Hello November. It's a month for snuggling in the warm with a hot drink and a good book. Here are ten books that I would like to snuggle down with this month.
Three Marys by Glenn Cooper
Do you believe in miracles?
Three impossible births. Three incredible miracles. One deadly secret.
When three teenage girls in Mexico, the United States, and Ireland discover they are pregnant, each swears she is still a virgin, and medical tests prove them right. All three are Catholic, all three saw a blinding light before blacking out, and all three share the same name: Mary.
In Rome, a stunned Pope Celestine turns to Harvard professor Cal Donovan, his trusted expert in religion and archaeology, to investigate a phenomenon that looks terrifyingly like a replay of the Annunciation on a global scale. As news of the “Three Marys” breaks, pilgrims flood the girls’ homes, the media fuels a storm of hope and outrage, and powerful factions inside and outside the Vatican scramble to seize control of the miracle.
Cal’s investigation pulls him from the shadowed corridors of the Vatican to dusty border towns and the windswept Irish coast, where he begins to suspect that something far more calculated than a miracle is unfolding. When a colleague is kidnapped and the three girls vanish into a heavily guarded American estate, Cal finds himself facing a conspiracy willing to rewrite doctrine, weaponize faith, and sacrifice the Marys to a cause they barely understand.
The Women Who Saved Catholic England by Martyn R Beardsley
Reveals the untold story of Catholic women who risked everything to protect priests during England's religious persecution. Much has been written about the historical persecution of Catholics. Priests in particular became prime targets during the heightened tensions of the Armada and the Gunpowder Plot. But those whom they relied on for shelter have received little attention – until now. The underground network of lay supporters, the Catholic Resistance, mostly comprised courageous women of the great (and sometimes not so great) families of England, and their houses riddled with priest holes. These women fought a cat-and-mouse game with spymasters like Walsingham and Cecil and their spider's web of clandestine informants, knowing that one slip might lead to arrest, torture and execution. The indomitable Anne Vaux and her sister Eleanor provide the focus of this story but there were others, including their niece Frances, who as an 11-year-old boldly confronted armed raiders in search of priests; and Margaret Clitherow of York, arrested during a similar search and ultimately pressed to death. To escape the clutches of Elizabeth's brutal torturer Richard Topcliffe and others like him, men like Father John Gerard, whose 'zipwire' escape from the Tower of London is the stuff of Tom Cruise films, and genius priest-hole creator 'Little John', turned to these Sisters of Mercy.
Angel in Tobago by Tim Bartholomew
Gabriel, already bored with early retirement, is catapulted into a world of corruption, danger, and intrigue when he travels to Tobago to oversee the sale of a family property.
As he navigates the island's vibrant culture, colours and landscapes, he is forced to confront his own values and morals in the face of shocking encounters with drug dealers, corrupt officials
and Afro-Caribbean spirituality.
Along the way, he is guided by three strong Tobagonian women who challenge him to break free from his comfort zone and take control of his destiny. With its blend of humour, action, and heart, this novel is a thrilling adventure that will leave you breathless and inspired.
A Corpse at St. Andrew's Chapel by Mel Starr
When the beadle of the manor of Bampton disappears after going out to enforce curfew, his young wife Matilda turns to Master Hugh de Singleton, surgeon and bailiff of the manor, for help. Two days later, Alan's mutilated body is discovered in the hedge near St Andrew's Chapel. His throat has been ripped out, his head nearly severed from his body, and his arms and hands covered in deep scratches.
At the scene, Master Hugh teams up with Hubert the coroner, who suggests that a wolf could have caused the fatal wound. But why is there no blood, and why are there so many scratches? As Master Hugh delves deeper into the investigation, he uncovers a web of secrets and lies that threaten to tear the community apart.
With vivid descriptions of medieval life, graphic medical procedures, and a cast of compelling characters, this story is a must-read for fans of historical mysteries.
Darling Mine by Romy Hausmann
She went missing decades ago.
He is still looking for her . . .
Julie Nowak has been missing since 7th September 2003. It broke her family. Only her father, Theo, doesn't give up on her. On the 20th anniversary of her disappearance, Theo is contacted by podcaster Liv. She's come across a new lead. But if Theo wants to find out the truth he must be quick before his progressing dementia smothers everything in darkness.
Who has taken his daughter? Why does Julie's ex-boyfriend Daniel keep his mother's bedroom door locked, years after she passed away? And is there anything more gruesome than the uncertainty of not knowing what happened to your own child?
From This Moment On by Jo Bartlett
Thirteen years ago, Iris’s life was shattered when her father’s sudden death revealed a devastating secret, making her doubt everything she believed to be true.
