Well this was just a delightful escapist read. I was whisked away to idyllic Greece, white sands and blue seas and the food sounded absolutely mouth wWell this was just a delightful escapist read. I was whisked away to idyllic Greece, white sands and blue seas and the food sounded absolutely mouth watering! This is quite a gentle read although it does deal with some tricky topics including miscarriage, abortion and coercive control but they are not front and centre and I felt were woven superbly into the story. I really felt involved with the characters and sped through it. I loved the story, drama and romance. It is full of joy and all I needed was to be lying on a beach for it to be perfect!
Merged review:
Well this was just a delightful escapist read. I was whisked away to idyllic Greece, white sands and blue seas and the food sounded absolutely mouth watering! This is quite a gentle read although it does deal with some tricky topics including miscarriage, abortion and coercive control but they are not front and centre and I felt were woven superbly into the story. I really felt involved with the characters and sped through it. I loved the story, drama and romance. It is full of joy and all I needed was to be lying on a beach for it to be perfect!...more
‘The Privy Council doesn’t want the Scots to know we have a problem with witches.’
1589. Princess Anna of Denmark is betrothed to King James VI of Scotl‘The Privy Council doesn’t want the Scots to know we have a problem with witches.’
1589. Princess Anna of Denmark is betrothed to King James VI of Scotland. She must prove herself worthy of the title of Queen in a year long handfasting trial or be banished into exile. Her loyal maid Kirsten, travels with her to Scotland, she has motives of her own for the marriage to be a success. Jura, a young housemaid escapes her master for Edinburgh and gets caught up in witchcraft rumours gripping the country.
I loved Kate’s first book The Maiden and so was highly anticipating reading this novel. It is based on the women of the real life witch trials in Scotland in the sixteenth century. King James was judge in the North Berwick witch trials and inspired his book Daemonologie, endorsing witch hunts and severe penalties. He was a man obsessed with witches.
‘Witches are cunning and have hidden themselves in plain sight.’
I loved the perspectives of the three very different women in this book. Foster gives them clear voice, Anna, Kirsten and Jura together painting a vivid picture, so evocative of the time. There is so much detail in this story but it is the humanity that shines through.
‘Women whisper secrets to each other; it is how we survive.’
I connected with Anna and Jura the most. Anna’s naivety and fear, her belief that she is cursed by a witch. Jura’s unwavering belief in the charme’s of her Ma, that most people relied on and now with the fear of witchery makes her hunted.
‘We are bound together. Do you understand? This is not solely about you.’
I found this story utterly absorbing and compelling. I read in disbelief of the horror of what was done to women accused of witchcraft, it beggars belief. As the threads of the story and these 3 women’s lives come together, I could not put it down. Foster has woven a truly brilliant tale, remarkable, rooted in fact and one that will keep you gripped until the very end....more
17th century Gloucestershire. Joan, the daughter of a millworker with drink-fuelled pipe dreams, is thrust into her family's battle against poverty. W17th century Gloucestershire. Joan, the daughter of a millworker with drink-fuelled pipe dreams, is thrust into her family's battle against poverty. With her father's legacy tarnished, Joan steps into his place, mastering the art of cloth-dying to save her family from destitution and restore their lost honor. But Joan's exceptional skill challenges her community's rigid conventions--and stirs whispers of witchcraft. Her lonely endeavours are further shadowed by marital strife and a complex rivalry with her sister, Alice, fueled by jealousy and long-standing grievances.
‘Watch yourselves, fellows. Got an eye like a blue hawk, has this one.’
This is a truly wonderful read, full of rich detail and imagery, with characterisations that are fantastic and very real. Joan is determined and spirited, she has a clear voice, full of passion and ambition. I really felt for her taking on so much at such a young age. Marriage, her father’s business, the cruelty and jealousy of her sister, Alice - she deals with it all. She is sharp and has huge ambition, yet she is constrained by her place and her sex, it made me want to scream at times, the unfairness of it all!
