Welcome to October.

I am reading Dissolution by C.J Sansom. historical mystery set in 1537 Tudor England. Very rich with history and details about dismantling of Catholic Church and rise of Church of England. Very well written.

Hello!  I just finished listening to The Witchfinder's Sister by Beth Underdown, which was very good and I highly recommend.  Currently reading Sarah's Quilt, which is the follow up to These Is My Words, which I read several years ago.  

I tried reading a new release, To Calais and Back In Ordinary Time, but I could not get past the language.  I knew it would be a struggle.  A bummer because I think the premise is very interesting.  Anyone else attempted it? 

Hope all is well with everyone!

I swear one of the best parts of being back on here is seeing what everyone is reading and updating my WL with all of the interesting sounding books! I'm still slogging away on The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue; it's very good, but I've been sick since Sunday evening and keep finding myself dozing off at inconvenient times. I'm reading it alongside another novel that's not HF.
 

I've got Murder on Black Swan Lane by Andrea Penrose up next. Has anyone read it? 

Changed my mind, I've just started The Indigo Girl by Natasha Boyd instead. 

Murder in Queens Landing by Andrea Penrose. Just finished excellent. Hoping this is not the last book in the series.

I finished The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton. Absolutely wonderful.  I highly recommend her books.

Alice

I am reading Code Name Helene by Ariel Lawton.  Very good so far. WWII setting

Just finished The Indigo Girl by Natasha Boyd. At first I wasn't convinced, as I felt some of the language and viewpoints were a bit anachronistic. Now, having read more about the real-life main character (Eliza Lucas), I think she was just an anachronism of her time! Got a bit too overtly romance-y at times for me--lots of sighing and furtive touches and bated breaths--but overall an enjoyable read about a woman I'd never heard of before who had an interesting impact on history. 
 

Am reading another Jean Plaidy book, Myself My Enemy, about Henrietta Maria, daughter of France's King Henry IV who became the wife of England's Charles I.   She was an impulsive, outspoken woman which found her embroiled in political controversy time and time again.  Good, so far.

Would like to share a wonderful read I happened onto and found in our library.  It's titled Murmer of Bees and is not in the PBS system.  Written by Sofia Segovia, it tells the story of the Morales family who take in an abandoned baby found under a bridge.  The baby boy was covered by a blanket of bees which are always part of his life.  It's a tender story about life, love and living in Mexico during its revolution and the invasion of the Spanish flu.  If you can find it, make a point to read it.  It's very good.

Is this the Murmur of Bees book you are talking about, REK? Sounds interesting.

Aimee:  That's it!  Wonder how I missed it.  Do read it.  I thought it was so very good. Funny it would not come up when I put The on the tiitle.  The book is listed as The Murmer of Bees.

Hi, guys!  I'm still reading Sarah's Quilt, and I started listening to A Memory of Violets. 

Aimee, I read The Indigo Girl earlier this year.  I was "eh" on it.  I didn't love it, but I did appreciate reading about a woman I had never heard of either and getting the story on the indigo business, which I also didn't know was a thing in the US.  

REK, I have Murmer of Bees on my Audible wish list.  Perhaps I will snatch it up and take a listen! 

That's a fair assessment, Shelley. I always like novels that lead to me doing more research about their RL characters, particularly women. And I knew nothing about indigo or how and where it's produced before reading it, so that was interesting to learn. I have A Memory of Violets (book, not audiobook) on my TBR pile, I'll be curious to hear how you like it.

I just got The Huntress by Kate Quinn in the mail today from a swap game. I think I'll be starting that next.

I read A Memory of Violets a few years ago and really liked it. I found it to be a haunting story that stays with you even after you close the book.

I just finished Thee Phantom Tree by Nicola Cornick. This is a time travel story of a young woman who was the friend of Mary Seymour, daughter of Kathryn Parr and is stuck in the present day trying to find her way back to the past. Most enjoyable.

I'm delving back into the Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King after a (welp) 2 year hiatus.  Started O Jerusalem yesterday, and I plan on plowing through this series, as I have the next 6 books in the series on my shelf.

CR

Just finished The Huntress by Kate Quinn, which time hops from WWII Russia to post-WWII England and US. It was slow to build and dragged at places and it took probably the first 150 pages or so for me to really get invested in the plot, but ended up being a very good book. I do think some of the characterization was a bit off, but it was interesting learning more about the Night Witches pilots. I'd like to read The Alice Network by the same author, as I've heard good things. 
 

Last four books I read were about the 1918 flu pandemic, a serial killer, the Syrian war, and a child murderer in WWII. Time to scour my TBR pile for a bit of a lighter read next, I think!