Midwives by Chris Bohjalian

Title: Midwives
Author: Chris Bohjalian
Publication: Vintage, paperback, originally published in 1997
Genre: Fiction
Setting: 20th century United States

Description: Sybil Danforth is an experienced midwife in rural Vermont but even she is tested on a stormy winter night when a minister’s wife goes into labor and has a complicated delivery.

Sally on the Rocks by Winifred Boggs

Title: Sally on the Rocks
Author: Winifred Boggs
Publication: British Library Women Writers, paperback, 2021; originally published in 1915
Genre: Fiction
Setting: 20th century England

Description: Sally is an attractive woman of 31 with several strikes against her: not only is she unmarried and penniless but she is also from "bad stock" – a chorus girl mother and a wastrel-from-a-good-family father.

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

Title: The Marriage Portrait
Author: Maggie O’Farrell
Publication: Knopf, hardcover, 2022
Genre: Historical Fiction
Setting: 16th Century Italy

Description: Lucrezia is the overlooked daughter of Cosimo I de Medici, the Duke of Florence and, because she was a difficult baby, consigned in her infancy to a wet nurse away from the family, where she absorbed gossip and the local dialect.

A War of Wizards by Margaret Storey

Title: A War of Wizards
Author: Margaret Storey
Illustrator: Janina Ede
Publication: Faber & Faber, hardcover, 1976
Genre: Juvenile fantasy/series
Setting: Britain

Description: In an earlier book, Timothy went to stay with Melinda, a white witch, who lives in an amazing house in London, where he became friendly with Ellen, a girl his age.

A Lady’s Guide to Scandal by Sophie Irwin

Title: A Lady’s Guide to Scandal
Author: Sophie Irwin
Publication: Penguin, trade paperback, 2023
Genre: Historical Romance
Setting: 19th century England

Description: Ten years ago, Eliza Balfour, a quiet seventeen-year-old, was bullied by her parents into marrying an earl 25 years her senior, although she loved his nephew, Oliver Courtenay.

WWW Wednesday – August 16

WWW Wednesday is hosted by Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading: Last night, I started The Arsenic Labyrinth, third in the Lake District mystery series by Martin Edwards (2007).

Foster by Claire Keegan

Title: Foster
Author: Claire Keegan
Publication: Grove Press, hardcover, originally published in 2010
Genre: Historical Fiction
Setting: Ireland

Description: One summer, a young girl is brought by her father to stay with relatives on a farm while her mother is pregnant. She arrives dusty and timid but the Kinsellas make her welcome and slowly she gains confidence.

My July 2023 Reads

Summer days drifting away . . . even if you can’t take time off to sit on the beach in July, it seems appropriate to read lighter fiction, which I needed after I finished Middlemarch (despite enjoying it).

Our Castle by the Sea by Lucy Strange - an exciting novel set on England's southeast coast during WWII

Title: Our Castle by the Sea
Author/Narrator: Lucy Strange
Publication: Scholastic, audiobook/paperback, 2019
Genre: Juvenile Historical Fiction
Setting: WWII Britain

Description: Petra Smith and her family live on the southeast coast of England; her father is the lighthouse keeper and they have been very happy until war begins. Then Petra’s older sister Magda starts getting into fights, defending their German-born mother, and becomes secretive.

Six Degrees of Separation – from Romantic Comedy to Knight Crusader

It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place, add six books, and see where we end up. This month’s starting point is Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld, which I know was inspired by the television show Saturday Night Live. I just started it as my copy only just arrived from the library. . .

The Mulberry Bush by Charles McCarry

Title: The Mulberry Bush
Author: Charles McCarry
Publication: Mysterious Press, hardcover, 2015
Genre: Suspense
Setting: Present day

Description: A young man vows to avenge his father, a CIA operative who was dismissed from the agency for a prank and wound up estranged from his family and homeless. The only way the protagonist can hurt those responsible is by becoming a spy himself and rising to an influential position at the CIA.