It is beautifully written and woven intricately with rich detail of nature, plants and dyes. It transported me to an area I know well and I could picture it in my minds eye. I got totally enveloped and absorbed in it, it makes it a sensory experience to read which is rare.
‘the memory of every one of the merchant’s swatches, stitched in a circle like the rays of the sun. The red of ripe haws, deepest perse, and jay-feather blue. But when sleep came, it took her to the riverbank: to reams of crumpled wet wool, all of it rich in that uncommon grey-green of her mother’s eyes, as it was lifted hand-over-hand from the Frome.’
This is a fantastic debut, I loved it and would recommend you read it too. This could be my book of the year!...more
This book has just confirmed that I love Emily Henry’s writing. It’s funny, sad, poignant, heartwarming, hot, sexy and just fab! The only problem thatThis book has just confirmed that I love Emily Henry’s writing. It’s funny, sad, poignant, heartwarming, hot, sexy and just fab! The only problem that I have is that I just read her books in one gulp. I can’t put them down and so they don’t last long enough for me! I need to make myself slow down and savour them a bit more! Maybe with the next book!
Daphne has a great story of how she met her fiance Peter. He tells it the best, which considering she is a children’s librarian is pretty funny. What isn’t funny is when he comes home from his bachelor party to say she is dumped and he is going off with his best friend Petra. Devastated, Daphne ends up moving in with Miles, Petra’s ex. Who is gorgeous. So when she gets an invite to their wedding she says she is bringing Miles, her boyfriend! What first starts as a plan to get back at them with cute selfies, becomes so much more when they realise they are falling for each other.
Oh so complicated but at its heart so simple. It’s just love and I adored this book!...more
‘She had a high colour toned down by mauve powder, which gave her the look of a ripe nectarine; one that had been in the box rather a long time.’
I’m a‘She had a high colour toned down by mauve powder, which gave her the look of a ripe nectarine; one that had been in the box rather a long time.’
I’m a newcomer to Whipple, this is the first of her books I have read and was blown away by it. Why, oh why have I not read her before? I’m almost cross with myself! She writes women and men really well, she writes about washing up and laundry, the domestic and the common experience of women’s lives, the choices, or lack of them that women have, she is frankly brilliant.
I think when you read a Persephone, Whipple in particular, something changes in you, they make you think and feel quite deeply. They are something quite special!
Whipple should be celebrated, I would highly recommend reading her. I will be reading more, I have 2 more already on my shelf...more
This is delectable writing, I was a hooked by this book as I am by any thriller, murder or romance book. I think we can all identify with the weather,This is delectable writing, I was a hooked by this book as I am by any thriller, murder or romance book. I think we can all identify with the weather, we all experience it, we have all been out in it. It is one of life’s sensory wonders and this book just hits its note perfectly....more
‘When she was Queen, she vowed, she would do everything in her power to court that goodwill.’
Known to history as Bloody Mary, I was really intereste‘When she was Queen, she vowed, she would do everything in her power to court that goodwill.’
Known to history as Bloody Mary, I was really interested to read this latest book from Alison Weir, novelising the life of Mary Tudor. I really loved reading about her life from her own point of view and viewing histories events through her eyes. I felt quite sorry for her, in her early life, she was a victim of circumstances and her father Henry VIII. Her views are developed and a steely, piousness from her mother Katherine Of Aragon. I really hadn’t thought how they must have perceived the goings on with Anne Boleyn and how they must have been kept in the dark for such a long time, plus they were separated and Mary used as a bargaining instrument to try to force Katherine to capitulate her position. They had such strength to see things through and not give in! Mary is feisty and bold and stands up to Henry - brave girl!
‘I care not for your cruelties. Whatever you do, I will not be overcome. Remember that!’
She has a tumultuous and torrid time when Anne Boleyn is in the ascendancy. And we watch her mature through Henry’s reign and multitude of wives. Her religious zeal increases. Especially once her brother Edward is on the throne and the change feels smooth and all of a sudden Bloody Mary if before us! It is so cleverly written that you can’t see where young Mary ends and Bloody Mary begins!
