'I'm going to live by my own rules’ ★★★★★ 'Arrested Song' is a great book; a saga even. What starts out as a Greek experience of German occupation during WW2, quickly evolves into an epic story. Calliope is a young woman when her husband is sent to war, never to return. His demise proves a … Continue reading Arrested Song
Fiction
It Ends at Midnight
Someone is going to die before the New Year begins. ★★★ ‘It Ends Before Midnight’ is a psychological thriller which bounces back and forth between the present, recent past, and distant past, to slowly build a picture of misconception. How do we construct, and re-construct, or memories to suit our beliefs and needs? Sylvie is … Continue reading It Ends at Midnight
A Noble Cunning
‘heathens and fanaticals have taken over’ ★★★★ ‘A Noble Cunning' is a book inspired by real-life Winifred Herbert Maxwell, Countess of Nithsdale, who, after the failure of the 1715 Jacobite Rebellion, and the subsequent arrest of her husband, attempted to free him from his imprisonment in the Tower of London. Bethan and Gavin, Earl and … Continue reading A Noble Cunning
Mrs Van Gogh
'I've stepped into a world where madness and art seem to hold hands to dance' ★★★★★ By the late 1800s, Paris had become a hive of creativity, 'everyone who lives here is about to write an epic piece of prose or paint their masterpiece…Each individual is living a remarkable life.' Johanna Bonger, is soon caught … Continue reading Mrs Van Gogh
Night Wherever We Go
'invest in women. They are cheaper than men and more versatile...And best of all, they can breed' ★★★★★ 'Night Wherever We Go' is as dark as it is illuminating. Slavery is never an easy topic to discuss. This story conveys the absolute bewilderment slaves must have felt being plucked from their homeland so far away, … Continue reading Night Wherever We Go
The Marriage Season
'But happen I marry someone who only knows the carefully confected exterior?' ★★★★ 'The Marriage Season' is everything you'd expect from a Regency Romance: a quaint, light-hearted story. However, it also comes with a splash of satirical wit, commenting on the fracas of social jockeying through marriage. 'You're entering a world of artifice and it … Continue reading The Marriage Season
Goodnight from Paris
'Bonne Nuit', you've been listening to Drue Leyton ★★★★★ ‘Goodnight from Paris' is based on real-life American actress Drue Leyton who, after marrying a Frenchman, chose to say in France for the duration of WWII and become a part of the Resistance. Drue's husband, Jacques, joined the British Coldstream Guards as a translator early in … Continue reading Goodnight from Paris
The Paris Sister
Just how far would you go to get your husband freed from prison? ★★★ ‘The Paris Sister’ is part two in a series that follows the lives of three sisters and their mother. Each sister has married and moved to different parts of the globe, while their mother remains in England. The chapters alternate to … Continue reading The Paris Sister
The Mitford Affair
Arguably the most colourful sisters of the 20th Century ★★★★ 'The A The Mitford Affair' tells the story of how three sisters became entwined within the politics which triggered WWII. Nancy, Diana, and Unity are the three eldest of seven Mitford children. Born titled but raised as impoverished aristocrats, the Mitfords are eccentric and polarised … Continue reading The Mitford Affair
American Adventuress
A woman who preferred to do things her own way ★★★★★ 'The American Adventuress' - Jennie Jerome foraged a path to English aristocracy and, perhaps prompted the onset of the 'dollar princess' age. Seemingly lauded and vilified in equal parts, Jennie definitely was her own woman; directly juxtaposed to the 'illustrious lineage', with their crumbling … Continue reading American Adventuress