Other books that might interest you

• 

  Cold Coast

  Robyn Mundy

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Inspired by the story of Svalbard’s first female trapper, Cold Coast is a gripping portrayal of survival within the stark beauty and perilous wilderness of the high Arctic 
   
  In 1932, Wanny Woldstad, a young widow, travels to Svalbard, daring to enter the Norwegian trappers’ fiercely guarded male domain. She must prove to Anders Sæterdal, her trapping partner who makes no secret of his disdain, that a woman is fit for the task. Over the course of a Svalbard winter, Wanny and Anders will confront polar bears, traverse glaciers, withstand blizzards and the dangers of sea ice, and hike miles to trap Arctic fox, all in the frigid darkness of the four-month polar night. For Wanny, the darkness hides her own deceptions that, if exposed, speak to the untenable sacrifice of a 1930s woman longing to fulfil a dream. 
   
  Alongside the raw, confronting nature of the trappers’ work, is the story of a young blue Arctic fox, itself a hunter, who must eke out a living and navigate the trappers’ world if it is to survive its ?rst Arctic winter. 
   
  ‘Cold Coast summons the raw beauty of Svalbard with achingly evocative prose. At once visceral and lyrical, I was totally absorbed in the story of Wanny Woldstad and her yearning for wilder freedoms.’ Hannah Kent, author of Burial Rites 
   
  ‘Rarely has a book been so evocative of time and place. At once transporting and unsentimental, Cold Coast is as bracing as the arctic winds that sweep through its world. Its truths about love, endurance, and courage are visceral and above all exhilarating, even as death hovers unsettlingly near.' Lucy Treloar, author of Salt Creek 
   
  ‘An exquisitely written, immersive novel about wildness, survival, and the incomparable exhilaration of choosing a bigger life. I was captivated from start to finish.’ Emily Maguire, author of An Isolated Incident and Love Objects

  Show book

• 

  Grasp the Nettle - Australian...

  Sylvia Lerch

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Set in a remote district of Western Australia in the 1920s, an era which outlawed suicide, an unidentified body has been found and police are treating the death as suspicious. The story presents a chance for strangers (the reader) to peruse the very private diaries of the 
  protagonists. Intriguingly, this is like peeping through the coin slot of a piggy bank to count the wealth inside. Elsie has married Tom in an arrangement brokered by her brother. Tom’s job is delivering the Royal Mail, and it takes him away from home for weeks at a time. Vivacious, 
  imaginative young Elsie must entertain herself in their isolated, unsophisticated bush hut. Married women were not allowed to be financially independent. Grasp the Nettle is not a fairytale ‘lived happily ever after’ romance, but a lode of accurate historical data balanced by details of underlined moral standards of life before the advent of reliable contraceptives, and 
  acknowledgement of gender diversity. In those harsh times, things that are commonplace for us today were yet to be invented: like mobile phones, internet communications, and GPS. There were not even engineered roads through country districts in this vast nation, Australia. Grasp the Nettle poses the question: how did people cope with life’s challenges?

  Show book

• 

  The Keening - A Mystery of...

  Anne Emery

  • 2
  • 8
  • 2

  The murdered body of Sorcha the prophetess is discovered following a lavish banquet at the Maguire castle in 16th-century Ireland. In the present day, a dig commences on the land, and not only is a body discovered, but a sheaf of prophecies. Who killed Sorcha?
  		 
  There has been a guesthouse on the Tierney land in County Fermanagh for hundreds of years. Now Tierney’s Hotel is faced with a development that will block the hotel’s best feature, its view of Enniskillen Castle. But the project can be stopped if there are important historical artifacts buried on the property. Enter the archaeologists.
  		 
  Mick’s ancestor, Brigid Tierney, ran the guesthouse in the late 1500s. We see Brigid and Shane and their children at a lavish banquet at the castle, home of the ruling family, the Maguires. The wine and ale flow freely, the harpist plays, the bard recites the Maguires’ heroic deeds. But one woman has a sense of foreboding. Sorcha the prophetess sees harrowing times ahead. The Tudors of England are determined to complete their brutal conquest of Ireland.
  		 
  The morning after the banquet, Sorcha is found dead on a bed of oak leaves. And Shane is accused of the killing. His lawyer, Terence, conducts his defence on the hilltop that constitutes the court in 1595.
  		 
  Ireland has had a complex and at times woeful history, and we see that history being played out in the lives of the Tierneys, past and present. 
  		 