‘I am ready to set myself up as a champion of the Catholic religion, whatever it costs me.’
She was single minded and determined and once Queen, everything seems to fall apart, her disastrous marriage, the loss of Calais and most of all the burnings made her hated. She actually signed the death warrants of these people herself to undergo an atrocious death and although I felt open and sympathetic to her at the beginning, by the end, I didn’t much like her. It’s no wonder she gained the reputation she did and that public revulsion for her has not diminished ever since
To be able to make you change your mind about someone really shows Weirs capability as a writer, history brought to life in a fantastic way!...more
The Maiden is a book inspired by true events. In Edinburgh, in 1679 Christian Nimmo is arrested for the murder of her lover James Forrester. The newspThe Maiden is a book inspired by true events. In Edinburgh, in 1679 Christian Nimmo is arrested for the murder of her lover James Forrester. The newspapers splash the story and soon everyone has little doubt: adulteress, whore, murderess.
Only the year before Lady Christian was living a different life of privilege and respectability. How did the affair happen? Is she guilty, she wasn’t the only woman in Forrester’s life or with a motive.
I love books which are rooted in fact and I did a bit of rabbit holing with this one as I read. I was interested to know if the narrative deviated from fact and how much. The authors note at the end gives a lot of this information.
‘You are sentenced to beheading. God have mercy on your soul. Prepare yourself in prayer.’
The first lines are just chilling and the scene is set. We know from these lines that she is found guilty and I was consumed by the book with these few words.
Foster paints a vivid picture of Christian’s life, we follow her story and the threads come together, turning full circle until we meet her awaiting execution at the hands of the titular Maiden, which was the guillotine used for executions in Scotland from 1564-1710. The women of the story are unexpected, sharp, bold and fabulous. This is a treat of a book, compelling, enthralling and utterly riveting.
I’m not surprised that it was long listed for the Women’sPrize....more
I know Hera as an imperious and vengeful queen, full of jealousy and spite. This retelling of her story by Jenny Saint gives us a different perspectivI know Hera as an imperious and vengeful queen, full of jealousy and spite. This retelling of her story by Jenny Saint gives us a different perspective and one that I really enjoyed.
We begin at the end of the war between the Titans and Olympians that sees the latter victorious and Zeus, Hera and their siblings installed on Mount Olympus.
‘That it was Hera and Zeus who first formed an alliance against Cronus goes unspoken, but acknowledged. The victory belongs to them most of all. Hera doesn’t want this superseded by anyone else.’
We start to see a few inklings of the jealousy and perhaps fear that Hera is known for, as the deities start to spread their wings and bear children, she is concerned for her position.
‘There are other ways to rule. Sometimes the true power is in the shadows. Someone who stays out of the light, and watches others shrivel and burn in its glare.’
Zeus assumes control, giving roles to his siblings but leaving out Hera, and she is angry. He wants her as his Queen, to strengthen himself.
‘it must be for Hera to break the pattern. To prevent another tyrannical king from crushing everyone…. A world under the rule of benevolent goddesses, instead of power-hungry gods….. perhaps Hera can.’
Hera is Zeus’ Queen but she is not happy about it..
‘A reminder, now and always, that no matter who she was before, in the eyes of the world, she is only his wife.’
It is interesting to see a different side of Hera and where her reputation perhaps comes from. The frustrations of being Zeus’ wife, his abusive actions are laid bare
‘All she knows is that he leaves a trail of broken women in his wake, and she is the most broken of them all. It makes her dangerous, and he knows it. ‘
She tries to stem the tide of Zeus and his offspring but is thwarted at every turn. She wants to be equal at least, to rule the heavens. I feel for her, it’s a tale of womankind after all. She is rebellious, resilient and powerful and at last takes control of her own destiny. Hers is an ageless story, I’m sure it will be retold many times, I loved this version of Hera, a survivor....more
That name invokes all sorts, fierce, powerful, sorceress. And this is her story.
