It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

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

A very quiet week for me reading wise. Only one book finished, but what a great read it was. So pleased that Tracy Rees followed up her very successful debut novel, Amy Snow, with the equally enthralling Florence Grace. I can't wait to see what she writes next.

As you can gather, I abandoned what I was currently reading in favour of Florence Grace,  but I'm heading back to those books this week and hopefully will stick to my plan to read  No Man's Land and The Spirit Guide next.

What I Read Last Week

Florence Grace by Tracy Rees

Florrie Buckley is an orphan, living on the wind-blasted moors of Cornwall. It's a hard existence but Florrie is content; she runs wild in the mysterious landscape. She thinks her destiny is set in stone.
But when Florrie is fourteen, she inherits a never-imagined secret. She is related to a wealthy and notorious London family, the Graces. Overnight, Florrie's life changes and she moves from country to city, from poverty to wealth.
Cut off from everyone she has ever known, Florrie struggles to learn the rules of this strange new world. And then she must try to fathom her destructive pull towards the enigmatic and troubled Turlington Grace, a man with many dark secrets of his own.

What I'm Still Reading

All For Nothing by Walter Kempowski

Winter, January 1945. It is cold and dark, and the German army is retreating from the Russian advance. Germans are fleeing the occupied territories in their thousands, in cars and carts and on foot. But in a rural East Prussian manor house, the wealthy von Globig family tries to seal itself off from the world. Peter von Globig is twelve, and feigns a cough to get out of his Hitler Youth duties, preferring to sledge behind the house and look at snowflakes through his microscope. His father Eberhard is stationed in Italy - a desk job safe from the front - and his bookish and musical mother Katharina has withdrawn into herself. Instead the house is run by a conservative, frugal aunt, helped by two Ukrainian maids and an energetic Pole. Protected by their privileged lifestyle from the deprivation and chaos around them, and caught in the grip of indecision, they make no preparations to leave, until Katharina's decision to harbour a stranger for the night begins their undoing. Superbly expressive and strikingly vivid, sympathetic yet painfully honest about the motivations of its characters, All for Nothing is a devastating portrait of the self-delusions, complicities and denials of the German people as the Third Reich comes to an end.

Island of the Swans by Ciji Ware

In this resplendent love story a dazzling era comes vividly to life as one woman's passionate struggle to follow her heart takes her from the opulent cotillions of Edinburgh to the London court of half-mad King George III . . . from a famed salon teeming with politicians and poets to a picturesque castle on the secluded, lush Island of the Swans. . . .
Best friends in childhood, Jane Maxwell and Thomas Fraser wreaked havoc on the cobbled streets of Edinburgh with their juvenile pranks. But years later, when Jane blossoms into a beautiful woman, her feelings for Thomas push beyond the borders of friendship, and he becomes the only man she wants. When Thomas is reportedly killed in the American colonies, the handsome, charismatic Alexander, Duke of Gordon, appeals to a devastated Jane. Believing Thomas is gone forever, Jane hesitantly responds to the Duke, whose passion ignites her blood, even as she rebels at his fierce desire to claim her.
But Thomas Fraser is not dead, and when he returns to find his beloved Jane betrothed to another, he refuses to accept the heartbreaking turn of events. Soon Jane's marriage is swept into a turbulent dance of tender wooing and clashing wills--as Alex seeks truly to make her his, and his alone. . . .
 
What I Hope to Read Next

No Man's Land by Simon Tolkien

From the slums of London to the riches of an Edwardian country house; from the hot, dark seams of a Yorkshire coalmine to the exposed terrors of the trenches, Adam Raine’s journey from boy to man is set against the backdrop of a society violently entering the modern world.
Adam Raine is a boy cursed by misfortune. His impoverished childhood in the slums of Islington is brought to an end by a tragedy that sends him north to Scarsdale, a hard-living coalmining town where his father finds work as a union organizer. But it isn’t long before the escalating tensions between the miners and their employer, Sir John Scarsdale, explode with terrible consequences.
In the aftermath, Adam meets Miriam, the Rector’s beautiful daughter, and moves into Scarsdale Hall, an opulent paradise compared with the life he has been used to before. But he makes an enemy of Sir John’s son, Brice, who subjects him to endless petty cruelties for daring to step above his station.
When love and an Oxford education beckon, Adam feels that his life is finally starting to come together – until the outbreak of war threatens to tear everything apart.

The Spirit Guide by Elizabeth Davies

Seren has an unusual gift – she sees spirits, the shades of the dead.
Terrified of being accused of witchcraft, a very real possibility in twelfth century Britain, she keeps her secret close, not even confiding in her husband.

But when she gives her heart and soul to a man who guides spirits in the world beyond the living, she risks her secret and her life for their love.

Book Review: The King's Shadow by Cheryl Sawyer

The King's Shadow is the final book of Cheryl Sawyer's English Civil War trilogy. I've not read the previous two novels (The Winter Prince and Farewell, Cavaliers) and was hoping this wasn't an oversight on my part when I accepted an ARC from the author.  My concerns were unfounded for The King's Shadow is a great read on its own.

