Tag Archives: Civil Discourse

Week beginning 15 October 2025

Samantha Vérant The Writers’ Retreat Storm Publishing, July 2025. Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review. A thriller set around a writers’ retreat and writers? What could be a more enticing location and concept? Sadly, the premise promised by the title is not fulfilled. To be fair, it is establishedContinue reading “Week beginning 15 October 2025”

Week beginning 24 September 2025

Laura Lippman Murder Takes a Vacation A Mrs Blossom Mystery, Faber and Faber Ltd, August 2025. Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review. Mrs Blossom holds the fears of many whose route to the back of a plane is accompanied by the overwhelming feeling that they will not be welcomeContinue reading “Week beginning 24 September 2025”

Week beginning 2 July 2025

Katrina Lockwood The Mystery of Isabella and the String of Beads A Woman Doctor In World War 1 Loke Press, 2017. I originally reviewed this book on the Women’s History Network blog, in 2017. A long time ago, but the approach to writing history as well as the content deserves another airing. The back-cover blurbContinue reading “Week beginning 2 July 2025”

Week beginning 18 June 2025

Joanna Hagan Friends and the Golden Age of the Sitcom Pen & Sword | White Owl, August 2024. Thank you, NetGalley and Pen & Sword for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review. There is a wealth of information about Friends, and other television shows that featured in the period in which the sitContinue reading “Week beginning 18 June 2025”

Week beginning 21 May 2025

Alafair Burke The Note Faber and Faber, April 2025. Thank you, Net Galley, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review. Alafair Burke always creates an absorbing story with logical twists and turns that, rather than arising unexpectedly and having little to do with the plot, always make sense. This does not mean thatContinue reading “Week beginning 21 May 2025”

Week beginning 9 April

Marie Bostwick The Book Club for Troublesome Women HarperCollins Focus | Harper Muse, April 2025. Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review. Marie Bostwick’s book begins with her revelation about her inspiration for it – a conversation with her ninety-one-year-old mother in which Bostwick learnt that Betty Freidan’s The Feminine Mystique had,Continue reading “Week beginning 9 April”

Week beginning March 19, 2025

Sue Watson Wife, Mother, Liar Bookature, January 2025 Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review. Sue Watson has combined a narrative of mysteries and twists with the development of relationships over almost twenty-five years of neighbourly friendships. There is also clever characterisation, provided though two friends’ recall of the past,Continue reading “Week beginning March 19, 2025”

Week beginning February 26 2025

Rebecca Wilson Georgian Feminists Ten 18th Century Women Ahead of their Time Pen & Sword | Pen & Sword History, February 2025. Thank you, NetGalley and Pen & Sword, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review. The introduction to Georgian Feminists is an impressive weaving together of the underlying philosophy and social context which impactedContinue reading “Week beginning February 26 2025”

Week beginning February 19, 2025.

Sara Lodge The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective Yale University Press, November 2024. Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review. The combination of a history of the female detective as a working part of the police force during the Victorian era, and her depiction in fictional accounts ofContinue reading “Week beginning February 19, 2025.”