Janet Gordon is married, retired, obsessed with her Westlake Terrier, Rollo – and books are her passion. She reads multiple books a week across all genres and reviews them for Rest Less.
This month’s round-up features The Secrets of Blythswood Square, Where the Bruised Pieces Go, The Memory of Us, The Woman on the Ledge, and The Wartime Book Club.
Note: Prices can change often, so you may notice some variations on the providers’ websites. Prices and availability are accurate as of the 19th of February, 2024.
I’m not quite sure when the lovely people at Rest Less will be publishing this – it might well be close to Mother’s Day (Sunday 10 March). And what better pressie to ask for than a great book? This month there are some simply stunning reads around.
I’ve just had a rather complicated foot operation, so I’m currently hobbling around and depending on my husband to feed and water me – a great opportunity for takeaways and copious cups of tea whilst I lie on the sofa, with my foot in the air, reading for England.
The Secrets of Blythswood Square by Sara Sheridan (Kindle £6.99, Amazon £16.84, Hodder £16.99)
I do love an independent woman – and here we have two. Set in both Glasgow and Edinburgh in the 1840s, young Ellory Mann is a photographer’s assistant determined to become the first female photographer. She currently works for an (even then) old-fashioned photographer; hand-delivering his prints after producing a perfect copy in the darkroom. He hasn’t realised that Ellory has real talent beyond the stuffy prints he’s turning out.
She delivers a print to a wealthy gent, known locally as a benefactor, who decides that Ellory should be that year’s recipient of his bag of twenty sovereigns. She promptly decamps to Edinburgh with her maid, Jane.
We leave Ellory setting up her studio and move back to Glasgow where Charlotte is bereft after her father dies and leaves her with very little money. He does, however, leave behind a hidden stash of “erotic” books and paintings – all sequestered in a secret room – about which nobody says anything.
Ellory and Charlotte become friends when Murray, the son of Charlotte’s father’s solicitor, admires and helps both women. To make money, Ellory is forced to photograph things she’d rather not, whilst Jane (her maid) reveals a surprising talent for posing. Meanwhile, Charlotte discovers an unexpected backbone!
This is such a beautifully written, lyrical novel. It offers a captivating glimpse into the pseudo-morality of the late 1800s, the restrictions women lived under, and how they managed to break through these to run their own business affairs. I can’t recommend this book enough.
Where the Bruised Pieces Go by Jane Fawley (Kindle £3.99, Amazon £9.55, Troubador Publishing £10.99)
Alongside being an author, Jane Fawley is a practising psychiatrist and – big bonus – has two rescue dogs. Fans of really gory serial killer reads (think Chris Carter) won’t be disappointed with her debut novel. I haven’t read anything quite so gruesome for a long time.
We meet Sam Stirling, a criminal profiler for a police force that encourages profiling – though some detectives seem to think it’s witchcraft! Sam struggles with his own demons and, in an effort to overcome these, has monthly meetings with a psychiatrist – and so, the gorgeous Emma enters the scene.
Murdered bodies begin being deposited in places that’ll be very familiar to Londoners. I love this as I can actually picture the “body scene”.
There’s a body left in Victoria Park (my husband’s old stomping ground) and we see Emma walking in Highbury Fields (just around the corner from where my son and family live).
With London scared, the pressure is on for Sam and his Guv “Smiley” Riley to make an arrest. There’s only a breakthrough when Sam realises just what the killer is trying to tell him. And there are some heart-stopping twists along the way…
To be honest, I’m not a great fan of the title and there’s a little too much forensic detail that I didn’t need to know (although I’d probably be terrific in a quiz round on the topic!), but serial killer aficionados will love this.
The Memory of Us by Dani Atkins (Kindle £0.99, Amazon £9.99, Head of Zeus £8.99)
Amelia was found on the mudflats near her beachfront cottage in Norfolk by two doctors. Her heart had stopped and she was just about dead. But the two dedicated medics weren’t about to give up. They performed CPR and she was transported to hospital, where they slowly warmed her up until she regained consciousness. Amelia’s family rushed to her bedside when they heard the news – her sister Lexi jumped on the first flight from New York.
However, the Amelia who wakes up is not the same Amelia they knew and loved. Calling repeatedly for someone called Sam, Amelia insists that Sam is her husband and that they are the perfect couple. Lexi – whose default mode is to fix everything – is totally at a loss.
