Left on the Shelf

About the Author

Suzy K Quinn (hello – it’s me!) is writing this bio in the third person. Which feels duplicitous and also a little egotistical. But here goes ...

Suzy K Quinn writes book club books and murder mystery series, and has sold over 1 million copies worldwide. She's a bestselling author in the US, UK and Germany and will soon, very possibly, have written more books than she's read.Suzy lives in Wivenhoe, Essex, with her husband and two daughters. She is a twin, an incompetent parent of two and now fully decaffeinated. Her twin sister, Cate Quinn, is also a bestseller author. When Suzy isn't writing in cafes, she is walking around woods dictating like a lunatic.

You can also find Suzy at:

Facebook

The Greatest Love Story Ever Told

My Other Blog Posts Featuring This Author

Love or Your Money Back

(ARC and media courtesy of Rachel's Random Resources)

(all opinions are my own)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)

Thursday, 10 September 2026

The Silent Women by Tara Lynn Masih - #bookreview

Black Sunday 1945, Guymon, Oklahoma

The calm before the storm. Everyone knows the truth of this...

***

I am required to make it clear at the beginning of my reviews that I received this book for free from the author. I have not been paid for doing this and all opinions are my own. I am Bookshop.org affiliated, which means I earn a very small amount of money if you buy from there using my direct link. Although I include purchase links to Amazon, I am not affiliated with them. I include them to make it easy for you to navigate to them if you so wish.

***

The Blurb

Oklahoma, 1935. Black Sunday. From the moment a wall of black dust devours the plains and buries her world, Song Holloway’s life is marked by dislocation and loss. Even in the rural New England town she now calls home, that dark cloud continues to follow her.

Then the army asks her to take up work at a classified facility in the muddy outpost of Oak Ridge, a city that doesn’t appear on any map. Trained to test pipes, Song searches for leaks in a system no one will explain. The work is dangerous. People vanish. Yet it’s here, behind the barbed wire and watchtowers, that she finds what the dust storm stole: a place to belong and women who become her second family. And there is Hol—a gentle soldier who gives her, for the first time, peace.

Until she’s summoned. A small room. Two agents. Men with power she will never have. Song is given a command: spy on the women in your life. In a city built on secrets, keeping quiet used to be enough. Now it makes her complicit. But Song’s choices will haunt her long after she learns what flowed through those pipes.

My Review

I was already a fan of Tara Lynn Masih's award-winning books, so when she offered me the opportunity to review her latest book, The Silent Women, I accepted joyfully.

This book made for great reading. The Silent Women is based on the true story of the Manhattan Project's secret women during World War II. Women were recruited to join the war effort in a highly secret project.

When the main character, Song Holloway, is approached and recruited, she accepts with no knowledge of what she will be asked to do. In fact, whilst working on the project, she still has no idea what the assignment actually is or what she is working towards. However, with a proud sense of patriotism, she works away and asks no questions. I can't say too much more without giving it away, but when the reveal comes and we, alongside Song, learn of the project, it is well worth waiting for. US readers may already be familiar with the history surrounding this program but for me I found it informative as I was unaware of the project so came to it with fresh eyes.

With each of the novels that Ms Masih has written, I have sensed a maturity in her writing. She skillfuly brings both her story and characters alive on the page in this novel. I particularly enjoyed reading of the friendships she formed whilst at the classified facility, and how this enabled Song's character development. She was a great character to read of.

It has been well researched, and this really shows in not just the broader time and place but also in the minutiae of Song's life. I was fully invested in reading this novel as it is a compelling and engaging read.

Published just yesterday, the author states that it took her seven years to completely put this together. Personally, I think it was well worth waiting for and I highly recommend it.

Book Details

ISBN: 978 1837005536

Publisher: Storm Publishing

Formats: e-book, audio and paperback

No. of Pages: 392 (paperback)

Purchase Links

About the Author

Tara Lynn Masih grew up on Long Island’s north shore, in the small harbor town of East Northport. A bicultural author, she is the daughter of Lalit K. Masih (the first prominent Indian-American watercolorist) and Sandra Kolyer (who descends from many European ethnicities, including the first White Knight in Ireland).

