Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: June stats and mid year update

Every month I share some of the statistics related to the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I try very hard to visit every post which has been linked (time permitting) and I find it interesting to see what are the books that people are reading and reviewing! I often end up adding a couple of books to my never ending TBR list.

In terms of the books read in June, there were 54 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 18 participants. There were 53 individual titles reviewed, written by 53 different authors. There were 2 reviewers who reviewed 5 or more books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 6 or just 1.

If you recall, last month we didn't have any titles that were reviewed more than once, which was very month. This month was similarly varied, although we did have one book that was reviewed twice

The Palace of Lost Virtue by Australian author Anthea Hodgson is a dual timeline set in both 1890s and 1920s Kalgoorlie, a mining town in remote Western Australia. I reviewed this book as did Shelleyrae at Book'd Out!

There were no other authors who had more than one book reviewed this month!

Given that we are now more than halfway through this year's challenge, I thought I would share some stats about the year....so far!

In terms of the books this year, there were 295 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 25 participants. There were 280 individual titles reviewed, written by 248 different authors. There were 4 reviewers who reviewed 20 or more books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links. I appreciate everyone who participates in the challenge!

When I look at the book that has been reviewed the most throughout the year so far, there is one book that has been reviewed 3 times so far.

I am surprised and pleased to see that it is another Aussie author. A Far Flung Life by M L Stedman has been reviewed by Shelleyrae at Book'd Out, by Tracey at Carpe Librum and by Helen at She Reads Novels. I think it is interestesting because M L Stedman had a huge hit with The Light Between Oceans, but it that book came out in 2012 so it has been a very long time between books! I am planning to read this book soon, as long as I can get to it before it has to go back to the library!

There are five other authors who have been reviewed more than twice. Agatha Christie leads the way with 6 reviews, followed by Elizabeth Camden with 4 and then Colleen Cambridge, Ellis Peters and Lee Strauss have all been reviewed three times.

Whenever I do this milestone reviews I also like to share how bloodthirsty we are as readers. This year so far there have been 23 books read where the title includes the words murder, fatal or death in some form or another!

I look forwards to see what everyone reads during the second half of the year!

If you enjoy reading Historical Fiction why not join us? You can find all the details here.

I am sharing this with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Hopewell's Library.

Sunday Salon: Rachael John's Book Club Readers Retreat 2026

Last weekend I attended the Rachael John's Book Club Retreat which, this year, was held at a regional called Geelong which is just over an hour away from where I live. Geelong is a city that I love visiting but I have never stayed there before. Above is the view from my hotel room! 

The city sits on a bay with beautiful beaches, a fun waterside walk and some interesting museums and art galleries. It is also gateway to the Bellarine Peninsula which has some really lovely wineries, restaurants and fantastic beaches which we enjoy visiting. In other words, we often drive through Geelong!

The advantage of having it at this location is that it was close enough to drive although I did miss the reading time on the plane that I have had when travelling to the previous locations. I do have a tendency to do a lot of my required reading on the plane there! 

So what happens at one of these events? I could say what happens on retreat, stays on retreat, but I won't! There are 120 or so readers, plus around 20 authors and you get to spend the whole weekend talking about books, eating, and generally having a good time!

The event started with a cocktail party on Friday night where the theme was Madams and Miners, which ties in with one of the hosts books. I don't love a dress up, but I do make something of an effort. There are plenty of people who made a really big effort with some amazing costumes.

On the Saturday night it was a formal dinner where the theme was From Poolside to Party Ready: Dress Like You’re on Holiday with your Besties. 

And during the two days? There are book club discussions, author panels, author speed dating (which is always a lot of fun, optional yoga sessions and writer sessions, a bookshop where you can shop the books of all the fab authors you have met over the weekend and more! This year, there was the new addition of a game show called A Romance Knockout where authors competed against each other on specialist subjects, tropes and writing prompts.

The book club reads this year were Anthea Hodgson's The Palace of Lost Virtue which is set in 1890s and 1920's Kalgoorlie, which is a gold mining town in Western Australia. The palace of the title is a brothel, hence the theme of Madams and Miners. I reviewed the book last week.

The other book was The Couples Retreat by Mercedes Mercier who is a new author to me. It is a crime/psychological thriller which isn't my normal cup of tea, but it never hurts to read outside your comfort zone right. This book is set on Kangaroo Island in South Australia and features a rookie cop who gets drawn into a murder at a luxurious property. Kangaroo Island is a place that has been on my list of places to visit for a long time. 

