WWW Wednesday (July 9)

Hosted by Miz B at Should be Reading
To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…
• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

I am currently reading Another Night, Another Day by Sarah Rayner.

Blurb

Three people, each crying out for help . . . There’s Karen, worried about her dying father; Abby, whose son has autism and needs constant care; and Michael, a family man on the verge of bankruptcy. As each sinks under the strain, they’re brought together at Moreland’s Clinic. Here, behind closed doors, they reveal their deepest secrets, confront and console one another and share plenty of laughs. But how will they cope when a new crisis strikes? NetGalley

I have just finished Spilt Milk by Amanda Hodgkinson, an accomplished historical novel that charts the way women were perceived, some might say judged, by their communities during the first half of the twentieth century.

Read my review by clicking on the book cover

Next I plan to read Remember Me This Way by Sabrine Durrant.  Despite being curious about this author’s debut novel, Under Your Skin, I didn’t get around to reading it.  I have a feeling if I like this second novel I may need to add the debut to the TBR.

Blurb

Everyone keeps telling me I have to move on. And so here I am, walking down the road where he died, trying to remember him the right way.
A year after her husband Zach’s death, Lizzie goes to lay flowers where his fatal accident took place.
As she makes her way along the motorway, she thinks about their life together. She wonders whether she has changed since Zach died. She wonders if she will ever feel whole again.
At last she reaches the spot. And there, tied to a tree, is a bunch of lilies. The flowers are addressed to her husband. Someone has been there before her.
Lizzie loved Zach. She really did.
But she’s starting to realise she didn’t really know him.
Or what he was capable of . . . Goodreads

What are you reading this week?

Spilt Milk – Amanda Hodgkinson

Historical Fiction
4*’s

22 Britannia Road, the debut novel by this author, has been languishing on my wishlist for years, so I was delighted to win a Goodreads giveaway for Spilt Milk, Amanda Hodgkinson’s next novel.

Spilt Milk starts in 1913 with three sisters living in an isolated cottage next to the Little River in Suffolk, England. Rose the eldest has brought up her younger two sisters, Nellie and Vivian in impoverished conditions and her dearest wish is that the three of them lived together safe from the frightening stories she reads in the local gazette. Working on the nearby farm Rose and Nellie bring in the pennies while Vivian looks after the home and the days are tracked by the changing season. All goes well until one day the river floods, and a stranger arrives changing everything.

This is a really good example of a historical saga with plenty of secrets and an underlying theme of female relationships, in all their guises, covering a lengthy time span. The story continues to 1963 but fortunately the author has taken the judicious decision to move the story forward with the characters reflecting on the past as well as narrating the present. This device not only keeps the book length long enough to be fulfilling while avoiding the feeling that it has been unnecessarily padded, but also keeps the reading experience fresh with the change of tense and pace.

Although most of the characters are female the male characters are equally well presented while keeping the feeling of the time period authentic. I loved the way the book charted the changing times from those where women who ‘got into trouble’ were harshly judged by their peers to a softening of attitudes in the 1960’s. At the heart of this book is the relationship between sisters which includes the rivalry and the support they provide.

The author has managed to write a riveting story which is deeper than the premise might suggest, where secrets are revealed and hidden in equal measure, with some remaining a mystery to the protagonists to the very end. I now want to read 22 Britannia Road after this enjoyable read.

Teaser Tuesday (July 8)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to

My Teaser this week is from Spilt Milk by Amanda Hodgkinson

Blurb

1913. Unmarried sisters Nellie and Vivian Marsh live an impoverished existence in a tiny cottage on the banks of the Little River in Suffolk. Their life is quiet and predictable, until a sudden flood throws up a strange fish on their doorstep and a travelling man who will change them forever.
1939. Eighteen year old Birdie Farr is working as a barmaid in the family pub in London. When she realises she is pregnant she turns to her mother Nellie, who asks her sister to arrange an adoption for Birdie’s new born daughter. But as the years pass Birdie discovers she cannot escape the Marsh sisters’ shadowy past – and her own troubling obsession with finding her lost daughter will have deep consequences for all of them… Goodreads

My Teaser

Rose loved stories closer to home. Reports of vagrants stealing food from honest tables, their knapsacks bulging with other people’s belongings. The local gazette was her preferred reading It was full of dreadful stories that made them lock their door at night and fear the sounds of the isolated house.

Friday Finds (February 7)

Hosted by Should be Reading

FRIDAY FINDS showcases the books you ‘found’ and added to your To Be Read (TBR) list… whether you found them online, or in a bookstore, or in the library — wherever! (they aren’t necessarily books you purchased).

So, come on — share with us your FRIDAY FINDS!