On New Year's Day 1660, an army sets out from Coldstream in the Scottish Borders for London under the command of General Monck. His intentions are unclear, causing unrest amongst the various factions on both sides.

The Parliamentary army is no longer a unified force and many of its high ranking officers are disillusioned at what the army has become. Colonel Mark Denton is assigned by Monck to seek out and ascertain the feelings of these men and determine if they pose a threat to Monck's plan to march south. Denton, too, is uncertain about Monck's intentions, but vows to be there when the General enters London, whether it is to support the return of the King or plunge the country into another civil war.

Lucinda Selby, from a dispossessed Royalist family, has every reason to detest Colonel Denton. Not only is he a Parliamentarian and opposes everything she stands for, he also holds her family's estate. Her one hope for the future is the elusive King's Shadow to whom she owes a debt of gratitude for saving her brother's life. Committed to the Royalist cause, she embarks on a dangerous mission on behalf of the King.

Cheryl Sawyer's excellent research skills, combined with her interpretation of the political situation of the day and her ability to write a good story, brings to life a very interesting period in history. Simply told, it is informative as well as entertaining. Her easy to read style moves the plot along at a smart pace. The dialogue flows naturally and the characters, whether historical or fictional, are well developed.

I liked Colonel Mark Denton from the start though his reputation as a passionate Parliamentarian, estranged from his family because of it, and despised and feared by the Royalists, conjured up visions of a hard hearted individual. At first he seemed reticent and taciturn, but as the story unfolds his true nature is revealed and I liked him even more. He is disturbed by the antipathy Lucinda feels for him and is resigned to the fact that she will never look upon him favourably, which makes everything he does on her behalf all the more sweeter. While Lucinda Selby has all the attributes of a thoroughly believable and lovable heroine, it is Colonel Mark Denton that stands out above the crowd and makes this story a memorable read.

The mysterious King's Shadow adds further excitement to the story. It was easy to figure out his identity from the clues dropped along the way. While this may be construed as a disappointment I found it had the opposite effect. Knowing a detail that the characters are yet to discover creates a sense of anticipation and it is amusing how they finally make the connection, but apt given the expertise of the character who interprets the final clue.

A nice bonus is the author's historical note at the end and shows how well Cheryl Sawyer knows her readers. To avoid spoilers, resist the temptation to take a peek. Read the story first before indulging in this little tidbit.

I thoroughly enjoyed The King's Shadow and recommend it to those who have an interest in this period in history, love a great  adventure story and are not adverse to a heart warming romance.

I Scored a Hat-Trick!

No, I haven't given up reading and taken up cricket (that's where the term "hat-trick" originated back in the 19th century and means taking three wickets with three consecutive balls by the same bowler). My "hat-trick" was of a different kind.

This morning searching my library's new items catalogue I made three exciting discoveries:  three books by three Australian authors I follow, to be released in three consecutive months.

Worth Fighting For by Mary-Anne O'Connor

From Darwin to Pearl Harbour, Sydney to Papua New Guinea, a compelling story of courage, honour and a great love set against the epic backdrop of the Second World War.

Eighteen-year-old Junie Wallace is a smart girl and, with her two brothers away at war and her third brother just killed in action, she knows there is only one way to save the family farm for her grieving parents. Unfortunately, that solution involves marrying the unscrupulous Ernest, and breaking the heart of the young drover she loves, Michael.
But the war is looming ever closer, and when Pearl Harbour brings the threat of Japanese aggression to Australian shores, the fates of many becomes inextricably interwoven.

From the explosive battles of the Pacific campaign to the desperate fighting in the Papuan New Guinea rainforest; the dancehall gaiety of Sydney’s Trocadero to the terror of the Darwin bombings, this epic family saga brings home the importance of mateship and of fighting for what you believe in, even when impossible odds seem stacked against you, even when all seems lost…

Worth Fighting For is a resounding testament to the enduring force of love: a reminder of what can be achieved if you draw on your reserves of courage and listen to the truth in your heart.

From Mira/Harlequin Australia, due out October 2016.

Mary-Anne O'Connor is the author of Gallipoli Street.

Beyond the Orchard by Anna Romer

Lucy Briar has arrived home in turmoil after years overseas. She’s met her fiancé in London and has her life mapped out, but something is holding her back.

Hoping to ground herself and find answers, Lucy settles into once familiar routines. But old tortured feelings swarm Lucy’s existence when her beloved father, Ron, is hospitalised and Morgan – the man who drove her away all those years ago – seeks her out.

Worse, Ron implores Lucy to go to Bitterwood Estate, the crumbling historic family guesthouse now left to him. He needs Lucy to find something– an old photograph album, the very thing that drove Ron and his father apart.

Lucy has her own painful memories of Bitterwood, darkness that has plagued her dreams since she was young, and she’s hesitant to return. But as Lucy searches for the album, the house begins to give up its ghosts and she is driven to put them to rest.

And there, held tightly between the house, the orchard and the soaring cliffs, Lucy uncovers a long-hidden secret that shattered a family’s bond and kept a frightened young girl in its thrall ... and Lucy discovers just how fierce the lonely heart can be.