She knows that Amelia’s memories are false and that Sam doesn’t exist, but she can’t risk destroying Amelia’s recovery by saying so. All Lexi can do is nod as Amelia tells her about her perfect life and perfect shaggy dog.
Lexi goes for a jog around the mudflats and meets Nick, a local vet who’s out with his dog, Mabel. Nick bears an uncanny resemblance to Amelia’s descriptions of Sam, whilst Mabel is a dead ringer for the imaginary shaggy dog. Lexi forms a plan and, with Nick a willing accomplice, takes photographs to recreate Amelia’s memories. Mabel plays her part too!
The plan works until the inevitable happens…Lexi and Nick realise they’re falling in love and, to paraphrase a well-known quote, Amelia would make three of them in this marriage.
I warn you, The Memory of Us is so beautifully written, so heartrendingly emotionally charged, and such a thoroughly romantic read that you’ll need a box of tissues and perhaps some waterproof mascara as well.
The Memory of Us is Dani Atkins’ 14th novel. In 2023, she won the Jackie Collins Romance Thriller of the Year Award with her novel Six Days.
The Woman on the Ledge by Ruth Mancini (Kindle £5.99, Amazon £6, Century £14.99)
After witnessing a body fall off the edge of the City of London bank where she works, Tate Kinsella is charged with murder.
At the police station, she’s introduced to Sarah, a sympathetic female duty solicitor who simply can’t understand why Tate has given such conflicting stories to the police – it’s almost like she’s asking to be arrested?!
Tate’s story is that she met the woman on the roof the night before and talked her down from committing suicide. But, Tate tells the police that she’d never seen the woman before, although she knew her name was Helen.
However, it transpires that the dead woman isn’t Helen, but Maddy, the wife of Tate’s boss Daniel.
Daniel’s boss Jerry tells the police that Tate came onto him when he met her on the roof. There’s no supporting evidence and so they release Tate on bail.
Just what is the true story?
This is one hell of a mixed-up thriller with so many twists and turns that I guarantee you won’t be able to put it down.
The Wartime Book Club by Kate Thompson (Kindle £4.99, Amazon £17.29, Hodder £22)
Jersey, the Channel Islands, is such a great tourist destination – I love spending time there! Although I knew that Jersey had been under German occupation during the Second World War and I had, of course, visited all their museums, its troubled history didn’t fully sink in until I read Kate Thompson’s graphic love story.
Grace La Mottée is Jersey’s only librarian and when the Germans march in she’s ordered to destroy all books which may threaten their regime. Think H. G. Wells, Ernest Hemingway, and even Alfred Kerr (the father of Judith Kerr who wrote The Tiger Who Came to Tea). Grace cannot bear to destroy such wonderful works and hides them in a remote cupboard.
Her best friend is postwoman Bea Rose, who’s set to run away to England with her boyfriend, Jimmy. However, Bea is forced to watch Jimmy get shot at point-blank range as they’re waiting for the rowing boat to take them to safety. Luckily, she manages to scramble away from harm.
Both women can’t bear the thought of just going about their lives whilst the Germans take away every shred of normality. To fight back, Grace forms the Wartime Book Club, whilst Bea (who discovers informants are spying on the locals in return for favours and food from the Germans) begins to hide the mail.
Life getting ever tougher, with food becoming scarce and Jersey completely cut off from the UK, the natives become more and more distressed. And, as the years progress and the Germans begin to realise that they may lose the war, the violence escalates and what happens to Grace and Bea is truly horrific. This novel brings home in graphic detail – if we needed a reminder – just what Jersey and its brave citizens suffered.
Based on astonishing real events, Kate’s novel is a wonderful tribute to the importance of books and how the power of words can bring hope even in the darkest situations. There is also a truly remarkable love story running throughout this novel.
That box of tissues and waterproof mascara will be needed for this one too.
Rest Less Book Club members will know that Kate’s previous novel, The Little Wartime Library, was a book club choice and Kate joined a lively Q&A Zoom session to discuss it last year.
For further book and literature discussions, you might be interested in joining the thriving book club or short story club over on Rest Less Events.
Have you read any of these books? Or have you added any of them to your reading list? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.