Much of her writing is set within the framework of nature and place, a result of the years she spent outdoors in the woods, meadows, swamps and on the shores of Long Island Sound. She LOVES history, flowers, anything vintage, the beach, the marshes, chocolate, and family time. She now lives in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

You can also find Tara at:

My Other Blog Posts Featuring This Author

How We Disappear

My Real Name is Hanna

Guest Post

Desert Island Books

(ARC and media courtesy of the author)

(all opinions are my own)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)

Wednesday, 9 September 2026

A Calamity of Waters by Chloe Turner - #bookreview

Later, they would talk of mighty hills of water tumbling one over another. Of smoke spilling from great waves... a sight which dazzled every one of those who looked upon it...

***

I am required to make it clear at the beginning of my reviews that I received this book for free from the publicist. I have not been paid for doing this and all opinions are my own. I am Bookshop.org affiliated, which means I earn a very small amount of money if you buy from there using my direct link. Although I include purchase links to Amazon, I am not affiliated with them. I include them to make it easy for you to navigate to them if you so wish.

***

The Blurb

JANUARY 1607. THE SEVERN VALLEY. THE GREATEST FLOOD IN LIVING MEMORY.

Habren has never quite forgiven herself. Her father only sings bawdy carols for farthings these days, none of the sweet songs he used to sing their mother, and perhaps it’s no wonder her sisters Syble and Margret have put many leagues between themselves and their old home. But then Syble summons her to Gloucester, and if Habren can keep on the right side of their pin merchant master, perhaps it’s the chance she needs to make up for the past.

Then the river rises. In a single January morning, the Severn floods the vale and upends every life in it. And somewhere down that swollen estuary is Ambrose, the man Habren loves.

With Syble and new friend Raynould beside her, Habren sets out for Bristol to find him, through a city the flood has torn apart. And as they search, secrets they have kept close to their hearts begin, one by one, to surface.

My Review

This was one of those books that I wanted to read slowly, to linger over every word and sentence because it has been so beautifully crafted.

The author has taken an authentic historical event, setting her book during the early part of the seventeenth century when the Bristol Channel flooded, and many drowned. Homes, farmland and even entire villages were flooded, leaving both the human and animal populations depleted.

The book oozes period detail, demonstrating the extraordinary amount of research that went into the writing of this book and, thus, making her characters utterly believable.

The main character is Habren, the youngest of three sisters. She, along with her sister, Syble, works for Alderman Taylor manufacturing pins. He is uncaring and abusive to his workers. Accompanied by their friend, Raynould, they flee his employment after almost losing their lives due to his negligence. What follows is a journey where secrets unfold and they come to understand one another more.

This book is up there with the best I have read this year. It was a gripping, immersive story which I didn't want to put down. Its pace is gentle and perfectly appropriate for the genre. I was fully engaged throughout and was sorry when the book had to end. I highly recommend this compelling book to fans of historical fiction.

As if the fact that this is a brilliant novel to read isn't a good enough reason to buy this book, all profits from the sales of A Calamity of Waters will go to the author's local charity, Stroud Valleys Project (https://www.stroudvalleysproject.org/), for their river restoration and other local nature works. Founded in 1988, Stroud Valleys Project's aim is to support people of all backgrounds, ages and abilities to connect with and nurture green spaces to keep people and nature thriving.

Book Details

ISBN:978 1917090223

Publisher: Deixis Books

Formats: e-book, hardback and paperback (currently available on Kindle Unlimited)

No. of Pages: 320 (paperback)

Purchase Links

Waterstones

About the Author

Chloe Turner’s short stories have been widely published, including in Best British Short Stories 2018. Her debut collection, Witches Sail in Eggshells, won the 2020 Saboteur Award for Best Short Story Collection. In 2019, the Yeovil Literary Prize awarded third prize to Blue Hawk.

A Calamity of Waters is her second novel. Set around the devastating Bristol Channel floods of 30 January 1607, where it is estimated that 2,000 or more people drowned. It was, according to modern historians and scientists, the deadliest sudden natural disaster to hit Britain in 500 years. The 420th anniversary is this coming January, 2027.

Chloe mixes extensively-researched historical fact with imagination to tell engrossing stories, intertwining actual events and places to bring her local history to life.

