HWA Archives - The Quick and the Read

How is it that time again?! The end of another month and another step nearer Christmas (yay!) and the end of 2020 (*huge sigh of relief*).

This month I have read 11 books and hit my GoodReads Challenge target of 100 books for the year!

It’s been a funny month with some real reading slumps as well as some absolutely BRILLIANT books. So, without further ado, here’s what I read this month…

(Links to books already published are affiliate links – thank you for supporting my blog with any purchases).

October Wrap-Up

I started the month with the brilliant ‘More Than a Woman’ by Caitlin Moran – an often funny, fresh and brutally honest take on what it means to be a middle-aged woman. This was my first five-star read of the month – you can see my review here.

After this, I read ‘Jeeves and the Leap of Faith’ by Ben Schott, a new Jeeves and Wooster novel written with the blessing of the PG Wodehouse estate. Nothing quite hits the highs of Wodehouse’s original novels, but Schott has done a great job of the language and comic elements. You can read my review here.

Next up was a blog tour for ‘The Creak on the Stairs’ by Eva Bjorg Aegisdottir, a chilling and dark piece of Nordic Noir crime fiction. Set in Iceland, this follows Chief Investigating Officer Elma as she tries to solve a murder that is stirring up the unsavoury past of some people in the small town of Akranes. You can read my blog tour post here.

Then came ‘The Servant’ by Maggie Richell-Davies, a dark historical tale of a girl who has fallen on difficult times in Georgian London. This book won the Historical Writers’ Association award for a (then) unpublished novel and is definitely worth a read – my review is here.

One of my audiobooks (listened to in the car with my kids) this month was Roald Dahl’s ‘Boy’, read by Dan Stevens. We all enjoyed this one – a lively performance of a book that I’ve loved since childhood. It has been a joy to relive the experiences of Dahl at school at Repton, on holiday in Norway, with his eccentric family and upsetting teachers and sweet-shop owners alike.

Next up was ‘The Phoenix Project’ by Michelle Kidd for another blog tour in November. This was a fast-paced thriller with a wide scope – London, Paris, Africa, Russian spies and the British Government – and all very tense! Watch this space for my blog tour review.

Then I enjoyed Walburga Appleseed’s ‘The Princess and the Prick’, a short book with some very concise feminist retellings of fairy tales, myths and nursery rhymes. Beautifully illustrated, this managed to pack plenty of food for thought into a small space.

Another short but powerful book was ‘Essex Girls’ by Sarah Perry, a feminist celebration of the qualities of the Essex Girl stereotype. In Perry’s book, Essex becomes a state of mind rather than a geographical location and we are introduced to a host of fabulous women from history. My review is here.

Another of my five-star books this month was ‘Practically Perfect: Life Lessons from Mary Poppins’ by Katy Brand. Anyone with any love for the 1964 film should read this as it is fascinating but delightfully comforting. My review can be found here.

Then I listened to another audiobook, ‘The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid’, a charming and funny book about Bill Bryson’s experiences of growing up in the 1950s in Des Moines in Iowa. This one is read by Bryson himself and his dry wit really comes through in the recording.

Finally, I finished the month with ‘The Devil and the Dark Water’ by Stuart Turton, a historical crime novel that I absolutely loved. You can read my review here.

November TBR

I am absolutely awful at predicting what I will read in the future – I read according to my mood and who knows where that may take me!?

However, I do have a lot of NetGalley ARCs that I should read. Here is just a selection:

‘The Shape of Darkness’ by Laura Purcell – I loved her previous books and this one promises to be equally fabulous.
‘The Whole Truth’ by Cara Hunter – this is the latest in a great series of police procedurals in which we follow DI Fawley as he tries to uncover truth. I’ve loved the other books so have high hopes for this.
‘The Dead of Winter’ by Nicola Upson – another series I’ve followed for a long time, this one puts crime writer Josephine Tey into the role of detective against the backdrop of Europe in the lead-up to World War II.
‘Hyde’ by Craig Russell – Russell’s first book, ‘The Devil Aspect’, was amazing and I hope this one will be every bit as good. Set in Victorian Edinburgh and featuring a series of mysterious ritualistic murders, this looks like it will be a dark and thrilling read.
‘Mr Wilder and Me’ by Jonathan Coe – I’ve loved previous books by Coe and this, set in the heat of the 1977 summer, looks glorious.
‘Nick’ by Michael Farris Smith – this new book about the early life of the fictional narrator of ‘The Great Gatsby’ looks really interesting.
‘Lie Beside Me’ by Gytha Lodge – the latest in another crime series that I’ve enjoyed vey much. This is the latest to feature DCI Jonah Sheens.
‘Let’s Do It: The Authorised Biography of Victoria Wood’ by Jasper Rees – I’ve been granted this one on audiobook and am looking forward to learning more about Wood from her closest friends and colleagues (some of whom narrate the book).