From Simon & Schuster Australia, due out November 2016.

Anna Romer is the author of Thornwood House and Lyrebird Hill.

Mackenzie Crossing by Kaye Dobbie

A passion for photography draws two stories together across time to Mackenzie Crossing.

Neville ‘Pom’ Darling, is on the hunt for the perfect photograph.

Skye Stewart, is searching for her long lost grandfather.

It’s 1939, and Neville, escaping an unhappy marriage and his memories of the Great War, finds himself in Mackenzie Crossing on the day of the terrible Black Friday bushfires. He meets the beautiful Georgie Mackenzie and in an instant knows that she is the subject he has been looking for. As the heat intensifies, Georgie and Pom begin to wonder if they have a future together; but first, they must survive the blaze.

Almost sixty years later, Sky Stewart returns to the area in search of her grandfather. Did he survive the Black Friday bushfires? Who is the exotic woman in the photograph she found? But when she arrives in Elysian, the closest town to where Mackenzie Crossing used to be, she finds more of her hidden past than she bargained for. A more recent past which she would prefer stayed forgotten…

From Mira/Harlequin Australia, due out December 2016.

Kaye Dobbie is the author of Sweet Wattle Creek, Colours of Gold and more.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

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

Last week I finished the remaining chapters of The Moon in the Water and now I'm looking for the sequel, The Chains of Fate. Unfortunately this book is out of print and my library doesn't even have a copy in the stacks, so it may be a while before I find out what happens to Thomazine and Francis.

Another book finished was Barbara Erskine's latest release, Sleeper's Castle. Like all Barbara Erskine's books I found it a quick read and while I enjoyed it, I didn't feel it was as good as some of her earlier books. My favourites are still The Darkest Hour and Child of the Phoenix

I'm still reading All For Nothing. This is a strange novel and at the moment I can't think of any words that would adequately describe it. I'm not even sure I like this book. It's not a page turner; I can only read a couple of chapters before setting it aside and picking up another book, yet I'm drawn to it.

I'm also reading The Island of Swans this week.

As to what's up next - I'm collecting Florence Grace, the new novel from Tracy Rees, from the library tomorrow and I just know I'm going to get into it straight away.

What I Read Last Week

The Moon in the Water by Pamela Belle

Orphaned at ten, Thomasina Heron is sent to her new guardian, Sir Simon of "Goldhayes" in Suffolk. There Thomasina will spend a happy young girlhood with her cousins: the Heron heir Simon; kind solid Edward; young James; friendly Lucy; and Francis-- who is imaginative, daring, apt to be cynical, who talks about unicorns and usually gets into trouble. The cousins are faced with many challenges as they grow up, and conflict between King Charles I and Parliament leads to civil war.


Sleeper's Castle by Barbara Erskine

Hay-On-Wye, 1400 – War is brewing in the Welsh borders, Catrin is on the brink of womanhood and falling in love for the first time. Her father is a soothsayer, playing a dangerous game playing on the mixed loyalties and furious rivalries between welsh princes and English lords. For two hundred years, the Welsh people have lain under the English yoke, dreaming of independence. And finally it looks as though the charismatic Owain Glyndwr may be the man legend talks of. In the walls of Sleeper’s Castle, Catrin finds herself caught in the middle of a doomed war as she is called upon to foretell Wales’s destiny… And what she sees, is blood and war coming closer…
Hay, 2015. Miranda has moved to Sleeper’s Castle to escape and grieve. Slowly she feels herself coming to life in the solitude of the mountains. But every time she closes her eyes her dreams become more vivid. And she makes a connection with a young girl, who’s screaming, who’s reaching out… who only Miranda can help. Is she losing herself to time?

What I'm Reading Today

All For Nothing by Walter Kempowski

Winter, January 1945. It is cold and dark, and the German army is retreating from the Russian advance. Germans are fleeing the occupied territories in their thousands, in cars and carts and on foot. But in a rural East Prussian manor house, the wealthy von Globig family tries to seal itself off from the world. Peter von Globig is twelve, and feigns a cough to get out of his Hitler Youth duties, preferring to sledge behind the house and look at snowflakes through his microscope. His father Eberhard is stationed in Italy - a desk job safe from the front - and his bookish and musical mother Katharina has withdrawn into herself. Instead the house is run by a conservative, frugal aunt, helped by two Ukrainian maids and an energetic Pole. Protected by their privileged lifestyle from the deprivation and chaos around them, and caught in the grip of indecision, they make no preparations to leave, until Katharina's decision to harbour a stranger for the night begins their undoing. Superbly expressive and strikingly vivid, sympathetic yet painfully honest about the motivations of its characters, All for Nothing is a devastating portrait of the self-delusions, complicities and denials of the German people as the Third Reich comes to an end.