One of the highlights every year is the debate. It is always hilarious and this year was no exception. The debate topic was This house believes that reading romance gives women unrealistic expectations of men and our debaters certainly gave interesting and compelling arguments both for and against!

Pictured above are Rachael and Anthea during the book club discussion, Bree from All the Books You Can Read leading an author panel and Sarah Clutton and Ali Sinclair visiting our table during author speed dating. 

Unsurprisingly I came home with more books, than I went there with, as well as bookish paraphernalia including what we received in the goodie bag,  To be fair, I only bought one book which was very controlled. More surprisingly, I also came home with more clothes than I went with!

I have been to all 4 of the retreats so far, which makes me an OG. This year there was a t-shirt that we could buy to celebrate this fact.  Every year since the beginning I have sat at the same table with the same group of people (pictured above on the Friday night). Some of us knew some of us, but no one knew all of us when we first started sitting together.  We now have a group chat, we are all Facebook friends and we have become more than just book friends. We also had a t-shirts to celebrate this year the group this year!

This retreat is always a lot of fun and Rachel, Anthea and their team does a fantastic job. I have already booked for Hobart next year

You can read about previous years here.

2025 - Perth

2024 - Gold Coast

2023 - Hahndorf

The Palace of Lost Virtue by Anthea Hodgson

Goldrush history is always something that I find really interesting. So many interesting characters who leave everything behind in the hope that they can change their lives and the lives of their families, the mix of nationalities, the colourful characters and so much more. Of course, more often than not, that dream find does not happen but the lure of gold is strong.

Marigold Harrington, a devout young Christian woman, arrives in the remote Western Australian gold town of Kalgoorlie in the late 1890s with only one plan. She and her mother have undertaken the long and arduous trip from Melbourne to be reunited father. He used to be a preacher but he headed west in the hope of making his fortune and save his family from their current financial problems. When Marigold and her mother arrive, there is no sign of her father. 

It is hot, dry and dusty and Kalgoorlie is a typical gold town, full of miners, with limited numbers of women. And a lot of the women that there are prostitutes. American Pansy Arlington is the owner of the Palace of Pleasure. Pansy is rough around the edges, is prone to drinking too much, and is hiding a story of heartbreak

In theory, Marigold and Pansy should not even cross paths, but they do when Marigold joins the Christian Women's Temperance Union and she and the other members knock on the door to try and minister to the girls who work for Pansy. This unlikely pair form a friendship based on a love of good conversation, books and more.

This is a dual timeline novel with the second part of the story being set in the late 1920s when two gold detectives are murdered. As the investigation continues, we find out how the women's history impacts lives 30 years later.

Anthea Hodgson has found a great story to tell, packed with interesting history. Pansy Arlington was real life character from history, and the history of prostitution in Kalgoorlie is very interesting. The y came up with an interesting way of dealing with the problem of having ladies displaying their wares in public. This was through a policy called containment which meant all the brothels are located on just one street, known as Hay Street. There were also rules around how they could operate. It is something unique to Kalgoorlie. The murder case was also based on a true story which was also very interesting.

Many years ago we used to catch the train from Adelaide to Perth, which is a journey of around 36 hours. The last major stop before you get to Perth is in Kalgoorlie, where there was a fairly long stop. On one of those trips, I did a bus tour which took you down Hay Street, which is the street where all of the brothels were located. I mean, we looked at the mine heads and other things too. Apparently these days there is not much to see thanks to the advent of fly in fly out work and the internet but it was certainly an interesting tour to take.

Anthea Hodgson has given us another really interesting read with some little known aspects of history portrayed on the page. As a reader we were taken back to the dusty, rough streets of Kalgoorlie, warts and all. It wasn't an easy life and things happened to the characters that broke my heart.

I always intended to read this book, but it moved to the top of my list as it was one of the books that I needed to read for the Rachael John's Book Club Reader's Retreat that I attended last weekend. I might not read many of the other book club books, but I do make an effort to read the retreat ones! 

This book counts for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, which I host here, with the New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews and was also one of the books that I nominated for 20 Books of Winter hosted at AnnaBookBel.

Rating 4/5

This week....

