Category: sixties
+ audio book, feel-good, female friendship, fiction, fifties, friendship, gay, grief, List, loneliness, loss, love, marriage, motherhood, relationships, review, sixties
The Last List of Mabel Beaumont by Laura Pearson
The list he left had just one item on it. Or, at least, it did at first… Mabel Beaumont’s husband Arthur loved lists. He’d leave them for her everywhere. ‘Remember: eggs, butter, sugar’. ‘I love you: today, tomorrow, always’. But now Arthur is gone. He died: softly, gently, not making a fuss. But he’s still left her a list. This one has just one … Read More The Last List of Mabel Beaumont by Laura Pearson
+ coming-of-age, fifties, grief, loss, love, murder mystery, secrets, sixties
Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
For years, rumors of the ‘Marsh Girl’ haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet fishing village. Kya Clark is barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when the popular Chase Andrews is found dead, locals immediately suspect her. But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life’s lessons from the land, learning … Read More Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love … Read More Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
+ Catholic Church, crime fiction, family, female friendship, fiction, fifties, friendship, illegitimacy, Ireland, loss, love, motherhood, murder, police drama, rape, religion, review, serial killer, sisters, sixties, thriller
Blood Mothers by Gaye Maguire
Some debts can only be paid in blood. A rich socialite is found hacked to death in her Dublin home. It’s the beginning of a killing spree that leaves five apparently unconnected people brutally slain. Kate Hamilton, a brilliant and ambitious detective sergeant, is assigned to the case and soon uncovers the connection between the victims – they were all involved in an illegal adoption … Read More Blood Mothers by Gaye Maguire
+ childhood, coming-of-age, crime fiction, fiction, friendship, murder, murder mystery, review, sixties, superstition, wales, whimsical
Tiding by Sian Collins
A lyrical, engaging coming-of-age murder mystery set in the Great Freeze December 1962. Eleanor O’Dowd, a middle-aged piano teacher, is found stabbed and bludgeoned to death. As the Great Freeze of 1963 takes hold, local vicar’s daughter Daphne Morgan finds herself forced to navigate the confusing currents of the adult world, where she must face up to her own crimes and what she knows … Read More Tiding by Sian Collins
+ adventure, crime fiction, Detective novel, family, fiction, grief, jealousy, lies, murder, police drama, relationships, revenge, review, secrets, serial killer, sisters, sixties, superstition, thriller
The Retreat by Sarah Pearse
Most are here to recharge and refresh. But someone’s here for revenge. . . An eco-wellness retreat has opened on an island off the English coast, promising rest and relaxation—but the island itself, known locally as Reaper’s Rock, has a dark past. Once the playground of a serial killer, it’s rumoured to be cursed. #TheRetreat @SarahVPearse #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour Detective Elin Warner is called to the retreat when a young woman’s body is found on the rocks below the yoga pavilion in what seems to be a tragic fall. … Read More The Retreat by Sarah Pearse
+ community, Devon, fiction, folklore, friendship, literature, music, review, seventies, sixties
Villager by Tom Cox
Tom Cox’s masterful debut novel synthesises his passion for music, nature and folklore into a psychedelic and enthralling exploration of village life and the countryside that sustains it. There’s so much to know. It will never end, I suspect, even when it does. So much in all these lives, so many stories, even in this small place. Villages are full of tales: some are … Read More Villager by Tom Cox
+ childhood, community, family, family drama, fiction, forgiveness, friendship, literature, loss, love, mental health, mental illness, motherhood, photography, review, Scottish Highlands, secrets, sisters, sixties
Little Wing by Freya North
Little Wing is the powerful story of two families over three generations. In the 1960s, a pregnant 16-year-old is banished to one of the remotest parts of the UK. Years later, Nell and Dougie are both at critical moments in their lives when their paths cross. Between Camden, Colchester and the Outer Hebrides, the three story lines collide when secrets are uncovered and answers … Read More Little Wing by Freya North
+ community, fiction, friendship, gay community, love, mid-life crisis, relationships, review, romance, sixties
The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle by Matt Cain
It’s never too late to start your life’s big adventure . . . Albert Entwistle was a postman. It was one of the few things everyone knew about him. And it was one of the few things he was comfortable with people knowing. 64-year-old Albert Entwistle has been a postie in a quiet town in Northern England for all his life, living alone since … Read More The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle by Matt Cain
+ brothers, Catholic Church, childhood, coming-of-age, convent school, family, fiction, friends, friendship, girl's school, Ireland, literature, religion, review, sixties
Emmet and Me by by Sara Gethin
Summer 1966: When her father comes home with lipstick on his collar, ten-year-old Claire’s life is turned upside down. Her furious mother leaves the family and heads to London, and Claire and her brothers are packed off to Ireland, to their reclusive grandmother at her tiny cottage on the beautifully bleak coast of Connemara. #EmmetAndMe @SGethinWriter @honno @annecater @RandomTTours A misfit among her new … Read More Emmet and Me by by Sara Gethin
+ abuse, child abuse, childhood, family, fiction, humour fiction, List, literature, love, review, sisters, sixties, supernatural
My 3 favourite books of 2020
It was far easier to choose my over all Top 3 than it was to choose my favourite eight from each half of the year. Why? Because once you open the floodgates it’s impossible to stop. So here goes. They are all totally different from each other, but they each hold a special place in my heart. Image thanks to Leafy Bean Co The … Read More My 3 favourite books of 2020
+ abuse, childhood, coming-of-age, crime fiction, dark humour, family, fiction, friendship, Historical fiction, humour fiction, Iceland noir, List, literature, murder, murder mystery, mystery, Psychological fiction, relationships, review, Scottish Highlands, short stories, sisters, sixties, split personality, supernatural, superstition, thriller
2020 – A Year in Books
Here is a round-up of my favourite books of 2020. Being furloughed during the first lock-down, I got used to reading far more books than in previous years and it also saw the beginning of my new ‘career’ taking part in blog tours. The following are not just from those blog tours, but also NetGalley and Pigeonhole reads. I hope 2021 has as many … Read More 2020 – A Year in Books
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