Island of the Swans by Ciji Ware

In this resplendent love story a dazzling era comes vividly to life as one woman's passionate struggle to follow her heart takes her from the opulent cotillions of Edinburgh to the London court of half-mad King George III . . . from a famed salon teeming with politicians and poets to a picturesque castle on the secluded, lush Island of the Swans. . . .
Best friends in childhood, Jane Maxwell and Thomas Fraser wreaked havoc on the cobbled streets of Edinburgh with their juvenile pranks. But years later, when Jane blossoms into a beautiful woman, her feelings for Thomas push beyond the borders of friendship, and he becomes the only man she wants. When Thomas is reportedly killed in the American colonies, the handsome, charismatic Alexander, Duke of Gordon, appeals to a devastated Jane. Believing Thomas is gone forever, Jane hesitantly responds to the Duke, whose passion ignites her blood, even as she rebels at his fierce desire to claim her.
But Thomas Fraser is not dead, and when he returns to find his beloved Jane betrothed to another, he refuses to accept the heartbreaking turn of events. Soon Jane's marriage is swept into a turbulent dance of tender wooing and clashing wills--as Alex seeks truly to make her his, and his alone. . . .
 
What I Hope to Read Next

Florence Grace by Tracy Rees

Florrie Buckley is an orphan, living on the wind-blasted moors of Cornwall. It's a hard existence but Florrie is content; she runs wild in the mysterious landscape. She thinks her destiny is set in stone.
But when Florrie is fourteen, she inherits a never-imagined secret. She is related to a wealthy and notorious London family, the Graces. Overnight, Florrie's life changes and she moves from country to city, from poverty to wealth.
Cut off from everyone she has ever known, Florrie struggles to learn the rules of this strange new world. And then she must try to fathom her destructive pull towards the enigmatic and troubled Turlington Grace, a man with many dark secrets of his own.

To Name Those Lost by Rohan Wilson

Summer 1874, and Launceston teeters on the brink of anarchy. After abandoning his wife and child many years ago, the Black War veteran Thomas Toosey must return to the city to search for William, his now motherless twelve-year-old son. He travels through the island's northern districts during a time of impossible hardship - hardship that has left its mark on him too. Arriving in Launceston, however, Toosey discovers a town in chaos. He is desperate to find his son amid the looting and destruction, but at every turn he is confronted by the Irish transportee Fitheal Flynn and his companion, the hooded man, to whom Toosey owes a debt that he must repay.
To Name Those Lost is the story of a father's journey. Wilson has an eye for the dirt, the hardness, the sheer dog-eat-doggedness of the lives of the poor. Human nature is revealed in all its horror and beauty as Thomas Toosey struggles with the good and the vile in himself and learns what he holds important.

No Man's Land by Simon Tolkien

From the slums of London to the riches of an Edwardian country house; from the hot, dark seams of a Yorkshire coalmine to the exposed terrors of the trenches, Adam Raine’s journey from boy to man is set against the backdrop of a society violently entering the modern world.
Adam Raine is a boy cursed by misfortune. His impoverished childhood in the slums of Islington is brought to an end by a tragedy that sends him north to Scarsdale, a hard-living coalmining town where his father finds work as a union organizer. But it isn’t long before the escalating tensions between the miners and their employer, Sir John Scarsdale, explode with terrible consequences.
In the aftermath, Adam meets Miriam, the Rector’s beautiful daughter, and moves into Scarsdale Hall, an opulent paradise compared with the life he has been used to before. But he makes an enemy of Sir John’s son, Brice, who subjects him to endless petty cruelties for daring to step above his station.
When love and an Oxford education beckon, Adam feels that his life is finally starting to come together – until the outbreak of war threatens to tear everything apart.

The Spirit Guide by Elizabeth Davies

Seren has an unusual gift – she sees spirits, the shades of the dead.
Terrified of being accused of witchcraft, a very real possibility in twelfth century Britain, she keeps her secret close, not even confiding in her husband.

But when she gives her heart and soul to a man who guides spirits in the world beyond the living, she risks her secret and her life for their love.

Six in Six (2016)

Six in Six is a meme where every July the aim is to share six books in six categories from the first six months of the year.

This meme is  hosted by Jo @ The Book Jotter, but I didn't know it existed until I read a recent post by Helen @ She Reads Novels and decided it might be fun to also look back on my reading for the first half of the year.

The idea is to choose six categories either from the list that  Jo has prepared or your own, then list six books under each category heading. All the details are here if you wish to participate.

I've only read 42 books so far this year which I thought would make it difficult to find six suitable categories.  By taking some from Jo's list and adding a couple of my own it wasn't as difficult or as time consuming as I expected. In fact it was a pleasant way to spend an hour. This is my result:

Six Books Read on My Kindle
To Love, Honour and Obey by Valerie Holmes
The Code of Love by Cheryl Sawyer
Endless Love by James MacManus
Past Encounters by Davina Blake
Shadow on the Highway by Deborah Swift
The Virgin of the Wind Rose by Glen Craney

Six Books Set in Australia
Sweet Wattle Creek by Kaye Dobbie
Lyrebird Hill by Anna Romer
A Tattooed Heart by Deborah Challinor
Thornwood House by Anna Romer
Heart of the Country by Tricia Stringer
No Beat of Drum by Hester Burton

