I’m reading The Dark Rose, the second book in the Morland Dynasty series by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. One of the main Morland characters, Nanette, is the closest friend of Anne Boleyn. Currently Anne is in limbo, unable to marry Henry because the Church won’t grant him a divorce, and unwilling to be his mistress.

Donna

Donna, I love that series. The way the author 'inserts' her characters into the important moments of the times is so well done.

I recently finished The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George. The concept behind this book is quite imaginary. The protagonist, Monsieur Perdu, runs a floating bookshop inside a river barge that is docked on the Seine in Paris. He refers to the shop as a "book apothecary" because his specialty is prescribing books that will help customers resolve their problems in life. He can "read" people, and sometimes refuses to sell them the book they want because he knows it's not what they need right now. Circumstances come about which cause Monsieur Perdu to make a long, slow trip on his river-barge bookshop to the south of France where he can confront and address his own long-neglected problems.

I enjoyed the book until he had to abandon the bookshop and complete his journey by car. The "magic" of the book fell away for me at that point and it seemed to take a long time for the book to end after that. And so, this is a mixed review.

and Kathy......wasn't there something about a deer drowning ? Or am I recalling a different bookshop floating down a river ?

I just finished a delightful memoir by Lara Maiklem entitled, Mudlarking, about her adventures searching the Thames foreshore for treasures. She has found everything from medieval shoes to Roman coins to 18th century lead type. It was full of interesting finds and British history and I really enjoyed it. It was somehow both fascinating and soothing and I would love to try mudlarking myself someday. I understand she has another book coming, and I'm looking forward to reading it.

I also finished Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano, an imaginative reworking of Little Women featuring four sisters from Chicago. While I didn't feel it really tracked with Alcott's classic, some elements and references were mixed into the story. It was a well-written family saga that I liked very much and I'm looking forward to my book group discussion later this week.

Finally, for Deanna Raybourn fans (if you haven't seen this already) there's a new Veronica Speedwell coming in March 2024 titled A Grave Robbery. I've already ordered my copy :)

Yoyobon - yes, there was a deer that drowned in the book.

I picked up a library copy in large print (easier to read in bed) The Best Medicine by Georgie Edwards. It could have been an interesting book as it was written by a woman who trained as a nurse in a top London hospital from the mid 1940's then went on to study medicine; a most unusual career path for a female in those days. Unfortunately there seem to be no editing or blue-penciling and the whole thing was very repetitive plus all the characters, whether doctors or patients had wonderful blue/green/brown eyes and dark/fair/golden/bushy/curly hair. And, although I'm sure her husband (also a Dr) was a charming chap he is always described as "My adored/dearest/darling husband." It all became rather cringe-worthy.

I don't know about medical training in other countries but over here it lasts for six years and much of it is quite grueling with very long hours and many exams that must be taken, even after qualification if one wants to climb the greasy pole. The author seems to have studied hard, been awarded many scholarships, awards etc and after about ten years worked in 'Public Health' . . . a secure option for a woman.

I later read that she used to write for women's magazines which might account for the flowery prose.

Kathy....okay, that turned me. An animal angst and I'm done with the book !!

I understand. It was a very odd scene. Actually, there were a lot of odd things in the book.

I'm reading The Stranger You Know by Jane Casey. This is No. 4 of the Maeve books, and I have really liked all of them.

I reading The Blessing by Nancy Mitford. An odd story, touted as a witty read....yet I am finding it a bit dated and honestly a tad annoying !

Yoyo, If it's any consolation to you, Nancy Mitford usually annoys me!

It is a great consolation ! I frequently find her sentence structure confusing and illogical.

Hi all - I just finished The Dark Monk by Oliver Potszch. It is the second in the series, the first being called The Hangman's Daughter. Mysteries set in a small Bavarian town of Shongau in the mid-1600's. Interesting to me because of the setting and time period, but also because the author blends in a lot of historical tidbits about the area, herbology, and living in that time period in general. The main characters are Jakob Kuisl, the town's hangman, his daughter, Magdalena, and Simon, son of the town's doc and also a doc himself. Another interesting tidbit is that the author is a descendent of the real Jakob Kuisl who was, in fact, the town's hangman. If you like historical mysteries, this are absorbing.

