Mai Black The Women Who Saved Shakespeare The Book Guild, May 2026. Thank you, NetGalley for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review. Mai Black describes her debut work, The Women Who Saved Shakespeare, as a novel. It has all the markings of a good novel – engaging characters; conflict, including family relationships; aContinue reading “Week beginning 8 July 2026”
Author Archives: robrjo
Week beginning 1st July 2026
Eileen Cope Hollywood Whispers The Untold Story of the Original Gossip Queens, Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper Globe Pequot | Lyons Press, November 2026. Thank you, NetGalley, for this uncorrected proof for review. Eileen Cope reveals more than Hedda Hopper’s and Louella Parsons’ stories, and the scandals they placed before audiences of their era. The narratives ofContinue reading “Week beginning 1st July 2026”
Week beginning 24th June 2024
Liz Nugent The Truth About Ruby Cooper Penguin General UK – Penguin General UK – Fig Tree, Hamish Hamilton, Viking, Penguin Life, Penguin Business | Sandycove, March 2026. Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review. Liz Nugent creates moral dilemmas for the reader from the beginning of this intriguing and difficult novel.Continue reading “Week beginning 24th June 2024”
Week beginning 17 June 2026
As I am in Daphne Du Maurier country I thought it worth including two past reviews of associated books. Patricia White Rebecca BFI Bloomsbury Publishing Plc London and New York, 2021. Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this uncorrected proof in exchange for an honest review. I was thrilled to receive this thorough interpretation ofContinue reading “Week beginning 17 June 2026”
Week beginning 10th June 2026
Zoe Fairbairns Bloodless Coup, Poems by Zoe Fairbairns Lost Souls Events, UK, 2026. Bloodless Coup is Zoe Fairbairns’ new literary accomplishment. I read her novels, which she began publishing in the late 1970s with admiration and mixed pleasure and anguish. In these, Benefits, Stand We At Last, Daddy’s Girls, Here Today, Closing and Other NamesContinue reading “Week beginning 10th June 2026”
Week beginning 3 June 2026
Tony Castro The Girl Who Would Be Marilyn Monroe, An Intimate Portrait of the Young Norma Jeane, Bloomsbury Press, September 2026. Tony Castro’s concentration on Norma Jeane, rather than Marilyn Monroe, is a haunting reminder of a girl whose aspiration was never dimmed by her childhood, or young womanhood. It was written for the 100thContinue reading “Week beginning 3 June 2026”
Week beginning 27 May 2026
Nicholas Fogg The Tudor Theatre 1576-1642 Pen & Sword, January 2026. Thank you, Net Galley, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review. Nicholas Fogg has brought so much to the history of the Tudor theatre in its golden age. Visiting The Globe on the South Bank, or Stratford-Upon-Avon and attending the Royal ShakespeareContinue reading “Week beginning 27 May 2026”
Week beginning 22 May 2026
Dr Christopher Herbert Jane Austen’s Favourite Brother, Henry Pen & Sword | Pen & Sword History, May 2025. Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review. Christoher Herbert’s history employs one of the most useful strategies when dealing with a subject for whom the material is sparse. In this case, there is anContinue reading “Week beginning 22 May 2026”
Week beginning May 13, 2026
Jane Davis The Bookseller’s Wife The Chiswell Street Chronicles Volume 1, Rossdale Print Productions, March 2024.* Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review. Dorcas Turton is an engaging character whose story takes place in the 1770s. She is the daughter of Samuel Turton, whom her mother married so as toContinue reading “Week beginning May 13, 2026”
Week beginning 6 May 2026
Victoria Purman The Marriage Trap Harlequin Australia, HQ (Fiction, Non Fiction, YA) & MIRA | HQ, April 2026 Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review. I regret having come late to Victoria Purman’s historical fiction, and of the many books she has published I have read only two: The Radio Hour andContinue reading “Week beginning 6 May 2026”
Robin's Room 