Books read
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1860: As the clash between the states rolls slowly to a boil, Elizabeth Packard, housewife and mother of six, is facing her own battle. The enemy sits across the table and sleeps in the next room. Her husband of twenty-one years is plotting against her because he feels increasingly threatened—by Elizabeth’s intellect, independence, and unwillingness…
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One by One by Ruth Ware My rating: 4 of 5 stars I hesitated over starting this book quite simply because it’s by Ruth Ware which meant once I’d started, I’d be reading it while brushing my teeth, making the dinner, (driving if that weren’t highly illegal and dangerous) etc etc.I wasn’t wrong.One by One…
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For me, one of the biggest (and toughest) decisions when setting out to write a new book is figuring out whose story I’m writing, and who is best placed to tell it. I’ve made false starts on more than one occasion. In The Road to Newgate I started out with only one first person narrator…
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As a reader and writer of historical fiction, I always love the real history behind the stories and often read ‘around’ the novels I’ve enjoyed. No surprise then, that this post from Bookbub was right up my street: If you click on the photo, you can read the article and see 9 well-known historical novels…
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Sometimes in book-related Facebook groups I’ve seen posts with many comments about whether people read one book at a time or multiple books. I’ve always thought I was in the former category – always having a book on the go, but only one book at a time. Not right now though. It’s partly COVID-19, but…
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I was a big fan of Lisa Wingate’s last book, Before We Were Yours – about the scandalous adoption agency run by Georgia Tann in the 1940s – and jumped at the chance to review her new book for the Historical Novel Society. So this is not a review – because that’s for the HNS…
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I’m reading The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel right now and one of my favorite characters across the trilogy is the painter Hans, the younger Holbein. Throughout the books, Hans is busy painting portraits and I thought it would be fun to bring together the paintings referenced in the novels. One of my…
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We are living in strange times. Many of us are finding we need new ways to work and also new ways to relax. Some of us are more isolated than ever before. Others, like me, are actually less so. I’m used to having a traveling husband, one kid away at school and the other two…
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Who reads audio books? Up until this week, not me. But with the big news that The Girl Puzzle is going to be made into an AUDIO BOOK I thought it might actually be a good idea to listen to one. Here’s my very first pick, recommended by a friend: The Blurb A twisty, compelling…
Kate braithwaite 