Category: World War One

My 4 Favourite Audiobooks of 2024 – Part Two

Here are my favourite audiobooks of the year Part Two. Diane Setterfield appears twice, because I adored both her books. Once Upon A River by Diane Setterfield I think this has to be one of my favourite books ever. It’s so original, with a cast of characters that I absolutely adored. It’s set in the area around the banks of the River Thames in … Read More My 4 Favourite Audiobooks of 2024 – Part Two

My 4 Favourite Audiobooks of 2024 – Part One

A new list! I love a list. I only just started listening to audiobooks last year, and it’s not just about the story – it’s also about the narrator/s. One of my biggest issues with audiobooks has always been the length, as I am a fast reader and I don’t have the patience to listen for, say 11 or 12 hours, when I could … Read More My 4 Favourite Audiobooks of 2024 – Part One

My 3 Favourite Audiobooks of 2023

A new list! I love a list. I have only just started listening to audiobooks, and it’s not just about the story – it’s also about the narrator/s. Which is why Geneva is the outright winner. One of my biggest issues with audiobooks has always been the length, as I am a fast reader and I don’t have the patience to listen for, say … Read More My 3 Favourite Audiobooks of 2023

Cover the Bones by Chris Hammer – Ivan Lucic & Nell Buchanan #3

NO ONE IS EVER INNOCENT IN PARADISE.A small town.A closely guarded secret, stretching back decades.And blood in the water. A body has washed up in an irrigation canal, the artery running through Yuwonderie, a man-made paradise on the border of the Outback. Stabbed through the heart, electrocuted and dumped under cover of night, there is no doubt that detectives Ivan Lucic and Nell Buchanan … Read More Cover the Bones by Chris Hammer – Ivan Lucic & Nell Buchanan #3

Soldier’s Don’t Go Mad by Charles Glass Extract

A brilliant and poignant history of the friendship between two great war poets, Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, alongside a narrative investigation of the origins of PTSD and the literary response to World War I. The outbreak of war across across Europe in 1914, ushered in a new and unprecedented era of modern warfare. Soldiers faced relentless machine-gun fire, incredible artillery power, flame-throwers, and … Read More Soldier’s Don’t Go Mad by Charles Glass Extract

The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams

A young British woman working in a book bindery gets a chance to pursue knowledge and love when World War I upends her life in this new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the Reese’s Book Club pick The Dictionary of Lost Words. It is 1914, and as the war draws the young men of Britain away to fight, women must keep the nation running. Two … Read More The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams

The Dictionary Of Lost Words by Pip Williams

In 1901, the word ‘Bondmaid’ was discovered missing from the Oxford English Dictionary. This is the story of the girl who stole it. Esme is born into a world of words. Motherless and irrepressibly curious, she spends her childhood in the ‘Scriptorium’, a garden shed in Oxford where her father and a team of dedicated lexicographers are collecting words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. … Read More The Dictionary Of Lost Words by Pip Williams

Lionel Hetherdew’s War by Cat On A Piano / Theatrephonic

“I don’t want to be here” – based on a true story. All reservists are being called up. But Lionel has already done his bit for King and country. Two and a half years as an officer. So why would he want to sign up as a guardsman? It seems he has no choice. He’s been conscripted, but he doesn’t want to be here. … Read More Lionel Hetherdew’s War by Cat On A Piano / Theatrephonic

Ten Green Hand Grenades by Cat on a Piano / Theatrephonic

Ten Green Hand GrenadesAnd if one green hand grenade should accidentally fall… I’m left-handed. So my right arm isn’t nearly as strong as my left. I hurled the wretched thing as high and as far as I could but dear God. It hit the trench wall and then bounced back down. I totally froze. The young second lieutenant next to me saw what happened … Read More Ten Green Hand Grenades by Cat on a Piano / Theatrephonic

The Trial of Lotta Rae by Siobhan MacGowan

Set in suffragette London. Lotta Rae is a working-class 15-year-old, raped by a wealthy gentleman, who makes the brave decision to testify in court. William Lindon is a barrister about to lose everything. Both have decisions to make that will change the course of their lives and the lives of everyone around them for generations to come. Atmospheric historical novel set in 20th-century Suffragette … Read More The Trial of Lotta Rae by Siobhan MacGowan

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

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