You can also find Chloe at:

(ARC and media courtesy of the publicist)

(all opinions are my own)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)

Tuesday, 8 September 2026

The Book Witch by Meg Shaffer - #bookreview

***

I am required to make it clear at the beginning of my reviews that I received this book for free from Netgalley. I have not been paid for doing this and all opinions are my own. I am Bookshop.org affiliated, which means I earn a very small amount of money if you buy from there using my direct link. Although I include purchase links to Amazon, I am not affiliated with them. I include them to make it easy for you to navigate to them if you so wish.

***

The Blurb

Rainy March is a proud third-generation book witch, sworn to defend works of fiction from all foes real and imaginary. With her magical umbrella and feline familiar, she jumps into and out of novels to fix malicious alterations and wrangle characters that go off-script.

Book witches live by a strict code: Real people belong in the real word; fictional characters belong in works of fiction.... Do not eat, drink, or sleep inside a fictional world, lest you become part of the story. Falling in love with a fictional character? Don't even think about it.

Except Rainy has fallen hard for the Duke of Chicago, the dashing British detective who stars in her favorite noir series. After their illicit romance is exposed, Rainy is forbidden from ever seeing her fictional lover again, lest she be expelled from her book coven-and forced to give up the magical gifts that are as much a part of her as her own name.

When a priceless book is stolen from her home, there's only one person she trusts to help her get it back: the Duke. Thus their shared quest begins through the worlds of Alice in Wonderland, The Great Gatsby, and other classics that will reveal hidden enemies and long-buried family secrets.

My Review

This book has a fun premise which was entertaining to read.

Haven't we all wanted our perfect fictional romantic partner to step from the pages of a book at some point in our reading lives? I've been awaiting Atticus Finch since I first read To Kill a Mockingbird when I was thirteen!

For the main character in this book, Rainy March, that very thing happens when fictional detective, the Duke of Chicago, steps from within the pages of his book series, along with his cat, Koshka. It's just as well, as she soon needs his detective skills in attempting to find her missing grandfather.

The role of a book witch, such as Rainy, is to prevent 'burners' from deleting characters from books. Her mother and grandfather were also book witches, and so her destiny was already mapped out for her.

I loved the way the author took us into some classic literature. We follow Rainy into Alice in Wonderland, The Great Gatsby and the Nancy Drew books. It was wonderful to experience these books through Rainy's eyes while she was within their pages.

The book was imaginative and creates a world of escapism for the reader. Ms Shaffer is a great storyteller and I felt very involved in the story.

I adore books about books. However, books of this genre aren't my usual reading fare, but I enjoyed this and I feel encouraged to perhaps dip my toes further into the genre.

Book Details

ISBN: 978 1529443868

Publisher: Arcadia Books

Formats: e-book, audio and hardback

No. of Pages: 320 (hardback)

Purchase Links

About the Author

Meg Shaffer is the USA Today bestselling author of The Wishing Game, which was a Goodreads Choice Awards finalist, a Book-of-the-Month finalist for Book of the Year, a #1 Barnes & Noble bestseller, and a Reader’s Digest Best Book of the Year.

She holds an MFA in TV and Screenwriting from Stephens College. Her second novel, the instant national bestseller The Lost Story, is available now from Ballantine.

Shaffer lives in Kentucky with her husband and two cats. The cats are not writers.

You can also find Meg at:

Facebook

(media courtesy of the author)

(all opinions are my own)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)

Monday, 7 September 2026

The Irish Ties That Bind by Michael J. Hopkins - #bookspotlight #blogtour

I am delighted to be shining the book spotlight on this book today. The Irish Ties That Bind by Michael J. Hopkins is historical fiction and sounds fascinating.

The Blurb

From the green hills of southern Ireland to the heartland of America, four families are united by faith, perseverance, and an enduring legacy that spans generations.

As famine and hardship drive Irish immigrants across the Atlantic in the mid-nineteenth century, the Power and Coughlin families plant new roots in the American Midwest. Their daughters answer a higher calling, joining the fledgling Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa. Through the remarkable leadership of Sister Emily and Sister Samuel, these women help shape a religious community that will educate thousands and leave an indelible mark on the nation.

Their story intertwines with those of the Cullen and Hynes families, whose lives are transformed by the sisters’ influence. Seeking refuge from the unrest of postwar Chicago, they settle in Dixon, Illinois, where friendship, faith, and family bind them to another rising family—the Reagans. As Ronald Reagan grows from a small-town boy into a radio broadcaster, actor, and emerging public figure, the lives of ordinary and extraordinary Americans intersect in unexpected ways.