I'm reading

I had to do some last minute reading for the Rachael John's Book Club Retreat weekend in the last week. 

First, I had to read The Palace of Lost Virtue by Anthea Hodgson which is a historical fiction novel about two women who live in the remote gold mining town of Kalgoorlie in the late 1800s. One of the women is a young Christian woman and the other is a jaded madam. It was a fun read.

Then I read The Couples Retreat by Mercedes Mercier, which I only finished with a couple of hours spare before the discussion!

Both of these books are on my 20 Books of Winter list, as is The King's Jewel by Elizabeth Chadwick. This book was on the list as I didn't get to it last year so I started it as soon as I could and I have made some good progress so far.

I did intend to start my Classics Spin read next but then I realised that I can't extend one of my library books, so needed to start that instead. That book was We'll Prescribe You Another Cat by Syou Ishida. This is a pretty quick read though and I am now maybe 2/3 of the way through even though I only started it this morning. 

I'm watching


Not much really!

Life


This weekend was the annual Rachael John's Book Club Retreat weekend. This year it was held in a regional city which is about an hour away from me, Geelong. It was another great event where you get to meet up with other book lovers, talk books all weekend, hang out with authors and generally have a great time. I am planning to write something more about this later this week so I will just say it was a lot of fun! I have already booked my ticket for next year!

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Authors I Am Looking Forward to Meeting at the Rachael Johns Book Club Retreat This Weekend

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Weekend Cooking: Hot Chocolate on Thursday by Michiko Aoyama

Thoughts on War and Peace

I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date, Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and the Good Book and a Cup of Tea link up hosted at Boondock Ramblings

Top Ten Tuesdays: 10 Authors I am Looking Forward to Meeting at the Rachael Johns Book Club Retreat this weekend

 Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Bookish Wishes (List the top 10 books you’d love to own and include a link to your wishlist so that people can grant your wish. Make sure you link your wishlist to your mailing address [here’s how to do it on Amazon] or include the email address associated with your ereader in the list description so people know how to get the book to you. After you post, jump around the Linky and grant a wish or two if you’d like. Please don’t feel obligated to send anything to anyone!)

I am always a bit uncomfortable with this prompt, so I am changing the theme to suit me, which I do pretty regularly to be fair. This coming weekend I am heading down to Geelong, a regional city just over an hour away from where I live, and I will be attending the 2027 Racheal Johns Book Club Reader Retreat. I have been to all four of these and they are such a good weekend. There are usually around 100 readers and 20 guest authors. So here are books by 10 of the authors I am looking forward to meeting or seeing again this weekend.

The Lucky Sisters by Rachael Johns - Of course I had to have Rachael Johns on the list.

The Palace of Lost Virtue by Anthea Hodgson - Anthea is the co-host of the retreat so I had to have her on the list as well. I really liked The War Nurses by this author. We started hearing about this book at the last retreat and it sounds great. It is one of the book club choices for the weekend!

A Woman's Voice by Alli Sinclair - Last year I went to hear Alli Sinclair talk about this book and it sounds so good. 

The Paradise Pact by Anita Heiss - Anita Heiss is an amazing person to spend time with. Can't wait to hear more about this book! (Update - since I wrote this post a few weeks ago, it has been announced that Anita can no longer attend)

Where the Birds Call Her Name by Claire van Ryn - I have absolutely loved both of Claire van Ryn's books so I am very excited to meet her!

The Paradise Heights Miniature Railway Club by Kate Solly - I have booked a couple of times to go to author events with Kate Solly, but it just hasn't worked out, so I am pleased she is one of the feature authors this weekend.

The Bookshop of Buried Pasts by Sarah Clutton - I was supposed to go to the launch of this book a few weeks ago but I ended up having to work late so I didn't make it!

Better than the Real Thing by Brooke Crawford - Last year I ran into this author at quite a few events, so looking forward to seeing her again.

Sunrise at Sunny Cross Farm by Maya Linnell - I have read a couple of books by this author. This is her new book which has just come out!

The Wedding Forecast by Nina Kenwood - This sounds like such a fun read!

Have you ever been to a reader's retreat?

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Handwriting on the Cover

 Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. 

This week theme is Books with Handwriting on the Cover (Or fonts that look like handwriting. Titles, subtitles, covers with letters on them, etc.). There is a publisher that I read quite a lot from who tends to put their author names on the cover in a cursive like font, but I am going to see how far I can get but focussing only books where it is the title that is in cursive. On some covers it might be the whole title but on others it is just words like the or on!