Six Books By Authors New to Me
The Amber Shadows by Lucy Ribchester
All That I Am by Anna Funder
The Butterfly Summer by Harriet Evans
Oliver Twist Investigates by G.M. Best
In The Silence of the Snow by Jessica Blair
The Mind's Own place by Ian Reid

Six Books From Authors I've Read Before
The Lake House by Kate Morton
Foxing the Geese by Janet Woods
Highwayman Ironside by Michael Arnold
The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley
The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone St.James
Blake's Reach by Catherine Gaskin

Six Books With Over 500 Pages Added to My TBR Pile
Sleeper's Castle by Barbara Erskine (544 pages)
No Man's Land by Simon Tolkein (566 pages)
Island of the Swans by Ciji Ware (584 pages)
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (1008 pages)
Daughter of the House by Rose Thomas (512 pages)
Sumerford's Autumn by Barbara Gaskell Denvil (502 pages)

Six Books From A Series
Shadow of the Hangman by Edward Marston (Bow Street Rivals Series)
Now Face to Face by Karleen Koen (Tamworth Saga)
Shadow on the Highway by Deborah Swift (The Highway Trilogy)
Where Serpents Sleep by C.S. Harris (Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery Series)
Fletcher's Fortune by John Drake (Fletcher 18th Century Naval Series)
A Tattooed Heart by Deborah Challinor (Convict Girls Series)

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

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

I knew when I brought home my latest haul from the library last week that a couple of those books would be too tempting to leave alone.

The fourth book of C.S.Harris' Regency mysteries had been sitting in my TBR pile for a while. I'd read the first two ages ago, but left this one untouched as I felt this is a series that needs to be read in order. So when I finally grabbed the third book, I found I was in the mood to follow Sebastian St.Cyr through his next two investigations. Both these books were quick, enjoyable reads and I'm looking forward to the next one.

Another book I was excited about was Barbara Erskine's latest release, Sleeper's Castle. I've read most of her novels and always look forward to them. Only two chapters read so far. Too early to form an opinion, but I don't think I'll be disappointed.

Only a few chapters to go to the end of The Moon in the Water. While I'm enjoying this story I didn't find it as gripping as I thought I would. Pamela Belle's other English Civil War series (Wintercombe) was so much better. I am basing this statement on a distant memory, so I think a re-read is probably due.

The other book that is also a carry over from last week, All For Nothing, is not as depressing as I thought it would be. Perhaps that comes later, the further I get into the story. At the moment I'm finding this a novel of contrasts and unusual characters, which makes it a very interesting read.

My plans of what I'm going to read next still include the two books I've been mentioning for weeks but never quite getting around to, but my latest addition to this mini TBR pile are two very different books by authors I've not read before, Simon Tolkien and Elizabeth Davies.

What I Read Last Week

Why Mermaids Sing by C.S. Harris

It's September 1811, and someone is killing the wealthy young sons of London's most prominent families. Partially butchered, with strange objects stuffed into their mouths, their bodies are found dumped in public places at dawn. When the grisly remains of Alfred, Lord Stanton's eldest son are discovered in the Old Palace Yard beside the House of Lords, the local magistrate turns to Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, for help.

Ranging from the gritty world of Thames-side docks to the luxurious drawing rooms of Mayfair, Sebastian finds himself confronting his most puzzling--and disturbing--case yet. With the help of his trusted allies--young servant Tom, Irish doctor Paul Gibson, and his lover Kat Boleyn--Sebastian struggles to decipher a cryptic set of clues that link the scion of a banking family to the son of a humble Kentish vicar. For as one killing follows another, Sebastian discovers he is confronting a murderer with both a method and a purpose to his ritualized killings, and that the key to it all may lie in the enigmatic stanzas of a haunting poem...and in a secret so dangerous that men are willing to sacrifice their own children to keep the truth from becoming known.

Where Serpents Sleep by C.S.Harris

London, 1812. The brutal slaughter of eight young prostitutes in a house of refuge near Covent Garden leaves only one survivor- and one witness: Hero Jarvis, reform-minded daughter of the Prince Regent's cousin, Lord Jarvis. When the Machiavellian powerbroker quashes any official inquiry that might reveal his daughter's unorthodox presence, Hero launches an investigation of her own and turns to Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, for help.

Working in an uneasy alliance, Hero and Sebastian follow a trail of clues leading from the seedy brothels and docksides of London's East End to the Mayfair mansions of a noble family with dark secrets to hide. Risking both their lives and their reputations, the two must race against time to stop a killer whose ominous plot threatens to shake the nation to its very core.