‘Everyone says there’s something wrong with me -‘
We first Medea.
That name invokes all sorts, fierce, powerful, sorceress. And this is her story.
‘Everyone says there’s something wrong with me -‘
We first meet her as a child, having turned her brother into a pig. She is yet to fully understand her powers, until her aunt; Circe, is summoned. She teaches Medea everything she knows.
‘People often do not like what they do not understand….but I do not think you should let other people’s ignorance get in the way of your own potential….do you?’
Medea is seen as a monster, kept at arms length, used and abused by her tyrant father Aeetes to defend the enchanted Golden Fleece that protects the kingdom.
Until Jason arrives, leader of the Argonauts
‘Jasons voice slips over my skin like a summer kissed breeze, making the hairs on my arms stand on end’
Medea is such a strong character, full of boiling emotions, determined to break free of her father and live as she chooses. I really liked her. Joining forces with the feted Jason, so he can take the fleece and she can escape.
The story moves at a pace and I was utterly hooked from the start, I was rooting for Medea, urging her on throughout. She is ferocious and fearless but also has a naïveté to her that I loved. Jason on the other hand, handsome, golden Jason is controlling and manipulative. I was not a fan.
‘Men are so predictable.’
‘He brings out the worst in you Medea…and he knows it, he encourages it.’
As darkness enfolds Medea, we see how she changes and becomes the so called witch she is known and feared as, threads and whispers sewn together to make her a villain.
This book has been all consuming for me, I read it in a day. Meet Medea, she is spellbinding. ...more
The third of my readchristie2024 choices this year is The Seven Dials Mystery, first written in 1929, we are back at Chimneys and the joyous and pluckThe third of my readchristie2024 choices this year is The Seven Dials Mystery, first written in 1929, we are back at Chimneys and the joyous and plucky Bundle Brent features again.
What starts as a bit of a caper between friends ends with a corpse. Eight alarm clocks set as a joke but in the morning there is a body and one of the clocks is chucked out the window. A letter mentioning Seven Dials sets Bundle on a trail, with more death to follow. But she is nothing but determined to unravel false trails and bewildering evidence.
‘Don’t you see? Seven dials!…it can’t be coincidence.’
It’s quite stereotypical upper class high jinks initially, giggling girls, toffs and silly pranks plus Tredwell, the unassuming butler all at Chimneys, a big posh house. It’s a perfect setting for murder - but is it? Initially Gerry Wade’s death is thought accidental but after Bundle almost runs over his best mate Ronny, who turns out to have been shot, it seems darker forces are at work.
This story was so much fun! I love Bundle Brent, and I feel I’m always using this word, but she has Gumption! It’s such a perfect descriptor for her, she is super posh but has such a streak of bravery and determination to her, she is one of my favourite characters. It also features Superintendent Battle, another of Christie’s recurring characters, he comes up against Bundle and initially is taken aback by her, but he knows what she is like.
‘I have one advantage over you. I can work in the dark.’
I really enjoyed this one and I am loving my return to Christie’s earliest works. I got totally blindsided by this one, led up the garden path and did not figure it out at all!
If I can, I’ll squeeze in a couple more twenties reads through the year, I am loving this years reads so far!...more
This is the sequel to The Coming Darkness and sees the return of previous hero Alexander Lamarque
‘He had known from the very first that what they shouThis is the sequel to The Coming Darkness and sees the return of previous hero Alexander Lamarque
‘He had known from the very first that what they should all fear was Darkness.’
Alex is hailed as a hero, the man who saved the world. We are in a broiling dystopian future, with Lamarque having promised to mop up the remnants of the conspiracy that ended in the coming darkness. Where others see success, he sees threat but with his new found celebrity, his life is leaking into the public domain and he wants to exile himself from that.
‘In the 2030’s the two degrees of average global temperature rise thought to be manageable are anything but that.’