A Venice Summer by Lynne Shelby - I read this a couple of months ago and enjoyed it a lot.

The Palace of Lost Virtue by Anthea Hodgson - This one was sitting on my desk right in my eye line so I couldn't not have this on the list even though I haven't read it yet!

This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page - same with this one really

An Italian Island Love Story by Leonie Mack - This might look more like handwriting if you squint at it slightly but it is there!

Hopes and Dreams at the Chocolate Pot Cafe by Jessica Redland - Isn't this cover fun?

The Seaside Book Club by Helen Rolfe - This is a cute cover too!

The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa - This is such an eye catching cover. I am glad that it is the one that got.

The Cottage at the Edge of the Woods by Jane Lovering - The contrast between the block letters and the cursive is very effective as we can see on several covers in this list.

The Resistance Knitting Club by Jenny O'Brien - It's only one word but it still counts!

The Boulangerie on the Corner by Susan Buchanan - And now I want to eat France and eat lots of fresh bread.

Top Ten Tuesdays: 20 Books of Winter (part 2)

  Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Favorite Secondary/Minor Characters. However, I am following on from last week's post and giving you the second part of my 20 Books of Winter list.

Here are the second group of ten books that I am intending to read before the end of August.

The Little Porto Book Club by Rebecca Raisin - I really enjoy this author's books. I already had it on my list as a review book but now I am going to be on the blog tour for it in July.

The Palace of Lost Virtue by Anthea Hodgson - I am attending the Rachel John's Bookclub Readers Retreat in June and this is one of the two book club reads. 

The Couples Retreat by Mercedes Mercier - This is the second book club read

The Secret Dressmaker by Jenny O'Brien - This is a blog tour read for July

The Nile Cruise by Caroline James - Another July blog tour read

The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak - This is a library book that I have borrowed a couple of times now. Hopefully I will read it this time!

First Time Caller by B K Borison - I have really enjoyed the two B K Borisin books I have read so I am looking forward to this one!

Seascraper by Benjamin Wood - This is a historical fiction novel that has had good reviews since it's been released

Everyone in this Bank is a Thief by Benjamin Stevenson - This will be a book I read for the Goodreads challenge

Careful, He Might Hear You by Sumner Locke Elliott - This is my Classics Spin selection

Weekend Cooking: Making scones

A few years ago I listened to a book called The Drifter by Anthea Hodgson. As soon as I heard this passage I knew that I wanted to share it but I ran out of time to do so for that year's International Scone Week. And then we were away last year and then I had other things to post, so that brings us to now. I've been saving the post in draft for so long but today is the day that it sees the light of day!

I have had scones on my mind recently after having lunch with an old boss who told me that she whips up a double batch of scones on a regular basis! I was kind of surprised by that as I didn't picture her as a baker but now she has a bit more time on her hands so I guess that accounts for it. 

In this passage our main character Cate is talking to Henry who is a drifter who is helping her work her aunt's farm

"Anyway, I've gotta go inside and bake as I've never baked before."

"Have you ever baked before?" he asked without looking up.

"Never."

"Shouldn't be too hard then."

She wandered back into the cool of the house and started prepping the kitchen. She'd at least seen Masterchef, and she'd picked up tips from loads of share houses, so she wasn't a bad cook; it just that baking was a specific skill set, and she'd never bothered with it. That's what shops were for. She pulled a copy of The Golden Wattle Cookery Book from the shelf, ignored half the advice, and knocked out a dozen scones in well under an hour. Except they were a bit flat. Wrong flour, maybe. She threw them out and tried again. Burned her hand on the tray getting them out of the oven, accidentally turned off the over, nearly blew her face off when she leaned inside to light it again, then sore loudly and refreshed her cup of coffee while she contemplated her future.

She needed to get this done. The damn cake stall was tomorrow. She thought about packet scones, then decided Kath at the co-op couldn't keep her mouth shut. She stood up and launched her hands into the mixture, rubbing the butter into the flour, adding milk, then kneading like crazy. 

"What are you doing?" Henry had come in to observe her progress, and his large figure was leaning in the doorway, looking aghast.

"Making scones."

