Strangers in Time by David Baldacci - a WWII Novel

With a title like this, I was expecting time travel but, in fact, this is a historical novel set during WWII that brings together three individuals into a found family. It is London 1944, and Molly, 15, has lived in the country as an evacuee for five years and is finally returning home. She is worried that she hasn’t heard directly from her mother for years and, with no warning, her father has stopped paying a stipend to the family that housed her. When Molly reaches her house, appalled by the devastation she finds in London, only the housekeeper is there to greet her.

The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris by Evie Woods - Paris in July

After years of nursing her mother through a final illness in Dublin, Edie Lane realizes she needs to challenge herself by doing something different. Searching online, she finds a job as the Assistant Manager of a bakery in Paris, which seems perfect – her parents had honeymooned in Paris and always talked about visiting as a family and her father is a pastry chef. But when Edie reaches La Boulangerie sur la Rue De Compiègne in Paris, she learns her mistake: her new employer is La Boulangerie sur la Rue de Paris in Compiègne, an hour north of Paris!

The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan – a WWII historical novel from my 20 Books of Summer

Unexpected friendships and a cooking contest bring together four women in an English village during WWII in this enjoyable historical novel. The story begins with in 1942 with Audrey Landon, a widowed mother of three boys whose husband was shot down by the Germans.

Desperate not to lose their home, Audrey has eking out her pension with baking for the neighborhood, as well as humbling herself by asking for a loan from her affluent but unsympathetic sister and brother-in-law.

Cher: The Memoir, Part One

I have never been a particular follower of Cher and I don’t recall ever watching her television show(s) but there was something about the description of her recent memoir – as well as the way she has reinvented herself over the years – that intrigued me and caused me to put it on my Fall 2024 Reading List.

Here is the publisher’s hyperbolic description:

The extraordinary life of Cher can be told by only one person . . . Cher herself.

The Shell House Detectives by Emylia Hall - a series launch

Ally Bright is a recent widow living with her dog in the picturesquely named Shell House on the Cornish coast. Like any of us, she is startled when a young man bangs on her door late at night. It turns out that Ally’s husband Bill, a compassionate policeman, had put this young man in prison but offered to help him when he got out. When Lewis was released, he returned home, only to find that his grandmother’s house is gone – an ostentatious new house, Sea View, has been built there instead.

June 2025 Reading

June was a varied month of reading and I particularly enjoyed The Eights, with its depiction of the early years of women at Oxford, and Death at the White Hart, a mystery by the creator of Broadchurch. I also continued with Val McDermid’s Karen Pirie series and Martin Edwards’ Lake District mysteries.  There were also some disappointments like the much-hyped All the Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah Harman - it's hard to appreciate a protagonist who leaves her young child alone to go sleuthing and blacks out from partying!

Chocolate Chip Scones

This is a family favorite that comes from the Williams-Sonoma Chocolate cookbook.  Usually my niece Alexa or my sister Clare makes them but I had a craving the other day and made them for myself.

WWW Wednesday – July 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?

The Hanging Wood by Martin Edwards – 10/20 Books of Summer

In the fifth Lake District mystery by crime fiction expert, Martin Edwards, a cold case becomes linked to a present-day disappearance, and Daniel Kind and DCI Hannah Scarlett join forces again to investigate.

Spell the Month in Books – July

Spell the Month in Books is hosted by Reviews from the Stacks and occurs on the first Saturday of each month or maybe later. This month, I chose books I read when I was about sixth grade.

Just Dial a Number by Edith Maxwell (1971). I don’t think any teen who read this book ever forgot it:

“Someone tried to kill me,” Cathy gasped into the phone.

The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson

In The Demon of Unrest, Erik Larson looks at the months leading up to the attack on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, starting with the gallantry of Southern life (for the ruling class only) and the election of Lincoln, which agitated slave owners who assumed he would challenge their way of life and their prosperity.  As revealed in this narrative, the months leading to the attack on Sumter seem like a train careening off the tracks but with many moments when it seems someone should have been able to stop it.

Past Tense by Catherine Aird – 9/20 Books of Summer

Janet Wakefield is very surprised to be notified that her husband’s Great-Aunt Josephine (not known to either of them) has died in a nearby nursing home. Bill is in South America for business so she reluctantly tries to organize a funeral and reception:

Six Degrees of Separation – from Theory & Practice to The Shell House Detectives

It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place as other readers, add six books, and see where it ends up. This month’s starting point is Theory & Practice by Michelle de Kretser (2024).  It won the Stella Prize, which recognizes Australian women's writing but does not get much attention in the US.

Death at the White Hart by Chris Chibnall

Detective Sergeant Nicola Bridge grew up in Fleetcombe, a small village on the English coast, and has moved back there with her family for a new start. When a man is murdered and left on a road in the middle of the night, tied to a chair with a stag’s antlers affixed to his head, even experienced Nicola is puzzled. 

Old Baggage by Lissa Evans – 8/20 Books of Summer

Mattie Simpkin fought valiantly for women’s right to vote as one of Mrs. Pankhurst’s militant supporters: speaking in public, arrested five times, force fed at Holloway Prison, but now, years later, with a small independent income, lives with her devoted friend, Florrie, near Hampstead Heath.