This is ignoring the huge stacks of books in my house and my jam-packed Kindle so we shall wait and see what I actually manage to read!

Header photo with thanks to Alex Geerts for sharing their work on Unsplash.

I really love historical fiction and was pleased to be given the opportunity to review this book. I came to this book with high hopes because it was awarded the Historical Writers’ Association prize for an (at that point) unpublished novel – if the HWA says it is good, it will be good.

And so it is!

The story follows a young girl, Hannah Hubert, who has fallen on hard times in Georgian London. Although she is descended from a respectable silk weaver and has had the benefits of a good education, she has been forced into service after having been orphaned.

When she is sent to work for the Chalkes, she finds herself in a house of secrets. The mistress of the house is tough and Hannah is given cryptic warnings about the master by other servants. There is a locked room in the house, secret books and mysterious auctions that happen behind closed doors… To add to Hannah’s disquiet, the other servant in the house, Peg, is terrified of the Chalkes.

Thrown into the mix are Hannah’s friendships with two young men – one is an apprentice at the book store where she delivers Mr Chalke’s mysterious documents and the other is a widower farmer who delivers milk to the Chalkes. The real question becomes who she can trust when things go wrong.

I really don’t want to give spoilers that would ruin this book for another reader. However, I came to the book expecting historical crime fiction and it needs to be said that it is so much more than that. Crime is one element of the story, but it is more focused on the character of Hannah and her fight for survival in an extremely hostile world.

Hannah is a fantastic heroine who really develops as a character over the course of the book. She begins as a naïve but educated fifteen year-old whose kindness and desire to help others is evident – her treatment of poor Peg wins her not only Peg’s total loyalty but also the respect of the reader. She is clever, curious and willing to stand up for what she believes – something that puts her in the way of danger. As the book progresses, the reader sees Hannah’s resilience, pride and determination to do the right thing even in the toughest circumstances. I doubt any reader could do anything but root for Hannah throughout!

Without giving too much away, I felt that the book contained strong positive messages about female friendship and the willingness of the poorest in society to support each other when times become tough. I loved the relationship between Peg and Hannah, plus the glorious later addition of a pipe-smoking childminder with a charitable heart.

Another strength in the novel was the colourful historical setting. Georgian London really is evoked in all its glory and grimness. There is a real sense of the hardships of being a servant in this era, plus the seediness of the poorer areas of London. The period detail is perfect – we get a sense of the clothes, routines, lives of the characters – and there is a feeling that a vast amount of research must have gone into the writing of this book, although it never feels laboured.

It must be said that the book does touch on some very dark themes that make for uncomfortable reading at times. This is not cosy historical fiction and Hannah’s (justifiable) fear is palpable as she is cast into some awful situations. The reader has to trust that the story is in safe hands and Hannah’s resolve will see her through.

I thought that this story was well-paced and liked the fact that it was told in a series of short chapters. This made the plot feel like it had real movement and – indeed – it did cover a lot of ground in less than 300 pages. I kept thinking that I’d read just one more chapter, then another and – oh, the next one is so short, should read that too… I raced through it!

I was interested to read that the book was inspired by the writer’s visit to the Foundling Hospital Museum in London. This is somewhere I’d very much like to visit after reading the novel, although I can imagine it is home to many heart-breaking stories of mothers with no other option but to entrust their child to the (possible) kindness of strangers.

Overall, I’d join the Historical Writers’ Association in recommending this book. It is absorbing, lively and immersive – Hannah and her Georgian setting both felt entirely authentic and it is time you made a trip to her world too!

Although my copy of this book was gifted to me by the author, opinions (as always) are entirely my own. Thank you to Maggie Richell-Davies for giving me the book to review.

If you would like your own copy of this book, it can be purchased using my affiliate link below – thank you for supporting my blog.