What I'm Reading Today

All For Nothing by Walter Kempowski

Winter, January 1945. It is cold and dark, and the German army is retreating from the Russian advance. Germans are fleeing the occupied territories in their thousands, in cars and carts and on foot. But in a rural East Prussian manor house, the wealthy von Globig family tries to seal itself off from the world. Peter von Globig is twelve, and feigns a cough to get out of his Hitler Youth duties, preferring to sledge behind the house and look at snowflakes through his microscope. His father Eberhard is stationed in Italy - a desk job safe from the front - and his bookish and musical mother Katharina has withdrawn into herself. Instead the house is run by a conservative, frugal aunt, helped by two Ukrainian maids and an energetic Pole. Protected by their privileged lifestyle from the deprivation and chaos around them, and caught in the grip of indecision, they make no preparations to leave, until Katharina's decision to harbour a stranger for the night begins their undoing. Superbly expressive and strikingly vivid, sympathetic yet painfully honest about the motivations of its characters, All for Nothing is a devastating portrait of the self-delusions, complicities and denials of the German people as the Third Reich comes to an end.

The Moon in the Water by Pamela Belle

Orphaned at ten, Thomasina Heron is sent to her new guardian, Sir Simon of "Goldhayes" in Suffolk. There Thomasina will spend a happy young girlhood with her cousins: the Heron heir Simon; kind solid Edward; young James; friendly Lucy; and Francis-- who is imaginative, daring, apt to be cynical, who talks about unicorns and usually gets into trouble. The cousins are faced with many challenges as they grow up, and conflict between King Charles I and Parliament leads to civil war.



Sleeper's Castle by Barbara Erskine

Hay-On-Wye, 1400 – War is brewing in the Welsh borders, Catrin is on the brink of womanhood and falling in love for the first time. Her father is a soothsayer, playing a dangerous game playing on the mixed loyalties and furious rivalries between welsh princes and English lords. For two hundred years, the Welsh people have lain under the English yoke, dreaming of independence. And finally it looks as though the charismatic Owain Glyndwr may be the man legend tralks of. In the walls of Sleeper’s Castle, Catrin finds herself caught in the middle of a doomed war as she is called upon to foretell Wales’s destiny… And what she sees, is blood and war coming closer…
Hay, 2015. Miranda has moved to Sleeper’s Castle to escape and grieve. Slowly she feels herself coming to life in the solitude of the mountains. But every time she closes her eyes her dreams become more vivid. And she makes a connection with a young girl, who’s screaming, who’s reaching out… who only Miranda can help. Is she losing herself to time?

What I Hope to Read Next

To Name Those Lost by Rohan Wilson

Summer 1874, and Launceston teeters on the brink of anarchy. After abandoning his wife and child many years ago, the Black War veteran Thomas Toosey must return to the city to search for William, his now motherless twelve-year-old son. He travels through the island's northern districts during a time of impossible hardship - hardship that has left its mark on him too. Arriving in Launceston, however, Toosey discovers a town in chaos. He is desperate to find his son amid the looting and destruction, but at every turn he is confronted by the Irish transportee Fitheal Flynn and his companion, the hooded man, to whom Toosey owes a debt that he must repay.
To Name Those Lost is the story of a father's journey. Wilson has an eye for the dirt, the hardness, the sheer dog-eat-doggedness of the lives of the poor. Human nature is revealed in all its horror and beauty as Thomas Toosey struggles with the good and the vile in himself and learns what he holds important.

Island of the Swans by Ciji Ware

In this resplendent love story a dazzling era comes vividly to life as one woman's passionate struggle to follow her heart takes her from the opulent cotillions of Edinburgh to the London court of half-mad King George III . . . from a famed salon teeming with politicians and poets to a picturesque castle on the secluded, lush Island of the Swans. . . .
Best friends in childhood, Jane Maxwell and Thomas Fraser wreaked havoc on the cobbled streets of Edinburgh with their juvenile pranks. But years later, when Jane blossoms into a beautiful woman, her feelings for Thomas push beyond the borders of friendship, and he becomes the only man she wants. When Thomas is reportedly killed in the American colonies, the handsome, charismatic Alexander, Duke of Gordon, appeals to a devastated Jane. Believing Thomas is gone forever, Jane hesitantly responds to the Duke, whose passion ignites her blood, even as she rebels at his fierce desire to claim her.
But Thomas Fraser is not dead, and when he returns to find his beloved Jane betrothed to another, he refuses to accept the heartbreaking turn of events. Soon Jane's marriage is swept into a turbulent dance of tender wooing and clashing wills--as Alex seeks truly to make her his, and his alone. . . . 
 
No Man's Land by Simon Tolkien

From the slums of London to the riches of an Edwardian country house; from the hot, dark seams of a Yorkshire coalmine to the exposed terrors of the trenches, Adam Raine’s journey from boy to man is set against the backdrop of a society violently entering the modern world.
Adam Raine is a boy cursed by misfortune. His impoverished childhood in the slums of Islington is brought to an end by a tragedy that sends him north to Scarsdale, a hard-living coalmining town where his father finds work as a union organizer. But it isn’t long before the escalating tensions between the miners and their employer, Sir John Scarsdale, explode with terrible consequences.
In the aftermath, Adam meets Miriam, the Rector’s beautiful daughter, and moves into Scarsdale Hall, an opulent paradise compared with the life he has been used to before. But he makes an enemy of Sir John’s son, Brice, who subjects him to endless petty cruelties for daring to step above his station.
When love and an Oxford education beckon, Adam feels that his life is finally starting to come together – until the outbreak of war threatens to tear everything apart.