Henry pulled her hands off the corpse of dough. "No, you're not. Step away from the dough."

She pulled a face of frustration. She didn't need this. "What?"

"How long have you been kneading this stuff?"

"Ten minutes or so."

"Don't."

"Huh?"

"You don't knead scones. You treat them gently, lightly, softly."

"Yeah, yeah, Nigella - what makes you an expert?"

"I have a mother in Victoria"

"You do?"

"And she's  a good baker. Lots of sons. So I know you don't pummel scones to death. And you cook them quickly in a hot oven."

"Really?"

"Yes."

She was fed up, and threw the dough-pancake into the bin. 

"Okay, you're up.Held me make these damn things or it's going to get embarrassing."

"Why?"

"Because I'm going to cry, and I can tell you  aren't okay with crying women."

He nodded. He washed his hands like a surgeon ready to operate, and pored over the Golden Wattle Cookery Book with her.

"Here, rub the butter and flour together," he said patiently.

She looked unimpressed. "Why not use the mixer?"

"I have no idea. Just do as you're told."

She fixed him with a glare but got rubbing, and found, ultimately, that it wasn't so bad. Henry guided her through the process with the understanding of a cook who had done a bit of baking in his life. She wondered about the woman who had taught him to cook. Did she know where he was now? Was she looking for him? She hated to think of Henry's Victorian mother pining for her boy and not knowing his fate. Henry leaned over and bumped her as he reached for the baking tray.

"Cate? Time to cut the scones out and get them in the oven." He checked the temperature was high.

She picked up the scone cutter and pushed it into the soft dough, then twisted it and brought it back out.

Henry tut-tutted and placed his hand over hers for the next one, his large arm running casually down hers, looking over her shoulder to check her form. "Don't twist it."

"Why not?"

"Not sure. Stops it rising as much?"

He gave off a lot of heat. "Okay."

He kept his hand on hers for a few more scones.  Maybe he thought the technique took practice. Finally, the scones were in, and rising, forming perfect golden scones.

And now I want scones with lashings of jam and cream

Weekly meals

Saturday - 
Sunday -
Monday - Steak egg and chips
Tuesday - Work event
Wednesday - Home made pizza
Thursday - Out for dinner
Friday - Takeaway

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Top Ten Tuesday: May Flowers

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is May Flowers - Pick your own title for this one to reflect the direction you choose to go with this prompt (books with flowers on the cover, flower names in the title, characters whose names are flower names, stories involving flowers/gardeners).

Here are some flowers that I have received this week!

Back in April, the theme was April Showers and rather than do showers, I thought I would share 10 years worth of April reads. I thought I would do the same with this week's theme. So here are 10 books I read in May over the last few years.

2024 - The Shakespeare Sisters by Juliet Greenwood - I am currently reading this book. I have the second book in the series to read soon too.

2023 - The War Nurses by Anthea Hodgson - I really liked this one when I read it last year.

2023 - A Taste of Italian Sunshine by Leonie Mack - The first book I read by Leonie Mack was set in Paris, this one in the vineyards of Italy, and the last one in the mountains of France. I already have the next book to read by her and this one is set in Spain

2022 - The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles - This was a long, but enjoyable read.

2021 - The Dressmakers of Yarrandarah Prison by Meredith Jaffe - this one is a 5/5 read for me!

2021 - All Systems Red by Martha Wells - I don't read a lot of sci-fi but this series is a lot of fun!

2020  - The Postmistress by Alison Stuart - Australian historical fiction set in a fictitious town inspired by an actual town a few hours away from me that I would love to visit

2020 - The Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan- I do mix things up a little bit genre wise! This is crime fiction!

2019 - The Flat Share by Beth O'Leary - Still the best book by this author that I have read.

2018 - Templar Silks by Elizabeth Chadwick - This is one of my favourite historical fiction authors and yet I don't often read her. Must rectify that!

Top Ten Tuesday: New to Me Authors I Discovered in 2023

 

I read 38 new to me authors last year. Now, I could do a Top Ten Tuesday post with 38 different books, but I decided to narrow it down a bit by only including the new to me authors who I graded as either 4.5 or 5 out of 5 reads.

Here we go:

Erin Littekin - The Lost Daughters of Ukraine was so good. I am definitely intending to go back and read her debut novel! (my review)

Pip Williams - The Book Binder of Jericho - I haven't read Dictionary of Lost Words yet but I need to get onto it as we are going to go and see the play at the end of February.