Now on to Travels with George by Nathaniel Philbrick.

PAM

I finished The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, which is what I would term a misery memoir, and something I wouldn't usually choose, but it was lent to me by my daughter-in-law so I felt I should finish. To be honest, once I started it was a bit like a crash that I couldn't look away from. I'm always a bit sceptical when people have strong memories from their childhood, but perhaps with one as bad as this you would remember. The parents of these four children were so neglectful it borders on unbelievable to me. For instance, when they are crushingly poor, the kids find what turns out to be a 2ct diamond ring in the backyard, and the mother keeps it because 'it helps my self-esteem, and self-esteem is more important than eating'!!

Not something I would recommend, although it has many good reviews at Goodreads.

Kath, a 'misery memoir' that really made me angry rather than sad was Twopence to Cross the Mersey by Helen Forrester. Her descriptions of coming from a comfortably-off family to living in abject poverty in a Liverpool slum in the 1930's made we want to remove the many children from the useless and feckless parents and give them a good start in life. Helen, aged 12, was kept at 'home' (ie a rented couple of lice-infested attic rooms) after her father lost all his money and decided to return to the city of his birth. The family arrived with only the clothes they wore plus one spare nappy for the new-born baby. The father had made them leave everything they owned back at home, even toothbrushes and combs. Helen was forced to steal milk from doorsteps to feed the baby and scavenge for bits of trash to keep a fire going to heat food. Any small amounts of money earned were spent firstly on cigarettes by the selfish parents. Forrester well describes the filth in which they lived, almost no washing of bodies, and never clothes . . . even the poor people who lived around them found the family lower than the lowest.

But . . . despite all this a well-written book.

I read the first Miss Julia book, Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind, and it is delightful. Makes me glad there are so many more of them. I seldom laugh out loud and hardly ever like a mystery that is funny, but this changed my mind. Miss Julia's husband had died unexpectedly, and she has found that not only is she filthy rich but that she has never been out from under his decidedly domineering thumb and she likes it a lot. The problem is so many other men are trying to help her manage the money, and then there is the little boy who looks just like her husband.

Carolyn, I thought you did like amusing mysteries as you have recommended cosies.

I am reading a couple of the Finlay Donovan series by Elle Cosimano. I read the first one some time ago but forgot to check for later publications until I accidentally came across them again.

I received a parcel of a dozen of old Georgette Heyer paperbacks from a friend who has downloaded hers to Kindle and was looking for a good home for them. I am having some bad wakeful nights and it is comfort reading which I can put down when I finally feel sleepy. I know the outcomes so I can stop anywhere.

Have just finished China Court by Rumor Godden as recommended by Carolyn. In some ways reminiscent of the Cazalet series by Elizabeth Jane Howard, this book deals with the life of one family over several generations and their large house in Cornwall. I enjoyed the descriptions of the house, the garden and the seasons of the year but the number of characters interwoven within the here-and-there time frame made it necessary for me to consult the very useful family-tree provided. And why was it necessary to give so many of the family such strange first names?

Carolyn, I also enjoyed meeting Miss Julia in the first book. It is so nice to be able to read something so uplifting and plesantly amusing ! Thank goodness it is a series.

As it was mentioned here, I decided to read In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden. I thought it was wonderful and couldn't put it down. It's the story of a group of women who live together. The main character is Philippa and her back story is slowly revealed at different points in the book, leading to an agonizing revelation late in the story. But there are a number of other women, each different from the other, who all have their own stories and challenges. It was gripping. Oh, yes, they are nuns! They live in a fictional abbey in southeast England in distant view of the sea.

The story takes place from the post-war years into the 1960s but mostly in the 1950s. You don't have to be Catholic or even religious to enjoy this book, considered one of the author's best.

