Six Degrees of Separation – from Prophet Song to Whitethorn Woods

It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place as other readers, add six books, and see where it ends up. This month’s starting point is the 2023 Booker winner, Prophet Song by Paul Lynch.

I got Prophet Song from the library this week for Reading Ireland 2025 as it is about an Irish family and takes place in Dublin (as I plan to read it I avoided spoilers).

The Denehurst Secret Service by Gwendoline Courtney

A school story that contains a mystery and is also an evacuation story – who could ask for anything more, as my friend Fred Astaire would say . . .

Mrs. Sherbourne has news for her two teenage daughters, Elaine and Moira. She is sending them to Denehurst, a boarding school in Cornwall, because London in war time is dangerous and their father needs to concentrate on his Foreign Office work. The girls are mildly indignant because they want to do their bit but cheer up when their cousin, Captain Deryk Holroyd, says he might need their help from school. He asks them to conceal their fluency in German, where the family spent three years.

The King’s Messenger by Susanna Kearsley

I have been reading Susanna Kearsley’s books since 1994, when Mariana was published, and even drove to Rhode Island to meet her in 2015 when she was touring for A Desperate Fortune, so I was excited to read her new book, The King’s Messenger, and was not disappointed. Surprisingly, it is not a dual timeline book, for which she is best known; rather, it is set in the early 17th century during the reign of James I of England.

The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen

Maggie Bird is retired and living a quiet life in Purity, Maine with a few chickens and a small group of friends nearby when she gets an unexpected and unwelcome visitor. A woman who calls herself Bianca wants Maggie’s help finding a colleague from her CIA past, last seen in Bangkok. 

Spell the Month in Books – February

Spell the Month in Books is hosted by Reviews From the Stacks and occurs on the first Saturday of each month or maybe the third! This month I chose from books I read ten years ago. I read a lot that year because I was between jobs for the first two months of the year and it was an extremely snowy winter. The weekend of Valentine's Day, ten years ago, my brother was visiting with his family and I suggested my parents drive over and spend the night in case it snowed so much they were stranded at home. It was quite a slumber party with five adults and three children.  Somehow a coworker made it over with his toddler to decorate heart-shaped cupcakes!

Small Bomb at Dimperley by Lissa Evans

For those of us who read a lot of WWII historical fiction, it is a natural progression to contemplate what happened after the war ended. Perhaps this is why I loved the television show Homefront, set in a Midwest town where everyone is excited to welcome back their menfolk but do not realize how their lives will be affected, especially women who worked outside the home doing war work but are now displaced in favor of the men. 

January 2025 Reading

I read 14 books in January: all fiction but one, including three audiobooks and two rereads. The God of the Woods and Frozen River are historical novels which were much hyped, with long waiting lists at the library. I was disappointed in the first and found its ending completely unbelievable. I liked Frozen River and its themes of justice and male dominance provided lots of material for my book group discussion. I also enjoyed the newest Michael Connelly and my reread of False Colours.

Miss Buncle's Book by D.E. Stevenson

When our fellow humans annoy us with their squabbles and predictability, don’t we all fantasize about memorializing them in fiction – to their detriment?*