This book makes you feel on edge throughout and I LOVED it! It’s not just the action, which twists and turns and ratchets up the tension as you read but it’s the climate aspect, set in 2037, it shows us a world I don’t recognise, not just the technology but the effects of climate change and this is the scariest part of the book.
‘Could the new web videos promising a ‘Coming Storm’ indicate that some kind of controlling intelligence persisted, more potent even than the dead traitor?’
As well as Alex, we also follow Mariam and Amaury who were with him in the first book. Each have their own story arc and part to play and Mosse threads their stories together with ease.
‘This was, perhaps, the last moment of quiet at the eye of the coming storm.’
I could feel my pulse rising as I read, as the full horror of what was unfolding I read faster and faster, all coming together in a chilling and thrilling climax! I cannot wait for the next book already!...more
Sisters Hannah, Rosa, and Eva are on a mission to sustain picturesque Heatherly Hall, in Yorkshire's Westenbury village. So when they hear the legend Sisters Hannah, Rosa, and Eva are on a mission to sustain picturesque Heatherly Hall, in Yorkshire's Westenbury village. So when they hear the legend of the Jet Set – a necklace with a rare diamond, commissioned by royalty and hidden in their hall – they plan a fundraiser: an Agatha-Christie style am-dram production and treasure hunt.
As if that weren't enough, music superstar Drew Livingston and Bollywood legend Aditi Sharma have chosen their hall for a wedding in just six weeks' time, and the pressure is mounting to pull off the wedding of the decade.
Staging the play, unravelling the mystery of the diamond, and meeting the demands of an A-list bride and groom without their lives unravelling seems impossible. But these three sisters know that with family by your side, anything can be overcome
The three sisters an are good mix, each a great foil for the other. I found all the relationships tricky to get to grips with at the start with this being the third in a series, but I figured it out and it works well as a stand alone. Each of the sisters brings something to the party, sensible Rosa, village vicar, struggling to conceive but full of kindness and strength. Eva, feisty and bolshie, wanting love and to be loved and turns the head of superstar Drew. Hannah, who has her heart set on keeping Heatherly going but confused in love, I really wanted to give her a good shake at times! Virginia, their elder sister is hilarious and really annoying in equal measure, but such a great character, I really wanted to slap her!
This is a heartwarming read, full of love, a bit of mystery and lots of glamour. I especially loved the Agatha-esque am-dram component - so much fun!...more
Eliza Mace craves independence, stuck in a crumbling manor house at the edge of town. She is constrained by powers than try tThe Welsh Borders, 1870’s
Eliza Mace craves independence, stuck in a crumbling manor house at the edge of town. She is constrained by powers than try to control, protect and deceive her. When her father goes missing in mysterious circumstances, she is determined to uncover the truth.
She joins forces with the new police constable Dafydd Pritchard and sets out to solve the case. Her father has run up many debts and there are many who bear him a grudge. As Eliza exposes dark secrets, it could tear her world apart.
I liked Eliza from the start, she has had to grow up fast and is feisty, bold and does not want to be constrained by Victorian values. I loved her gumption and that she knows her own mind.
I did keep forgetting that she was only sixteen, especially in her interactions with the adults including Dafydd, she seemed wise beyond her years at times!
It is written in an easy flowing style and is a really great mystery, with a few twists and turns to keep you guessing too. Eliza is a sleuth I would love to see more of - hugely enjoyable!...more
‘Ada isn’t a hunter of fossils for the sake of impressing the visitors to Lyme. Orion even to make a living - not truly. She hunts because she always ‘Ada isn’t a hunter of fossils for the sake of impressing the visitors to Lyme. Orion even to make a living - not truly. She hunts because she always has.’
Ada Winters is a woman born out of her time, much like Mary Anning, the inspiration for this character. Not recognised for her intelligence and worth by Societies created by men, who claim her work as their own.
‘It is a paddle, she thinks, of some aquatic creature, and she has seen no fossils like it previously…her heart kicks hard in her chest, for laid at her feet is a mystery.’