Now working as a researcher, Iris relies on solid facts. She’s built a wall round her emotions, unable to trust herself when it comes to love, or letting people in. But then she returns to her Cornish hometown to consult on a TV series for scriptwriter Declan Fitzgerald.
Single father Declan is charming, clever and devoted to his eight-year-old daughter, Mabel. Iris is undeniably drawn to him, and forms an instant friendship with the little girl. But her deep-seated trust issues, combined with local gossip claiming that Declan was involved in his wife’s disappearance, push Iris to dig deep into his past and the unsolved case.
The tangle of secrets she uncovers – and Declan’s reaction – threatens to destroy the fragile bond building between them.
Can Iris finally let go of the betrayal that defined her past and trust her gut, or will she lose the love – and family – she has always longed for?
Queen of the Dead by Sarah Broadway
Speaking with the dead is nothing new for Lou. It’s a curse she’s learned to hide from everyone – sometimes even herself. After running away from a past that took advantage of those abilities, Lou finally carves out a normal life for herself. That is, until she receives a mysterious message from a ghost – the Veil is thinning – and a cult of necromancers infiltrates her small town.
In a race to discover and defeat her foe, Lou learns she’s not alone in the fight. She grudgingly leans on her allies but wonders who to trust. What’s more impossible is suddenly finding herself the romantic interest of a man who somehow isn’t afraid of all the dark, creepy things about her... but even he has secrets for her to discover.
Time is running out, and reality seems to be slipping away. To save her new life and the people she loves, Lou must learn to accept who she is and embrace her true abilities, no matter where they might take her.
The Jewish Writings by Hannah Arendt
Although Hannah Arendt is not primarily known as a Jewish thinker, she probably wrote more about Jewish issues than any other topic. When she was in her mid-twenties and still living in Germany, Arendt wrote about the history of German Jews as a people living in a land that was not their own. In 1933, at the age of twenty-six, she fled to France, where she helped to arrange for German and eastern European Jewish youth to quit Europe and become pioneers in Palestine.
During her years in Paris, Arendt’s principal concern was with the transformation of antisemitism from a social prejudice to a political policy, which would culminate in the Nazi “final solution” to the Jewish question–the physical destruction of European Jewry. After France fell at the beginning of World War II, Arendt escaped from an internment camp in Gurs and made her way to the United States.
Almost immediately upon her arrival in New York she wrote one article after another calling for a Jewish army to fight the Nazis, and for a new approach to Jewish political thinking. After the war, her attention was focused on the creation of a Jewish homeland in a binational (Arab-Jewish) state of Israel.
Although Arendt’s thoughts eventually turned more to the meaning of human freedom and its inseparability from political life, her original conception of political freedom cannot be fully grasped apart from her experience as a Jew. In 1961 she attended Adolf Eichmann’s trial in Jerusalem. Her report on that trial, Eichmann in Jerusalem, provoked an immense controversy, which culminated in her virtual excommunication from the worldwide Jewish community. Today that controversy is the subject of serious re-evaluation, especially among younger people in America, Europe, and Israel.
The publication of The Jewish Writings–much of which has never appeared before–traces Arendt’s life and thought as a Jew. It will put an end to any doubts about the centrality, from beginning to end, of Arendt’s Jewish experience.
Think of a Number by Anders Bodelsen
'THE THING IN MY POCKET IS A REVOLVER. HAND OVER THE CASH YOU'VE GOT IMMEDIATELY.'
This is the draft of a note that unassuming bank clerk Flemming Borck finds discarded at the counter one evening. It’s a chance discovery that changes his life. Calculating that somebody is planning a hold-up – and that this somebody is the man dressed as Father Christmas outside the shopping centre – Borck takes a gamble and hatches a plan to make himself rich.
But he soon finds that even the best-laid plans have a way of unravelling, in the most horrible and messy ways…
Behind the Seams by Esme Young
From adventures at Central Saint Martins to The Great British Sewing Bee, go behind the scenes of Esme Young's amazing life...
At age five, Esme was asked to write in her notebook, but instead, she filled it with drawings - the only way she knew to express herself. At seven, when it was discovered she was partially deaf, she found refuge in her sketchbooks. Shortly after, Esme made her first garment and a passion for sewing and designing was born. As a teenager, she made her way to London where her creative journey truly began.
Living in a squat with other young creatives, Esme made the most of her time; studying at Central Saint Martins, launching a clothing line called Swanky Modes with three friends and £50 each, watching Notting Hill Carnival with David Bowie, and altering a dress for Cher. The '90s saw a career move into costumes for films, where she designed outfits for Trainspotting, Bridget Jones's Diary and The Beach, before she moved onto the small screen herself.
A celebration of a creative life lived differently, Behind the Seams is a reminder that it's never too early, or too late to pick up a needle and start stitching in a new direction.
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