Set against the backdrop of immigration, the Great Depression, two world wars, and the dawn of the Cold War, The Irish Ties That Bind is a sweeping historical saga of courage, devotion, and the families whose quiet strength shaped generations. It is a powerful testament to the bonds of family, faith, and heritage that endure long after history's tides have turned.

Book Details

ISBN: 979 8950078163

Publisher: Historium Press

Formats: e-book, hardback and paperback

No. of Pages: 324 (paperback)

Purchase Links

Maid of Steel by Kate Barker

About the Author

A lifelong resident of Wisconsin, Michael J. Hopkins earned his undergraduate degree in economics from Beloit College, subsequently obtaining a degree in history from Arizona State University and the University of Wisconsin–Platteville. He furthered his academic pursuits by completing a Master of Arts in the Humanities at California State University, Dominguez Hills. Mr. Hopkins concluded a distinguished forty-year tenure in secondary education, having served as a social studies instructor at Darlington High School for thirty-nine years.

In addition to his teaching responsibilities, he dedicated many years to coaching basketball, baseball, and football at the same high school. His contributions to athletics were formally recognized in 2021 with his induction into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Following his retirement from education, he has transitioned into a career as an author. In 2025, he published his autobiographical memoir, Embracing A Competitive Life: Trials, Triumphs, and 150 Life Lessons in Six Decades of Competition, which chronicles his experiences as both an athlete and a coach.

My Other Blog Posts Featuring Historical Fiction Set in Ireland

The Midnight House by Amanda Geard

Witchcraft: A Graphic History: Stories of Wise Women, Healers and Magic by Lindsay Squire

My Heart Went Walking by Sally Hanan

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

(media courtesy of The Coffee Pot Book Club)

(all opinions are my own)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)

Friday, 28 August 2026

Books I Read in August 2026

As August draws to a close our streets and lanes already look like autumn. Of course, it isn't yet but this overly hot, dry summer have sent our plants and trees into distress and leaves have just shrivelled up and shed themselves.

I will be away next week so the blog will be quiet but rest assured I will soon be back with lots of great booky stuff to share with you.

Enjoy the rest of summer and happy reading!

Murder at Christmas by T.A. Williams

It seemed somewhat ironic to be reading a Christmas book during a heatwave, but I so enjoyed reading about Private Investigator Dan Armstrong and his faithful canine friend, Oscar. You can find my full review here.

The Secret Dressmaker by Jenny O'Brien

I enjoyed this book set around the French Resistance in World War II. You can find my full review here.

The One Where They Fall in Love by Cristina Wolf

I absolutely loved the slow burn of friendship, later followed by desire between the two main characters in this book. You can find my full review here.

Lost and Never Found by Simon Mason

This is currently my favourite crime series. The characters are just wonderful.

A Dangerous Crossing by Jane Mitchell

This is probably the best book I have read so far this year. You can find my full review here.

A Hymn to Life: Shame Has To Change Sides by Gisele Pelicot

What can I say? This memoir from Gisele Pelicot is something everyone should read. Her bravery and resilience is second to none.

Currently Reading

A History of the Novel in Britain by Philip Hensher

The Alchemist's Secret by Clare Marchant

Invitation from a Dictator by Rory Clements

The Wine of Angels by Phil Rickman

Thursday, 27 August 2026

A Dangerous Crossing by Jane Mitchell - #bookreview #blogtour

I sprint around the perimeter of Freedom Square in the centre of Kobani. I hardly recognise this place any more, it is such a wreck now...

***

I am required to make it clear at the beginning of my reviews that I received this book for free from The Write Reads. I have not been paid for doing this and all opinions are my own. I am Bookshop.org affiliated, which means I earn a very small amount of money if you buy from there using my direct link. Although I include purchase links to Amazon, I am not affiliated with them. I include them to make it easy for you to navigate to them if you so wish.

