Jasmine’s tour is a link to Literary Trails, British Writers in Their Landscapes by Christina Hardyment (2000), which my British Studies professor recommended two years ago. This is an enjoyable coffee table book. My review.
I went on several literary pilgrimages while I was studying in London in 2022, including Green Knowe and Wells, but I was particularly excited to visit Bletchley Park, which I suppose was more of a historical pilgrimage, as I had just read The Secret Lives of Codebreakers: The Men and Women Who Cracked the Enigma Code at Bletchley Park by Sinclair McKay (2012). My review.
Another book involving secret codes (if not on the scale of Enigma) is Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett (2004). When a Vermeer is stolen on its way to the Art Institute of Chicago, Petra and Calder try to use their problem-solving skills and their knowledge of art to decipher a crime that has left even the FBI baffled. This is the sort of book that I would have liked more as a child – as an adult, I thought there too many coincidences although the codes and illustrations and art aspects were fun.
In Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers (1932), Lord Peter and Harriet Vane find a coded message on a dead body, which they have to read to solve a murder. The cipher is the Playfair cipher, originally created by Sir Charles Wheatstone in 1854.
Another book where the main characters find a dead body is Do Not Disturb by Claire Douglas (2020). Kirsty and Adrian have just opened a B&B in Wales when they find a dead body. Frankly, I think dealing with all the rude customers who show up and write bad reviews online about their hard work is more stressful than coping with murder! My review.
Gilly in A Springtime Affair by Katie Fforde (2020) also runs an B&B from her family home, which she doesn’t want to part with – at any price. No dead bodies, but she has to cope with a selfish adult son who wants her to sell the house to subsidize a fancy property for his family. I prefer her early books but Gilly was an appealing character.
Next month (October 5, 2024), the starting point will be Colm Tóibín’s Long Island, which I recently reviewed.
7 comments:
I like that you started with literary pilgrimages too! Bletchley would be a destination I'd like to visit as well--though the Enigma, for all I've read about it remains an enigma to me! Chasing Vermeer looks like something I'd enjoy. and Katie Fforde, a name I've come across but whose work I've never tried--the cover looks appealing!
I loved Kate Quinn's The Rose Code, about the Bletchley Park codebreakers. I'll have to look for that Sinclair McKay book. I'm looking forward to next month's chain - I have Long Island on the TBR, but not sure if I'll have time to read it before then.
I really liked The Rose Code too but had used it already! I feel like I read other historical novels set at Bletchley some time ago but can't remember them. I wish I were better at puzzles - when I visited I wanted to imagine myself there but I knew I would not have made the cut. Definitely couldn't have been a Land Girl and probably not a nurse either!
Mallika, keep your eyes open for Katie Fforde's books. They are light romantic fiction with (usually) assertive heroines you would enjoy.
I think I would be very interested in After Story by Larissa Behrendt also. I will be seeking it out sometime.
I purchased a copy of Literary Trails after I read your post about that book; unfortunately I have not read it yet.
Great list, Lark. Someone else started with a literary tour (Jane Austen in Bath: Walking Tours of the Writer’s City), I must get both of those books. LOL
I also read Chasing Vermeer, what a lovely book.
My post led me to Girl in Hyacinth Blue.
https://momobookblog.blogspot.com/2024/09/six-degrees-of-separation-after-story.html
Lovely. That Literary Trails looks like a great book to have.
Nicely done...following that trail would make for some interesting reading. I'm especially curious, I think, about Literary Trails. That is one of my favorite things to do even though it doesn't always pay off for me.
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