This Week in Books is a feature hosted by Lipsy at Lipsyy Lost and Found that allows bloggers to share:
- What they’ve recently finished reading
- What they are currently reading
- What they are planning to read next
A similar meme is run by Taking on a World of Words.
I finished reading By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult which I absolutely loved! I then deviated from my planned reading by moving onto The Other People by C. J. Tudor. Not my favourite of hers, but it has a great hook!
What if the greatest writer of all time isn’t who we think he is?
What if he isn’t even a he?
Step back four hundred years and discover the female author who hid behind the mask of the man we know as William Shakespeare . . .
In Elizabethan London, young Emilia Bassano is a ward of English aristocrats. Her education has endowed her with a sharp wit and a gift for storytelling, but still she is allowed no voice of her own.
Forced to become a mistress to the Lord Chamberlain, who oversees the theatre, Emilia discovers the power of stories to beguile audiences. Secretly, she forms a plan to bring a play of her own to the stage – by paying an actor named William Shakespeare to front her work.
In modern-day Manhattan, playwright Melina Green finds a woman’s voice is still worth less than a man’s. But, inspired by the life of her ancestor Emilia Bassano, Melina takes a lesson from history and submits a play under a male pseudonym . . .
Moving between Elizabethan England and modern day Manhattan, By Any Other Name is a beautifully written, compelling novel that explores the theme of identity and the ways in which two women, centuries apart—one of whom might just be the real author of Shakespeare’s plays—are both forced to hide behind another name to make their voices heard.
Driving home one night, Gabe sees the face of a little girl he knows in the rear window of the car in front.
She mouths one word – ‘Daddy’. It’s his five-year old daughter, Izzy.
He never sees her again.
The police believe she’s dead. But three years later, Gabe still drives the roads, searching for the car that took Izzy, never giving up hope . . .
Meanwhile Fran and her daughter, Alice, aren’t searching – but running.
Always one step ahead of the people who want to hurt them.
Because Fran knows the truth about Gabe’s daughter.
And she knows what the people chasing her will do if they ever catch them . . .
I’m currently reading The Edge of Solitude by Katie Hale.
A lone ship journeys south, heading for the furthest reaches of Antarctica. It belongs to Sky, the billionaire behind a groundbreaking project to salvage the region. On board is disgraced environmental activist Ivy Cunningham, lending her expertise in the hope that it might rescue her reputation – and perhaps even mend her broken relationship with her son.
And yet, as the ship moves ever deeper into the breathtaking but eerie landscape, Ivy grows increasingly suspicious of her fellow passengers, and starts to question the project’s motives.
If she could leave, she would – but she knows there’s no way home.
Exhilarating, terrifying and thought-provoking at once, The Edge of Solitude is a story of climate emergency and human fallibility, of the clash of ambition and principle, and of the choices we make when we know that time is running out.
Next up will be something a little different for me, but this month’s book club choice is The Duke and I by Julia Quinn, the inspiration behind the first series of Bridgerton.
Can there be any greater challenge to London’s Ambitious Mamas than an unmarried duke?—Lady Whistledown’s Society Papers, April 1813
By all accounts, Simon Basset is on the verge of proposing to his best friend’s sister—the lovely and almost-on-the-shelf—Daphne Bridgerton. But the two of them know the truth—it’s all an elaborate ruse to keep Simon free from marriage-minded society mothers. And as for Daphne, surely she will attract some worthy suitors now that it seems a duke has declared her desirable.
But as Daphne waltzes across ballroom after ballroom with Simon, it’s hard to remember that their courtship is a sham. Maybe it’s his devilish smile, certainly it’s the way his eyes seem to burn every time he looks at her . . . but somehow Daphne is falling for the dashing duke . . . for real! And now she must do the impossible and convince the handsome rogue that their clever little scheme deserves a slight alteration, and that nothing makes quite as much sense as falling in love.
And that’s my week in books! What are you reading this week? Let me know in the comments! 😎