***

The Blurb

Ghalib doesn't want to leave his home in Syria. But the city has become too dangerous, and his family has no choice but to flee. Together they make their way through Syria to the Turkish border, where Ghalib gets separated from his family. Stricken with grief and fear, fighting cold, pain and hunger, he manages to make it to a refugee camp in Turkey. Ghalib is safe for now, but life in a refugee camp is wretched and hopeless, and this boy's journey in search of safety is far from over. Based on true accounts and real Syrian children, A Dangerous Crossing is the story of one boy's search for refuge.

My Review

This is probably one of the best books I have read this year. Quite the accolade when considering that I have currently read 83 books so far.

The main character in the book is thirteen-year-old Ghalib. He was a contented child, living with his parents, older sister and younger brother until the war began in Syria. From then, every day was a fight for survival.

The story has been beautifully told and the writer has demonstrated real skill in the telling. The entire book came alive on the pages. It is well-written, compelling and highly engaging. This is one of the few books where I could have cried simply because the book had ended. I wanted to scoop Ghalib up into my arms and to somehow make the world a better place for him. It isn't often that I become this invested in a book.

The book is aimed at a young adult readership. I would encourage every secondary school library to have a copy of this on their shelves. That said, it is highly suitable for adults too.

This was a deeply moving and heart-wrenching book and I would challenge anyone to read this and not be deeply moved. Each of the characters in the book is the name of a real Syrian child who was killed during the war. What a wonderful tribute to so many young lives so needlessly lost.

Book Details

ISBN: 978 1910411582

Publisher: Little Island

Formats: e-book and paperback

No. of Pages: 224 (paperback)

Purchase Links

About the Author

Jane Mitchell lives in Dublin and works with children with physical disabilities. Her Amnesty International- endorsed novel A Dangerous Crossing (Little Island), about a Syrian family fleeing the war, has sold more than 100,000 copies worldwide. Jane spent time volunteering at the refugee camp in Calais to research the book. Chalkline (Walker), about child soldiers in Kashmir, won the Children's Choice Award at the 2010 CBI Awards.

You can also find Jane at:

(ARC and media courtesy of The Write Reads)

(all opinions are my own)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)

Tuesday, 25 August 2026

Lady of Lincoln by Rachel Elwiss Joyce - #bookreview

***

The Blurb

A true story. A forgotten heroine. In a time when women were told to stay silent, could she become the saviour her people need?

12th-century England. Nicola de la Haye wants to do her duty. But though she’s taught a female cannot lead alone, the young noblewoman bristles at the marriage her father has arranged to secure her inheritance. And when an unexpected death leaves her unguided, the impetuous girl shuns the king’s blessing and weds a handsome-but-landless knight.

Harshly fined by Henry II for her unsanctioned union, Nicola struggles to salvage her estates while dealing with devastating betrayals from her husband… and his choice to join rebels in a brewing civil war. Yet after averting a tragedy and gaining the castle garrison’s respect, she still must face the might of powerful men determined to crush her under their will.

Can she survive love, threats, and violent ambition to prove she’s worthy of authority?

In this carefully researched and vividly human series debut, Rachel Elwiss Joyce showcases the complex themes of honour, responsibility, and freedom in the story of a remarkable heroine who men tried to erase from history. And as readers dive into a world defined by violence and turmoil, they’ll be stunned by this courageous young woman’s journey toward greatness.

Lady of Lincoln is the gritty first book in the Nicola de la Haye Series historical fiction saga. If you like richly textured female heroes, courtly drama, and fast-paced intrigue, then you’ll adore Rachel Elwiss Joyce’s gripping true-life tale.

My Review

I love novels which bring an almost forgotten woman to the fore. This was one such book and I enjoyed it very much.

The main character is Nicola de la Haye and I became immersed in her story very quickly. She is courageous, feisty and has to rapidly learn how to use these talents in a time when women had little control over their own lives.

Set in twelfth-century England, Nicola knows that her role in life is to marry a man of her father's choosing. His choice is Gerard de Camville, a man with wealth and land and who is loyal. However, Nicola wants to marry for love. Following the death of her father she does just that and marries William Fitzernest, a handsome younger man who is attracted to Nicola more for her inheritance than for love.

The book has been well researched and I was drawn into the time period every bit as much as the plot. I felt as though I was walking through the grounds of Lincoln Castle in the twelfth century and the author did a fantastic job of bringing the time period and setting to life.

It has a brisk pace and I flew through the book fairly quickly. However, that might equally have been due to my reluctance to put it down.