The Spirit Guide by Elizabeth Davies

Seren has an unusual gift – she sees spirits, the shades of the dead.
Terrified of being accused of witchcraft, a very real possibility in twelfth century Britain, she keeps her secret close, not even confiding in her husband.

But when she gives her heart and soul to a man who guides spirits in the world beyond the living, she risks her secret and her life for their love.

Book Review: Thornwood House by Anna Romer

When Audrey Kepler and her eleven-year-old daughter, Bronwyn, move to Thornwood House on the outskirts of  Magpie Creek, a small town in rural Queensland, it doesn't take them long to fall under its spell. The house, willed to Audrey by Tony Jarman, Bronwyn's father, was once the home of his grandfather, Samuel Riordan.

Audrey finds a faded photograph and a letter in the old house and becomes obsessed with the rumour that Samuel Riordan killed Tony's grandmother back in the 1940s, on his return from the war. In her attempt to discover the truth she uncovers another family tragedy and in doing so places herself and her daughter in danger.

Like many, I cannot pass up a book that involves old photographs, letters and abandoned houses. Throw in a mention of World War II and it is definitely heading for my TBR pile. Sadly that's where this book sat, overlooked, until recently and once I'd read it I wondered why I had left it there for so long.

Thornwood House intrigued me from the start. Described as an Australian gothic mystery it certainly falls into this category. What could be more gothic than the sorrowful drabness of the rainy-day funeral which opens the story? Or the suspicious circumstances surrounding a death? Or the person you thought you knew turns out to be an enigma? The elements are all here: mystery, horror, death, romance and a touch of the supernatural. From the first chapter to the exciting denouement, I was totally absorbed in this tale of family secrets.

The story moves smoothly between three time frames: 2006, the 1940s and the 1980s, giving glimpses of the Magpie Creek community in those eras. It is told from Audrey's perspective as she and her daughter adjust to rural life so different to the hectic city living they left behind. Audrey's obsession with Samuel Riordan is fed by letters, a diary and the reluctance of some people to talk about the past. The more she delves, the more she discovers about Tony that raises many questions about the man she thought she knew, his family and the manner of his death. Eventually Audrey pieces together all the clues and makes the connection between the past and the present.

The author's love of the Australian landscape is evident in the vivid descriptions of the old homestead and the countryside in which it nestles. Through Audrey's exploration of her new home the beauty and serenity of Thornwood is experienced first-hand, as well as the unsettling places she stumbles across. The stifling heat of the Australian bush, familiar to me and so accurately described, is at odds with the chilling discoveries Audrey makes.

The atmosphere of the abandoned house and its contents adds to the gothic feel. Shadows, creaking floorboards and light playing through windows are nothing new, but Anna Romer has a knack for building suspense. She cleverly manipulates our imaginations, resulting in many breath-holding moments throughout the book.

The residents of Magpie Creek and the surrounding properties, both newcomers and longtime residents, are a nice balance and reflect the mix of today's society. Audrey's first encounter with one of them is far from welcoming and raises doubts about the wisdom of her move to such an isolated place.

A refreshing introduction to the story line is Danny, one of the main characters. He has a disability that when revealed to Audrey also took me by surprise. The interaction between Audrey and Danny adds warmth and calmness to the story. There are some very lovely and humorous exchanges between them. Anna Romer's depiction of Danny and his disability makes this a very memorable part of the book.

I enjoyed this debut novel from Anna Romer and heartily recommend it to those who love an Australian setting or favour books by authors such as Kate Morton and Kaye Dobbie.

Book Review: In the Silence of the Snow by Jessica Blair

French-born Marie Gabin forms a friendship with Veronica Attwood in their final two years at school, but this is tested when Marie is forced to disclose a secret to her friend.

The First World War takes its toll when Marie loses the man she loves. Veronica's husband suffers injuries which eventually leave her a widow, but she finds consolation in her love for the land. Returning to France, Marie marries her childhood sweetheart, but once again life brings involvement in war for the two friends.

Loving their Yorkshire land, Veronica and her daughters enlist in the Land Army. When a bomber squadron arrives on a newly constructed airfield on part of the estate, relationships are formed. Veronica's daughter Elise joins the RAF and is recruited into the SOE. But secrets will out. On a mission to France, Elise faces dangers she did not expect as she searches for Marie and the truth - a truth that will have an outcome she never envisaged.

*****************

This promised to be a great family saga. With a synopsis mentioning a Yorkshire setting, two World Wars and the Land Army, it was irresistible and I was prepared to be swept away. Unfortunately, this didn't happen and I finished the book feeling badly let down.

While the plot line was good, it was predictable in places. This wasn't the cause of my disappointment as much as the lack of evocative description to draw me into the different time periods and round out the characters.

None of the characters appealed to me. Their thoughts and actions were presented in a manner that didn't allow attachments to be formed. I wasn't involved in their lives and I so wanted to be; to feel their sorrow and grief, their happiness and their love for the land. My emotions weren't engaged at all and this made what I thought would be an exceptional read dull and lifeless.