Anthea Hodgson - My first book by this author was The War Nurses. I also listened to The Drifter which was great too. 

Jane Lovering - I read The Recipe for Happiness. Lucky for me there is quite a backlist available from this author (my review)

Durian Sukegawa - Sweet Bean Paste was so good! (my review)

Lauren Westwood - I loved The Little Paris Toyshop so much. (my review)

Bonnie Garmus - I was a bit late to the party when it comes to reading Lessons in Chemistry. I am supposed to be going to hear her talk soon too. Must check when that is. (review)

Rebecca Yarros - I really enjoyed Fourth Wing, and have since read Iron Flame. I am curious to read more but all of the other books she has written look completely different from these two books.

Kim Fay - Really enjoyed Love and Saffron by this author (my review)

Juliet Greenwood - The Last Train from Paris was really good and I will be trying to read more from this author's backlist as well. (my review)

Have you read any of these authors?

Top Ten Tuesday: Just Some of the Most Reviewed Books from the 2023 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

 

 

 

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Bookish Goals for 2024. However, don't really have that many goals, other than tryig to review all the historical fiction novels I read, and I am already behind on that goal! I am therefore going rogue and instead sharing some of the books that were reviewed multiple times during the 2023 Historical Fiction Challenge. On the weekend, I revealed  the book that was reviewed most during the challenge (five times) and the three books that were reviewed  four times. You can see those books here along with other statistics.

Today, I will be sharing the five books that were reviewed three times, and then five (out of the 75) books that were reviewed twice.

First off, here are five books that were reviewed three times:

A Marriage of Fortune by Anne O'Brien - It has been an age since I read any historical fiction with a medieval setting.

Strangers in the Night by Heather Webb - This book tells the story of Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner

The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor - This sounds like a very interesting story

The Orchid Hour by Nancy Bilyeau - Love this cover!

The Romantic by William Boyd - This book was longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction

And here are five books  that were reviewed twice which I have picked for various reason to share today

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak - I loved, loved,loved this book when I read it a couple of years ago.

The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane - This is another book that was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize. She is an Australian author, and I feel like she probably goes under the radar a little bit here.

Weyward by Emilia Hart - This was the winner of the Goodreads Choice Awards for Historical Fiction in 2023.

The War Nurses by Anthea Hodgson - I really liked this book when I read it last year.

The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson - I keep on being reminded that I really need to read this book!

If you love historical fiction and reading challenges, why not join us. t's not too late to join this year's challenge. All the sign up details are here!

Top Ten Tuesday: Best of 2023

 

 

 

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Favourite Books of 2023.

I read four books that I rated 5/5 stars and they were 

The Lost Daughters of Ukraine by Erin Littekin - I hadn't read any WWII fiction set in the Ukraine before (my review)

The Book Binders of Jericho by Pip Williams - I went to hear Pip Williams speak at Melbourne Writers Festival this year which prompted me to read this book. I still need to read Dictionary of Lost Words, hopefully before I go see the play in a couple of months.

Dreaming in French by Vanessa McCausland - I loved this book so much! Haunting and evocative. (my review)

The Little Paris Toyshop by Lauren Westwood - I read this as part of a blog tour and I was blown away by it! (my review)

In exciting news, I have already read my first 5 star read for 2024!!

Here are just some of the books I rated 4.5/5 in 2023

The War Nurse by Anthea Hodgson - I was lucky enough to hear Anthea Hodgson talk about this book at the book club retreat I went to earlier this year.

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus - I was a bit late to the party on this one, but I loved it. I just finished watching the TV adaptation too. (My review)

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros - I expect to see this on quite a few lists this week!

The Martian by Andy Weir - After watching bits of the movie approximately 2,735,478 times I finally got around to reading/listening to this book. And it was good!!

The Last Train from Paris by Juliet Greenwood - I really need to read more of this author's books now. (my review)

Without Further Ado by Jessica Dettmann - When I read this book I felt like I really need to go and watch the Emma Thompson/Kenneth Brannagh version of Much Ado About Nothing. I still must do that!

This list is a bit of a mix of Australian and non-Australian authors, books I read for fun and for blog tours, some I reviewed and some I didn't and different genres!

Are any of these books on your list this week?