Ada is dismissed because she is a woman and it makes me furious reading this. I was so engrossed in her struggle to unearth a monster, the descriptions and detail are fabulous. I love Lyme Regis and know it well and have walked in Ada’s steps searching for fossils, it has also had me back down some rabbit holes reading about Lyme and Mary Anning again.
‘I understand the skull came from Street in Somerset.’
This story is just beautifully written, at times tense, at times utterly enthralling and completely gripping.
Joanne Burn, I salute you, for this is something truly special....more
‘Would he look at her with renewed interest if she had green eyelids?’
This book is a complete and utter treasure and I shall now be reading as much Ba‘Would he look at her with renewed interest if she had green eyelids?’
This book is a complete and utter treasure and I shall now be reading as much Barbara Pym as I can find. It is fresh, heartbreaking and joyous, funny and silly and is very Austen, but not! I loved it!
It’s gently comedic and witty, the fact that they keep calling the local Mp Mr Lyall their beloved member ...more
‘Cecily. Marguerite. Elizabeth. Margaret. King’s Mother. There can be only one.’
‘It will hurt Marguerite, she consoles herselWhat a triumph of a book!
‘Cecily. Marguerite. Elizabeth. Margaret. King’s Mother. There can be only one.’
‘It will hurt Marguerite, she consoles herself. And there is some pleasure in that. I’ll have my joy again when she is dead.’
Cecily is an absolute matriarch, strong, unrelenting and knowing. Mother of two Kings, the first part of the book is concerned with her first son Edward IV, how he gets the throne and keeps it. All the while Cecily is there, coaching, directing, basically doing all the things he appears incapable of doing while he’s warring, drinking and womanising! Most of history tells us about these men, the battles and wars but it is the women at the heart of this story and of history, behind the scenes, directing, guiding and standing tall defending their families.
Then in steps Elizabeth Woodville and Cecily grinds her teeth to have to bow to her, Englands new Queen.
‘As queen, I’m told, I need never kneel to you again. Or to any woman. I do it now to show my respect.’
What I love about this is that we feel in the thick of it, actually IN the conversations, the battles etc are at the edges, we are getting to the heart of these people in this book.
‘Let us in,’ Warwick says. ‘We’ve come for the good of the country. We’ve come to set England to rights.’ Have you now, thinks Cecily. I’ll set you to rights with a spike up your arse.’
As time runs on, we see the struggle for supremacy between Elizabeth and Cecily. The latter blamed for allowing her family to try to destroy the former in a simply fantastic piece of writing, women arguing, verbally jousting, it’s just superlative.
‘You told me? Madam, I take no orders from you!’ Another beat. The taking of a breath. ‘I hope you are come then, to do something more purposeful than shout.’ But it seems Elizabeth can do no other.
Elizabeth bends her body almost double and screams, ‘I am your queen!’ And now, Cecily’s voice rises above hers. ‘Then for God’s sake act like it!’ There is silence in the room.’
We see glimpses of Margaret Beaufort and Marguerite in the first half of the book but is the warrior Cecily who stands head and shoulders above them all.
‘She’s grown to like young Henry Tudor’s mother in the years since Edward’s crowning. She gives no trouble, which is something these days.’
‘I speak of Richard, Cecily, your living son. You must get up and fight for him.’
Throughout the book, Cecily is centre stage, is the root of everything that happens, and the twist at the end is a bit inspired actually, I’m not sure how much fact there is to the sequence of events when Richard takes the throne but I loved this version!
‘He turns and stares at her, as if he thinks her mad or devil-sent.’
But was it all worth it in the end for the loss of sons and a family in tatters? She would be called a she-wolf, trying to protect her sons at all costs but as the world turns and Margaret rises she realises she is not infallible.
‘For my son, I’d kill anyone. With my bare hands.’
This ending is brilliant as the women face each other, it is the women, the mothers who rule and hold the power.