  In 2018, the dig commences on Mick Tierney’s land. Historical artifacts? Yes. But also a sheaf of prophecies. And a body ― a bogman ― four hundred years old.

  Show book

• 

  The Embroidered Book

  Kate Heartfield

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  *Winner of the Aurora Award for Best Novel*‘Spellbinding’ JJA Harwood‘An entertaining and dark read’ Stylist‘An absorbing novel’ Guardian‘Beautifully written’ Elizabeth Chadwick 
  ‘Power is not something you are given. Power is something you take. When you are a woman, it is a little more difficult, that’s all’ 
  1768. Charlotte, daughter of the Habsburg Empress, arrives in Naples to marry a man she has never met. Her sister Antoine is sent to France, and in the mirrored corridors of Versailles they rename her Marie Antoinette. 
  The sisters are alone, but they are not powerless. When they were only children, they discovered a book of spells – spells that work, with dark and unpredictable consequences. 
  In a time of vicious court politics, of discovery and dizzying change, they use the book to take control of their lives. 
  But every spell requires a sacrifice. And as love between the sisters turns to rivalry, they will send Europe spiralling into revolution. 
  Brimming with romance, betrayal, and enchantment, The Embroidered Book reimagines a dazzling period of history as you have never seen it before. 
  Kate Heartfield, the Sunday Times bestselling author, presents The Embroidered Book, a historical and alternative fiction that tells a romantic and fantastical coming of age story. This bestselling book is a top pick for readers who enjoy a blend of history and fantasy. 
  For fans of William Wood (Ruth and Ann's Guide to Time Travel, Volume II), Lucy A. Snyder (Ashes and Entropy), Michael Paul Gonzalez (Beneath the Salton Sea), E.E. King (Worth 1,000 Words), and K. G. Mcabee (Boneyard Junction). 
  HarperCollins 2022

  Show book

• 

  The Honeybee Emeralds

  Amy Tector

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  When Alice Ahmadi discovers a famed emerald necklace while interning at a struggling Parisian magazine, she is plunged into a glittering world of diamonds and emeralds, courtesans and spies, and the long-buried secrets surrounding the necklace and its glamorous former owners. When she realizes the mysterious Honeybee Emeralds could be her chance to save the magazine, she recruits her friends Lily and Daphne to form the “Fellowship of the Necklace.” Together, they set out to uncover the romantic history of the gems. Through diaries, letters, and investigations through the winding streets and iconic historic landmarks of Paris, the trio begins to unravel more than just the secrets of the necklace’s obsolete past. Along the way, Lily and Daphne’s relationships are challenged, tempered, and changed. Lily faces her long-standing attraction to a friend, who has achieved the writing success that eluded her. Daphne confronts her failing relationship with her husband, while also facing simmering problems in her friendship with Lily. And, at last, Alice finds her place in the world?although one mystery still remains: how did the Honeybee Emeralds go from the neck of American singer Josephine Baker during the Roaring Twenties to the basement of a Parisian magazine?

  Show book

• 

  Dirty Little War - A Crime Novel

  Dietrich Kalteis

  • 1
  • 2
  • 2

  For readers of Elmore Leonard and George Pelecanos, a tense crime novel set in mob-filled Chicago during the 1920s Prohibition
  		 
  It’s 1920 and the start of Prohibition. Circumstances beyond his control find a young man, Huckabee Waller, involved in the death of a gangster in his hometown of New Orleans. Fearing repercussions from the gangster’s associates, Huck hops a northbound freight and heads for the promise of Chicago.
  		 
  Expecting to make an honest living, he’s surprised to find that he’s arrived at the epicenter of crime, corruption, and commerce. Unable to find legitimate work, he gets mixed up in bare-knuckle fights run by the notorious North Side Gang. Reviving his skills as a club fighter, Huck quickly becomes a crowd favorite and makes enough to get by. When it becomes apparent to him that the gang is also heavily involved in running illegal whiskey, a very profitable enterprise, he’s drawn into their world by the desire for more.
  		 
  As Huck starts running booze across the Canadian border for the North Side Gang and gets tangled up in Chicago’s taxi wars, tensions between them and the South Side Gang flare up, and soon he’s in the crosshairs of enforcer Al Capone. The smart thing to do would be to get out of Chicago — fast — that is if the life he wants to leave behind doesn’t kill him first.

  Show book