This is the first in a series and I can't wait to continue with it once the second book has been published. I applaud the author for bringing this little-known woman of the past back to life within the pages of this book.

If you enjoy historical fiction then you will adore this one as much as I did. I highly recommend it.

Book Details

ISBN: 978 1919337906

Publisher: Hedgehog Books

Formats: e-book, audio and paperback (currently available on Kindle Unlimited)

No. of Pages: 462 (paperback)

Series: Book 1 in the Nicola de la Haye series

Purchase Links

Extract from Lady of Lincoln

About the Author

After a rewarding career in the sciences, Rachel returned to her first love—history and the art of storytelling. Fascinated by the women history neglected, or tried to forget, she creates meticulously researched, emotionally resonant fiction that brings her characters’ stories vividly to life.

Her fascination with the past began early. At six years old, she was already inventing tales about medieval women in castles, inspired by her treasured Ladybird books and other picture-rich stories that transported her to another time. By the time she discovered Katherine by Anya Seton as a teenager, she knew the joy and escape that only great historical fiction can bring.

Rachel’s two grown-up children still tease her (fondly) about childhoods spent being “dragged” around castles, archaeological sites, and historical re-enactments. For Rachel, history and imagination have always gone hand in hand.

There was, however, a long gap between the stories of her childhood and her decision to write her own novel. The spark came when she discovered the remarkable true story of Nicola de la Haye—the first female sheriff of England, who defended Lincoln Castle against a French invasion and became known as “the woman who saved England,” Rachel knew she had found her heroine, and a story she was destined to tell.

Rachel lives in the UK, where she continues to explore the lives of women who shaped history but were left out of its pages.

You can also find Rachel at:

My Other Blog Posts Featuring This Author

(ARC and media courtesy of the author)

(all opinions are my own)

Friday, 21 August 2026

The Maternal Element by Kate Nicholls - #extract #excerpt #blogtour

I am very excited to be bringing you an extract from The Maternal Element by Kate Nicholls. I love books which feature forgotten women and this one looks fabulous.

The Blurb

Siberia 1833.

Forty-one-year-old Maria Mendeleeva is enduring her seventeenth pregnancy. Her husband Ivan has lost his sight, and her brother Vasily has left their grandfather’s glass factory in ruins. The factory Maria hungered for as a child. On the brink of poverty and her family’s only remaining hope, Maria must find a way to make the factory viable. She must find the power to bring her grandfather's dreams back to life. She must make the glass sing.

The Maternal Element is a sweeping, gripping epic with an extraordinary woman at its heart. Maria Mendeleeva – mother of Dmitri Mendeleev, who devised the Periodic Table of the Elements – is a heroine like no other. A woman who refuses to be quashed by circumstance, Maria fights against the strictures of her time to gain an education for herself and for her children as she traverses the Urals of Russia seeking opportunity and safety for her family. A vivid and visceral portrait of a woman history has long since forgotten, The Maternal Element is a manifesto for truth, female empowerment and defying societal expectations.

The Extract

“Why must I stay at home and study all alone? I know there are questions that I cannot ask because I am ignorant of their very existence,” Maria cried furiously one morning, pummelling her fists into a heap of flour moistened by buttermilk. She and Nyanya were preparing the midday meal with Cook, who was at the other end of the kitchen table chopping yellow onions into fine pieces and adding them to a bowl of minced pork.

“Gently, Masha, gently,” Cook instructed, “you must encourage the dough – not beat it to death.”

“Exactly my point,” declared the girl, “I want to be encouraged . . . to be allowed to grow and think and understand the world. Instead, I’m trapped at home, and without Papinka and Vasily to help me, I would be lost.”

Cook glanced at Nyanya and saw a fleeting hurt pass over her friend’s face.

“You have a good many people here to help you, Masha,” Cook retorted sharply, “and you have much to learn. One day, your Papa will not be there to give you a roof over your head, and there may not be so much good food in your pantry or so many fine pots to boil soup in.” Her knife was gathering quite terrifying speed. “Your book reading won’t feed your family or keep them warm at night, I can tell you that . . . you need to know how to squeeze the goodness out of a cabbage leaf Miss Know-it-all . . . that’s women’s work . . . and good work too, don’t you think otherwise.”