I've just finished Quiet Neighbors by Catriona McPherson. Spooky, but a bookshop in Scotland is not to be sneezed (or shuddered) at.

I've just finished Proud Sorrows, the latest Billy Boyle book by James R. Benn. I don't know if anyone else has read any of the series, but this is No. 18 and I have loved them all. The setting is WWII, and we are up to the fall of 1944 now.

I enjoyed Laurie Graham's The Grand Duchess of Nowhere and her 'take' on what the life of one of the last of the extended Romanov tribe might have been like.

The heroine Victoria, know in the family as 'Ducky',* was the grand daughter of Queen Victoria, her father had been Prince Alfred Duke of Edinburgh, second son of QV. Luckily there was a family tree showing the very complicated relationship between everyone in the extended family . . .not helped as cousins almost always married cousins and the Russian Royal family were very-much inbred!

Graham, writing in the first person about 'Ducky' traces her life from a child in the school-room to a very early marriage, obviously to a cousin, her life during the last years of the Tzars and the sudden changes brought about by the revolution and her family's last-minute escape to Finland.

Lots of complicated Russian names to follow but Graham has a light touch and brings 'Ducky' and her family to life.

* It seems everyone in Queen Victoria's 'family' was given a nickname, but as they all seemed to have 'Victoria' or 'Albert' in their names I suppose it was the only way to tell them apart.

I like to re-root myself once in a while by reading a Maeve Binchy book, so I just finished A Week in Winter. Nice, pleasant, no violence, no unexpected twists, just a good story.

I just finished Force of Nature by Jane Harper and I enjoyed it very much! I've now read all five of her novels. Three are a series featuring Australian Federal Police agent Aaron Falk, and the other two are stand-alone. She has a very engaging writing style and great plots. I highly recommend her books!

Donna

Donna - If I just wanted to read one Jane Harper book to try her out, which one would you recommend? I think I would prefer a stand-alone, unless you feel strongly that one of the series books is better.

Gosh, Kathy, I would say any one of them! The Lost Man (set in the Queensland outback) and The Survivors (set in a Tasmanian beachside town) are the stand-alone ones.

I find them to be the kind of story where you can’t wait to find out what happens, but you also don’t want it to end. 😊

msmeow. That is the best kind of story!

Thanks, Donna. I will give one of them a try ... eventually. (My TBR list is kind of long.)

Always looking for a new series to start!

Donna, Thank you! I had never heard of Jane Harper. Her books look interesting. I must see if I can order a 'stand-alone' from the library.

I'm reading The Mitford Affair by Marie Benedict, historical fiction at it's best.

"Between the World Wars, the six Mitford sisters―each more beautiful, brilliant, and eccentric than the next―dominate the English political, literary, and social scenes. Though they've weathered scandals before, the family falls into disarray when Diana divorces her wealthy husband to marry a fascist leader and Unity follows her sister's lead all the way to Munich, inciting rumors that she's become Hitler's mistress.

As the Nazis rise in power, novelist Nancy Mitford grows suspicious of her sisters' constant visits to Germany and the high-ranking fascist company they keep. When she overhears alarming conversations and uncovers disquieting documents, Nancy must make excruciating choices as Great Britain goes to war with Germany.

Probing the torrid political climate in the lead-up to World War II and the ways that seemingly sensible people can be sucked into radical action, The Mitford Affair follows Nancy's valiant efforts to stop the Nazis from taking over Great Britain, and the complicated choices she must make between the personal and the political."

A most enjoyable read, again picked up in a charity shop was Borrowed Finery by Paula Fox. I had no experience of Fox's work and was amazed by her early life. Born to a mother who didn't want her and 'gave her away' to a foundling hospital, then rescued only to spend the rest of her young life being pushed from pillar to post between many states in the US and occasionally reunited with her drunken parents. How a child can grow up to be 'normal' after such a poor beginning is almost beyond belief.

My daughter shared her Amazon books from her phone on our recent trip. I started the Joy Ellis fen murder series and have read several of them thanks to being held captive on international flights and in connecting airports. They are pretty good and sort of like eating popcorn.