This week I have added to my collection (again) by using NetGalley so first up a book due to be published on 10 April 2014 by Headline, The Dead Ground by Claire MccGowen

Blurb

A stolen baby. A murdered woman. A decades-old atrocity. Something connects them all…
A month before Christmas, and Ballyterrin on the Irish border lies under a thick pall of snow. When a newborn baby goes missing from hospital, it’s all too close to home for forensic psychologist Paula Maguire, who’s wrestling with the hardest decision of her life.
Then a woman is found in a stone circle with her stomach cut open and it’s clear a brutal killer is on the loose.
As another child is taken and a pregnant woman goes missing, Paula is caught up in the hunt for a killer no one can trace, who will stop at nothing to get what they want.
The Dead Ground will leave you gasping for breath as Paula discovers every decision she makes really is a matter of life and death…

Having enjoyed both The Fall and the start of the new series featuring Paula Maguire, The Lost, I was delighted to be approved to read the next in the series.

I also acquired another book set around the time of World War I called The Fall and Rise of Lucy Charlton by Elizabeth Gill, published by Quercus in December 2013.

Blurb

1920, Durham. Since she was a child, Lucy Charlton has dreamed of working with her father in the family solicitor’s firm. But a scandal shatters her dreams and, when her father disowns her, she finds herself on the streets, fighting for survival.
Joe Hardy has returned to London after the Great War to find his life in tatters – his father is dead and his pregnant fiancée has disappeared. Then Joe learns he’s unexpectedly inherited an old river house in Durham from a stranger called Margaret Lee. With nothing left for him in London, he makes arrangements to travel north and claim it.
Lucy’s determination has finally secured her a job as a legal secretary, campaigning for the rights of the poorest in society. As Joe arrives in her office to collect the keys to his new home, she promises to help him uncover information about his mystery benefactor. But before long, the past comes back to haunt them both, with shocking consequences…NetGalley

I have also been lucky enough to win a giveaway at Goodreads making me the very pleased owner of Spilt Milk by Amanda Hodgkinson, another historical novel.

Blurb

The eagerly anticipated new historical novel from the author of 22 Britannia Road: a novel about sisterhood, motherhood, and secrets that cannot be laid to rest.
1913. Unmarried sisters Nellie and Vivian Marsh live an impoverished existence in a tiny cottage on the banks of the Little River in Suffolk. Their life is quiet and predictable, until a sudden flood throws up a strange fish on their doorstep and a travelling man who will change them forever.
1939. Eighteen year old Birdie Farr is working as a barmaid in the family pub in London. When she realises she is pregnant she turns to her mother Nellie, who asks her sister to arrange an adoption for Birdie’s new born daughter. But as the years pass Birdie discovers she cannot escape the Marsh sisters’ shadowy past – and her own troubling obsession with finding her lost daughter will have deep consequences for all of them…Goodreads

 Another great surprise was to win a book through Bookmarks, this is how Random House deliver their surveys which cover everything from feedback on book covers to what types of books we read, how we read and where we read. I have filled in a fair few of these surveys and in return they have sent me a copy of Surrounded by Water by Stephanie Butland which is due to be published 10 April 2014

Blurb

Elizabeth’s world is turned upside down when her husband dies in a tragic drowning accident.
How typical of her kind, generous husband to sacrifice his own life saving a complete stranger’s. At the heart of this village that has lost its most respected police officer is a woman who has lost life as she knows it.
Or so she thinks.
Before Elizabeth can begin trying to piece her heart back together, it might just need to be broken again. Goodreads

…. even better along with my book I got a new bookmarks. This means I don’t need to rely on scraps of paper or the loyalty card for the coffee shop anymore!

Finally after enjoying Renita D’Silva’s debut novel Monsoon Memories  I was delighted to be offered a copy of The Forgotten Daughter to read and review.

Blurb

Three simple words, in a letter accompanying her parent’s will, tear Nisha’s carefully ordered world apart. Raised in England, by her caring but emotionally reserved parents, Nisha has never been one to take risks.
Now, with the scrawled address of an Indian convent begins a search for the mother and family she never knew and the awakening of childhood memories long forgotten.
The secrets, culture and people that Nisha discover will change her life forever. And, as her eyes are opened to a side of herself she didn’t know existed, Nisha realizes that she must also seek answers to the hardest question of all – why?
Weaving together the stories of Nisha, Shilpa and Devi, The Forgotten Daughter explores powerfully and poignantly the emotional themes of motherhood, loss and identity – ultimately asking the question of what you would do out of love for your children? Goodreads

So apart from being approved by NetGalley for my first choice, completely by chance, the genre of reading in my finds this week contains far less murder and mayhem!

What did you all find for me to envy?