Cook ran her sleeve against her face to wipe away tiny pearls of sweat that had gathered on her brow, and Maria ran to hug her.

“I know, I know how lucky I am. You and Nyanya are my dearest friends,” cried the child, distraught to see the usually cheerful woman in such distress.

Yet, Maria’s frustration grew, and things came to a head on a rainy afternoon some months later when she and her brother fought so fiercely that they tumbled onto the floor, pulling each other’s hair, and had to be separated by their exasperated nanny.

“Vasily Kornilyev,” cried the woman, wrenching the boy from his sister’s grasp and shaking him until he rattled – the household keys around her waist clanging in lockstep with her fury. “Maria Kornilyeva, what is this? You are both too old to engage in such unruly behaviour. I have never seen such bad children. I shall put you both out in the night to freeze to death.”

“He called me foolish,” shouted the unrepentant girl, “I’m far cleverer than he and – and – I shall do great things in my life – you shall see – I shall travel far and wide like Professor Lomonosov and I shall go the far ends of the earth, just you wait. Vasily is so stupid – too – too stupid to remember the words of his poem . . . and such a wonderful poem . . . and he called me foolish and . . . oh I just hate him.”

At this she ran out of the room in a storm of tears. It transpired that Vasily had been instructed by his teacher to learn An Ode on the Benefits of Glass, by the polymath Mikhail Lomonosov. On seeing her brother struggling to recall the lengthy poem, Maria had offered to help by reading the text and gently correcting his mistakes. For a while, she urged him along, but as time passed, his fumbling became too much to bear, and finally throwing the book to the floor, she stood full square and recited the entire poem with such a flaming passion that her brother fell upon her in a fury, declaring her a foolish girl who had no right to their father’s library.

Perhaps it was irony that had caused Maria such anguish, for the ode revealed the poetic chemist’s reverence for the enigmatic material that lay somewhere between liquid and solid in which light and colour were both captured and free. It was she, not Vasily, who shared their grandfather’s passion for glass – it was she who longed to be taken to see the great furnaces in which, by glorious alchemy, sand was transformed into transparency. And it was she who trundled up stairs to watch from the upstairs window as her father and Vasily sped off in the carriage to spend weeks and weeks together in the village on the other side of the forest.

It was Vasily who cared not a jot, who would inherit the dragon’s lair.

Life was intolerably unfair.

Book Details

ISBN: 978 1784633998

Publisher: Salt Publishing

Formats: e-book and paperback

No. of Pages: 400 (paperback)

Purchase Links

Salt Publishing

About the Author

Kate Nicholls is an author and former actor who traded the stage to study evolutionary biology. She raised and home schooled five children while researching lions in the Ocavango Delta. She now lives and writes in Rome

You can also find Kate at:

Bluesky

(media courtesy of Random Things Tours)

(all opinions are my own)

(Bookshop.org affiliated)

Thursday, 20 August 2026

Body Language and Heartless by Brian Fitzgerald - #bookspotlight

Today I am shining the book spotlight on two great looking titles by author, Brian Fitzgerald. Body Language and Heartless are thrillers that blur the lines between right and wrong.

The Blurb - Body Language

When Alan Wright learns his ex-wife Andrea leapt to her death only hours after getting remarried to a man he hates, he's heartbroken. When he receives a package in the mail two days after her death, filled with the documents she'd used to plan that wedding, he's hurt and angry. And when he learns that Andrea's bizarre last wishes require him to spread her ashes over a lake outside a small village in Africa, he's beyond resentful. But love, loyalty and the uncanny power of human connection win out, sending Wright back into the volatile stew of hope and cynicism that is aid work in the poorest parts of the world. In the teeming city of Kinshasa and the remote villages of the Congo he rediscovers his love for Andrea and begins to understand that buried in the strange details of the wedding itself were subtle clues she'd left for him. Those clues point to a plan she'd helped create but that had gone terribly wrong; a plan to unleash genetic engineering in a way so reckless that its failure could mean the end of all human life, but its success could leave the fundamental definition of humanity in the hands of a small team of scientists and the power-hungry government that supported them.

Blurb - Heartless

Ten years of frustration and heartbreak caring for his son John, born with a catastrophic heart defect, have convinced Rick Morrow that the world is stacked against his family. And on what should be the best day of their life -- the day when John will finally get a new heart - an even worse nightmare begins, when the helicopter carrying the heart crashes, destroying the heart and the hopes of the Morrow family.

