Category: Historical fiction
+ Cornwall, family, fiction, Gothic mystery, Historical fiction, literature, loss, love, marriage, mystery, review, secrets, World War One
The Key in the Lock by Beth Underdown
I still dream, every night, of Polneath on fire. Smoke unfurling out of an upper window and a hectic orange light cascading across the terrace. By day, Ivy Boscawen mourns the loss of her son Tim in the Great War. But by night she mourns another boy – one whose death decades ago haunts her still. For Ivy is sure that there is more … Read More The Key in the Lock by Beth Underdown
+ adventure, child abduction, crime fiction, Detective novel, family, fiction, Freedom, friends, friendship, haunting, Historical fiction, holocaust, Inuit, kidnapping, List, literature, loss, love, Magical realism, murder, nazi germany, poland, police drama, Polish, Psychological fiction, relationships, review, Scotland, Scottish Highlands, secrets, World War Two
My Top 8 Books of 2021 – part four
Here are my favourite eight books of the fourth quarter of 2021. So far this has been a good year for books if for nothing else, so it was a really difficult decision. Please note that there may be books amongst the list that are not published until 2022, but these are books I have read this year and may be ARCs. The Flight of … Read More My Top 8 Books of 2021 – part four
+ childhood, family, fiction, Freedom, friendship, Historical fiction, holocaust, literature, loss, love, nazi germany, revenge, review, World War Two, WW2
The Last Checkmate by Gabriella Saab
Readers of Heather Morris’s The Tattooist of Auschwitz and watchers of The Queen’s Gambit won’t want to miss this amazing debut set during World War II. A young Polish resistance worker, imprisoned in Auschwitz as a political prisoner, plays chess in exchange for her life, and in doing so fights to bring the man who destroyed her family to justice. Maria Florkowska is many … Read More The Last Checkmate by Gabriella Saab
+ Cornwall, fiction, France, friendship, Historical fiction, literature, loss, love, marriage, mental health, review, World War One
The Visitors by Caroline Scott 
Esme Nicholls is to spend the summer in Cornwall. Her late husband Alec, who died fighting in the war, grew up in Penzance, and she’s hoping to learn more about the man she loved and lost. While there, she will stay with Gilbert, in his rambling seaside house, where he lives with his former brothers in arms. Esme is fascinated by this community of … Read More The Visitors by Caroline Scott 
+ crime fiction, Detective novel, Dogs, fiction, Historical fiction, love, murder, murder mystery, mystery, police drama
Songbird (Jax Diamond Mysteries#1) by Gail Meath
It’s all fun and games, until someone gets killed. Meet Jax Diamond, a sharp, sophisticated, skilled, no-nonsense private detective. Or is he? Glued to his side is his canine partner, Ace, a fierce and unrelenting German Shepherd whose mere presence terrorises criminals into submission. Well, maybe not. But the two of them are a whole lot smarter than they look. And they have their hands full … Read More Songbird (Jax Diamond Mysteries#1) by Gail Meath
+ adventure, anarchists, crime fiction, feminism, fiction, Historical fiction, London, love, murder, murder mystery, mystery, obsession, review, suffragette movement, World War One
Death in The Last Reel by Paula Harmon
Does the camera ever lie? 1911: After the violent murder of three policemen in the line of duty, tensions between London constabulary and Whitechapel anarchists simmer. Meanwhile accusations and counter accusations of espionage further weaken relations between Germany and Britain. Can Margaret Demeray and Fox find out which potential enemy is behind a threat to the capital before it’s too late? In the shadow … Read More Death in The Last Reel by Paula Harmon
The Red Button by Keith Eldred
The prequel to A Christmas Carol — A sweet Regency Christmas romance Here at last is the untold story of Scrooge’s doomed engagement Belle Endicott and Ebenezer Scrooge are young, bookish, hardworking Londoners drawn together by button-making. His brand-new factory threatens her family’s tiny shop, yet they fall in love and start planning their future. When personal and business calamities strike, they confront them … Read More The Red Button by Keith Eldred
+ brothers, fiction, friendship, germany, Historical fiction, holocaust, jewish history, jews, Magical realism, nazi germany, racism, revenge, review, World War Two, WW2
Man of Clay by Alan Derosby
Retribution comes with a price 1930s GermanyKarl Auerbach escapes Buchenwald concentration camp. Ashamed of the truth of how he fled, Karl vows never to speak of the memories of his imprisonment. Present Day: Rhode IslandWhen Karl’s grandson Zachariah is faced with prejudice of his own and a close friend is subjected to a horrific assault, Karl knows he must finally confront the demons of … Read More Man of Clay by Alan Derosby
+ childhood, family, family drama, fiction, friendship, Historical fiction, literature, loss, love, review, secrets
The Midwife’s Secret by Emily Gunnis
A little girl goes missing from Yew Tree Manor – the same house from which a girl vanished decades before. Does the key to the present lie buried even deeper in the past, in the forgotten history of an innocent midwife accused by a family of shocking betrayal? A gripping, heartwrenching story of love, loyalty and family secrets. When six-year-old Alice Hilton goes missing … Read More The Midwife’s Secret by Emily Gunnis
+ adventure, Arctic, art, childhood, family, fiction, friendship, Historical fiction, Inuit, journal, literature, loss, love, memoir, racism, review, Scottish Highlands, secrets, sisters
A Woman Made of Snow by Elisabeth Gifford
A gorgeous, haunting, and captivating novel of a century-long family mystery in the wild of Scotland, and one woman’s hunt for the truth. Scotland, 1949: Caroline Gillan and her new husband Alasdair have moved back to Kelly Castle, his dilapidated family estate in the middle of nowhere. Stuck caring for their tiny baby, and trying to find her way with an opinionated mother-in-law, Caroline … Read More A Woman Made of Snow by Elisabeth Gifford
+ family drama, germany, Historical fiction, holocaust, jewish history, jews, journal, literature, nazi germany, racism, review, World War Two, WW2
Flight of the Shearwater (The Sturmtaucher Trilogy #2) by Alan Jones
Flight of the Shearwater is the second book in the Sturmtaucher Trilogy: a powerful and compelling story of two families torn apart by evil.‘With Poland divided between Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Union of Soviet Republics, the increasingly confident Third Reich flexes its military muscles northwards into Denmark and Norway, while the rest of Europe watches anxiously over its shoulders. General Erich Kästner, in his … Read More Flight of the Shearwater (The Sturmtaucher Trilogy #2) by Alan Jones
+ adventure, crime fiction, dark humour, family, fiction, germany, haunting, Historical fiction, holocaust, horror, List, literature, loss, love, marriage, murder, mystery, nazi germany, political thriller, Psychological fiction, relationships, review, secrets, sisters, stalker, supernatural, thriller, World War Two
My Top 8 Books of 2021 – part three
Here are my favourite eight books of the third quarter of 2021. So far this has been a good year for books if for nothing else, so it was a really difficult decision. The Beresford by Will Carver Firstly let me just say one thing – don’t get too attached to the characters, they may not be around long enough. Apart from Mrs May that … Read More My Top 8 Books of 2021 – part three
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