I didn't dislike this book enough not to finish it, but believe it could have been so much better had pivotal events in the plot (some mentioned in the synopsis) been developed further and not rushed through, and had there been more evocative and emotive description.

As In the Silence of the Snow is the first I've read by Jessica Blair, I'm hoping that not all her books are written in the same style. Perhaps another book would have been a better introduction to this author. So to be fair, I will give Jessica Blair another try.

Stacking the Shelves #3

Stacking The Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews. It is about sharing the books you are adding to your physical or virtual shelves. This means you can include books you buy in a physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks! You can learn more about this meme by visiting the official launch page.

With minimal storage available for books, most of my reading material comes from the library or the purchase/free downloads of ebooks. Occasionally I purchase a print book for my very small bookshelf, but I tend to reserve space on this for "keepers".

Here is what came into my house over the past month:

I received a free ebook copy of The Spirit Guide, a historical paranormal romance, from the author, Elizabeth Davies, as a thank you for following her on Twitter. This book is also offered for free on her website.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

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

A very slow week for me on the reading front. I've no idea what I did with my time. Looking about me, it wasn't spent doing extra housework. So, this week I'm still reading the two books I started last week, with every intention of following these with the two I've selected as my next reads, To Name Those Lost  and Island of the Swans.  However, tomorrow is library day and I have some interesting holds awaiting collection which could very well alter my plans.

What I'm Reading Today

All For Nothing by Walter Kempowski

Winter, January 1945. It is cold and dark, and the German army is retreating from the Russian advance. Germans are fleeing the occupied territories in their thousands, in cars and carts and on foot. But in a rural East Prussian manor house, the wealthy von Globig family tries to seal itself off from the world. Peter von Globig is twelve, and feigns a cough to get out of his Hitler Youth duties, preferring to sledge behind the house and look at snowflakes through his microscope. His father Eberhard is stationed in Italy - a desk job safe from the front - and his bookish and musical mother Katharina has withdrawn into herself. Instead the house is run by a conservative, frugal aunt, helped by two Ukrainian maids and an energetic Pole. Protected by their privileged lifestyle from the deprivation and chaos around them, and caught in the grip of indecision, they make no preparations to leave, until Katharina's decision to harbour a stranger for the night begins their undoing. Superbly expressive and strikingly vivid, sympathetic yet painfully honest about the motivations of its characters, All for Nothing is a devastating portrait of the self-delusions, complicities and denials of the German people as the Third Reich comes to an end.

The Moon in the Water by Pamela Belle

Orphaned at ten, Thomasina Heron is sent to her new guardian, Sir Simon of "Goldhayes" in Suffolk. There Thomasina will spend a happy young girlhood with her cousins: the Heron heir Simon; kind solid Edward; young James; friendly Lucy; and Francis-- who is imaginative, daring, apt to be cynical, who talks about unicorns and usually gets into trouble. The cousins are faced with many challenges as they grow up, and conflict between King Charles I and Parliament leads to civil war.



What I Hope to Read Next

To Name Those Lost by Rohan Wilson

Summer 1874, and Launceston teeters on the brink of anarchy. After abandoning his wife and child many years ago, the Black War veteran Thomas Toosey must return to the city to search for William, his now motherless twelve-year-old son. He travels through the island's northern districts during a time of impossible hardship - hardship that has left its mark on him too. Arriving in Launceston, however, Toosey discovers a town in chaos. He is desperate to find his son amid the looting and destruction, but at every turn he is confronted by the Irish transportee Fitheal Flynn and his companion, the hooded man, to whom Toosey owes a debt that he must repay.
To Name Those Lost is the story of a father's journey. Wilson has an eye for the dirt, the hardness, the sheer dog-eat-doggedness of the lives of the poor. Human nature is revealed in all its horror and beauty as Thomas Toosey struggles with the good and the vile in himself and learns what he holds important.

Island of the Swans by Ciji Ware

In this resplendent love story a dazzling era comes vividly to life as one woman's passionate struggle to follow her heart takes her from the opulent cotillions of Edinburgh to the London court of half-mad King George III . . . from a famed salon teeming with politicians and poets to a picturesque castle on the secluded, lush Island of the Swans. . . .
Best friends in childhood, Jane Maxwell and Thomas Fraser wreaked havoc on the cobbled streets of Edinburgh with their juvenile pranks. But years later, when Jane blossoms into a beautiful woman, her feelings for Thomas push beyond the borders of friendship, and he becomes the only man she wants. When Thomas is reportedly killed in the American colonies, the handsome, charismatic Alexander, Duke of Gordon, appeals to a devastated Jane. Believing Thomas is gone forever, Jane hesitantly responds to the Duke, whose passion ignites her blood, even as she rebels at his fierce desire to claim her.
But Thomas Fraser is not dead, and when he returns to find his beloved Jane betrothed to another, he refuses to accept the heartbreaking turn of events. Soon Jane's marriage is swept into a turbulent dance of tender wooing and clashing wills--as Alex seeks truly to make her his, and his alone. . . .