Rick's heartbreak turns to rage as he begins to suspect that the accident was no accident at all. His pursuit of the truth puts him on a collision course with the giant Cera Corporation and the powerful family that runs it, who have an agenda of their own and will stop at nothing to make it come true. The escalating conflict threatens Rick's reputation, his safety and even his marriage. It reaches its gut-wrenching climax with Rick and his wife Mary facing and even more terrible question; will they sacrifice all they believe in to save their own son, at a cost almost too high to imagine?

Heartless forces us to ask ourselves the most basic of questions: how far should we go to save the life of someone we love? And what makes a life matter in the first place?

About the Author

Brian Fitzgerald writes intelligent thrillers that explore the human consequences of advances in technology, medicine, and the systems we trust most.

Over a career spanning marketing, technology, and national broadcast media, Brian built his reputation as a storyteller and communicator. As head of communications for a billion-dollar information security firm, he found himself at the center of some of the most significant cybersecurity breaches and global privacy events of the modern era, working alongside, and at times at odds with, the media, academia, and America's intelligence and law enforcement communities.

Those experiences continue to shape his fiction, where scientific innovation, medical breakthroughs, and emerging technologies collide with deeply human questions that have no easy answers.

You can also find Brian at:

(media courtesy of Author Marketing Experts)

(all opinions are my own)

Wednesday, 19 August 2026

The Santorini Writing Retreat by Eva Glyn - #bookreview

The Blurb

Three women, one writing retreat, endless possibilities…

Bestselling author Jessica Rose needs to escape from a terrible secret that’s robbed her of her creativity. Could leading a retreat on a gorgeous Greek island be just what she needs?

Coming home to Santorini was never in Zina’s plans, but now she’s determined to make her new business a success.

And then there’s Karmela, who just wants to write her book and make her mother proud.

In the heat of their Greek island paradise, these new friends find the courage to shape their own stories, and write endings they can all be proud of…

My Review

When I read The Dubrovnik Book Club earlier this year, I just knew that I would want to read the next in the series as soon as possible. I am so glad that I did as I loved this book as much as the first one.

Although it is the second in the Bookish Escape series, it is very much a standalone novel. One of the characters from the first book, Karmela, is the main character in this one and it was lovely to spend more time with her.

The chapters were told from the perspective of the three main characters: Karmela, Jo and Zina. Three very different women who form a strong bond and help one another to deal with the challenges they are faced with. There are secrets in their lives which the reader is privy to but which are only revealed to one another as the novel progresses.

The setting of the book was beautiful; the titular Santorini was just wonderful to immerse myself in. The author did a great job of creating the environment and thus, the book was atmospheric and I soaked up the beauty of Greece whilst reading.

Anyone who enjoys a bit of escapism in their reading material will love this. Coupled with the story of strong women who form a tight-knit friendship, it makes this a novel well worth reading.

Thank you to my wonderful local library for sourcing me a copy of this. I am now very keen to read the next book in the series, The Croatian Island Library.

Book Details

ISBN: 978 0008648138

Publisher: One More Chapter

Formats: e-book, audio and paperback

No. of Pages: 368 (paperback)

Series: Book 2 in the Bookish Escape series

Purchase Links

About the Author

Eva Glyn writes escapist relationship-driven fiction with a kernel of truth at its heart. She loves to travel and finds inspiration in beautiful places and the stories they hide.

Set mainly in Croatia, her contemporary stories are more about friendship than romance, the coming together of people through shared interests, and the opportunity to make fresh starts in their lives. A love of books is a common theme too, so her publisher, One More Chapter, has christened them the Bookish Escapes collection which currently includes The Dubrovnik Book Club, and The Santorini Writing Retreat, with The Croatian Island Library to be published in January 2026.

In addition Eva has written two Second World War dual timeline romances, An Island of Secrets and The Collaborator’s Daughter, and a new beginnings novel entitled The Olive Grove. All are set in Croatia, a country she loves.

Although she considers herself Welsh, Eva lives in Cornwall with the man she met and fell in love with more than thirty years ago. She also writes as Jane Cable.

You can also find Eva at:

Facebook