Christina Courtenay - The Runes of Destiny
Second in the author's 'Runes' series, time-slip novels exploring Viking life. A strange accident somehow transports Linnea back in time to ninth-century Sweden. Captured by a Viking nobleman, she's branded a thief, and when she tries to explain the truth, he thinks she's deranged. Luckily she's doing a PhD in the Old Norse language, so she's able to understand her captors. But as she's taken on a journey of hundreds of miles to be sold as a slave, she learns lessons about the time she's in, and bides her time waiting to steal the object that can take her back to her own era, while finding her emotions are torn. Fascinating, clearly researched in detail, this is a beautifully written novel of an era in history which is little-known today. The author demonstrates that it's possible to stretch the reader's belief and create an exciting story which encompasses us completely.
Zara Thorne - Summer at the Ginger Cat Cafe
As a cat lover, I was attracted to this novel because of the title! There is a ginger cat in the book, and the main character, Alyson, is the new owner of the aforenamed cafe with husband Greg. Although she loves her new situation, she's feeling under the weather and worried that she might die young, like her aunt. She bottles up her fears and throws herself into embracing her dream and helping friends and neighbours who attend the cafe. Not least is Horace, in his eighties, and Olive, of a similar age, who both work in the cafe. Both are widowed, but Olive has decided to take Horace under her wing. Despite his grumbling, he can't bring himself to tell her to stop. Also, neighbour Lydia has an unexpected guest in her niece Rachel. Much as she loves Rachel, Lydia worries that she's rushing into marriage far too young. Interesting characters, a beautiful setting, all combine to make a charming light summer read.
Alexandra Walsh - The Wind Chime
This evocative book pulled me in straight away, as mystery after mystery unfolds, reaching back into the nineteenth century. Amelia in 2019 has lost so many people close to her - her daughter, her father, and most recently her mother. But there's a strange bequest from her mother, along with instructions to investigate the attic after she's gone. Once Amelia has the courage to do so, she discovers a photograph and a diary that send her from Windsor to Cliffside, a big house in Wales. Strangely it's now a health retreat that offers grief counselling, so it seems appropriate. There she meets Edward, and though they rub up the wrong way at first, she feels some connection to him and to the house. Through reading the diary of Osyth, written when she was eighteen in 1883, Amelia begins to unravel the strange and shocking history of Cliffside and its occupants. Gripping, moving and disturbing at times, I couldn't stop turning the pages right to the end.