddle in the ocean.

But when Clifford examines the wine cellar, he discovers there are no decent reds but there is a very dead body. The victim is famous American movie star Rex Armstrong. Poor Rex seems to have been stabbed with a sword

Six Degrees of Separation: from Sorrow and Bliss to Windyridge

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 Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason. Once again, I've not read the book we are starting with and, as last month, time is not my friend due to various committments, the highlight of which was a four-day family get-to-gether to celebrate my father's 96th birthday (which I'm still recovering from).

As Sorrow and Bliss has been shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2022, I thought I'd look at previous winners. This wasn't very helpful, but at least it gave me a starting point. The only author I was familiar with was Helen

Northbridge Rectory by Angela Thirkell Book Review

I'm still way behind in Reading Thirkell's Barsetshire Series in Order Challenge, but hopefully I will catch up at some point.

Synopsis

Barsetshire during wartime finds Mr Downing, Miss Pemberton, and Mrs Turner engaged in a love triangle; a chorus of officers raucously quartered at the rectory; and village ladies with violent leanings.

In Mrs Major Spender, Thirkell offers a devastating sketch of the good-natured egoist, and readers will be pleased that the less-than-articulate Betty finds a soulmate in Captain Copham.

My Thoughts

Northbridge Rectory, its inhabitants and those

20 Books of Summer (Winter) 2022

I'm hoping that this reading challenge hosted by Cathy @ 746 Books will provide a boost for my reading and reviewing year, which is not going too well to-date.

The challenge will run from June 1st to September 1st, the winter months here in Australia and the ideal time for me to catch-up, now that work has finally quietened down after the prolonged and hectic tourist season and the weather will, no doubt, keep me housebound.

Unlike Any Other By Edward LonderganRead an Excerpt

Publication Date: 1st March, 2022
Publisher: White River Press
Page Length: 270 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

The Story of An 18th Century Woman from A Prominent New England Family Who Went from A Life of Privilege to The Gallows

Bathsheba Spooner was the daughter of Timothy Ruggles, a general in the French and Indian War, president of the Stamp Act Congress, Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, and a leading loyalist in Massachusetts during the Revolutionary War; the epitome of upper class.

Like her father, Bathsheba was smart, strong-willed, and a staunch British loyalist. Forced

The Colour of Rubies by Toni Mount Blog Tour - Read an Excerpt

Synopsis

Murder lurks at the heart of the royal court in the rabbit warren of the Palace of Westminster. The year is 1480. Treason is afoot amongst the squalid grandeur and opulent filth of this medieval world of contrasts. Even the Office of the King’s Secretary hides a dangerous secret.

Meeting with lords and lackeys, clerks, courtiers and the mighty King Edward himself, can Seb Foxley decipher the encoded messages and name the spy? Will Seb be able to prevent the murder of the most important heir in England?

All will be revealed as we join Seb Foxley and his abrasive brother Jude in the latest intriguing adventure amid the sordid shadows of fifteenth-century London.

Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner Blog Tour - Read an Excerpt

Publication Date: May 17, 2022
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Genre: Historical Fiction, Women’s Fiction
Length: (368) pages
Format: Hardcover, eBook, & audiobook
ISBN: 978-1250276698

Synopsis

Natalie Jenner, the internationally bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society, returns with a compelling and heartwarming story of post-war London, a century-old bookstore, and three women determined to find their way in a fast-changing world in Bloomsbury Girls.

Bloomsbury Books is an old-fashioned new and rare bookstore that has persisted and resisted change for a hundred years, run by men and guided by the general manager's unbreakable fifty-one rules. But in 1950, the