Top Ten Tuesday - Historical Fiction Set in France - the WWII Edition.

 Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Books I HAD to Have Immediately but Still Haven’t Read (this is a throwback topic from 2022). However, given that this is the last Tuesday for me to do a Paris in July related Top Ten Tuesday I am going down that route instead. 

During last year's Paris in July, I shared a TTT post which was Historical Fiction set in France. When I put that list together I specifically excluded WWII fiction, so this week my theme is Historical Fiction Set in France - the WWII Edition. I have started with two books that come to mind instantly and then the rest are more recent books I have read set in France during WWII.

A Farewell to France by Noel Barber - in the 1990s I read a lot of Noel Barber books and I have such fond memories of them. I am not sure they would stand up all that well to read now though. 

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah - I am looking forward to seeing the movie of this one whenever it ends up actually getting made

The Resistance Knitting Club by Jenny O'Brien - I am just about to read the follow up to this book and can't wait! (review)

The Girl From Normandy by Rachel Sweasey - I really enjoyed this read (my review)

The Madamoiselle Alliance by Natasha Lester - What a fascinating this read was. It is based on a true story which makes it even more amazing! (my review)

The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin - This one is set in both France and Portugal (my review)

The Paris Dancer by Nicola Rayner - I was nearly going to say WWII Paris, but then I remembered that the whole theme for this post is WWII which makes that kind of redundant! (my review)

The Resistance Bakery by Siobhan Curham - I love a book set in a French bakery so this was always going to be a winner for me! (my review)

The Last Train from Paris by Juliet Greenwood - I thought this was a really great read with an interesting story! (my review)

The Lost Sister of Fifth Avenue by Ella Carey - The title might make you think this one is not set in Paris, but the majority of the story is! (my review)

Top Ten Tuesday: Honorifics

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books with Honorifics in the Title (“…an honorific is a form of address conveying esteem, courtesy or respect. These can be titles prefixing a person’s name, e.g.: Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms., Mx., Sir, Dame, Dr., Cllr, Lady, or Lord, or other titles or positions that can appear as a form of address without the person’s name, as in Mr. President, General, Captain, Father, Doctor, or Earl.” For more info, click here.) (Submitted by Joanne @ Portobello Book Blog)

I am always grateful for my handy dandy spreadsheet that I have been maintaining for 20 years or so for these kind of topics. Apply a couple of filters and you at least have the start of a list!

My first 5 books have a French connection in honour of the fact that we are half way through Paris in July. 

The Madamoiselle Network by Natasha Lester - This book tells the story of the only woman to lead a resistance network in WWII. It is a really interesting book, although I must confess I am not sure why it is called Madamoiselle given that the main character was married when the main part of the story started! Guess it just sounded better than the Madame Network which could be something completely different! (my review)

Madamoiselle Victorine by Deborah Finerman  - I hadn't thought about this book for years which probably isn't a surprise given I didn't really like it. Interestingly finding out what happened to Victorine Meurent is one of the strands of The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl which I was reading last week.

Mrs Harris goes to Paris by Paul Gallico - I love the movie of this book and have watched it several times. I did also listen to the audio. At some point I will listen to more of the Mrs Harris books. In future books she goes to New York, Moscow and Parliament! (my review of the movie and the book)

A Star for Mrs Blake by April Smith - This book tells the story of some mothers of soldiers from  WWI who were given money by the US government to travel to France to find the graves of their dead sons.

The President's Hat by Antoine Laurain - I thoroughly enjoy reading Antoine Laurain's books and this one was a lot of fun! (my mini review of this book and two others by Antoine Laurain)

Miss Graham's Cold War Cook Book by Celia Rees - I really enjoyed this book in which a young teacher is sent to post WWII Germany to help in the rebuilding process but she is also there to provide information, which she does by sharing coded recipes. (my review)

The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes by Jennifer Crusie, Eileen Dreyer and Anne Stuart - This is an older book now which when I read I thought was a super fun idea but I wasn't sure about how it turned out as a reading experience. I do still love the cover on that one though (my review)

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson - I have such fond memories of reading this book many years go. I recently read Simonson's latest book, The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club, and that was a lot of fun too! (my review of Major Pettigrew)

Sir Thursday by Garth Nix - This is part of the The Keys to the Kingdom series. I read all seven books in the series between 2007 and 2010 but I only ever reviewed the first three. 

Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade by Diana Gabaldon - This is part of the spin-off mystery series which features Lord John Grey who we originally met in the Outlander books.

Sunday Salon: The Rachael Johns Book Club Retreat 2025

Last weekend I was privileged to attend the third Rachael Johns Book Club Retreat which was held in Perth in Western Australia with around 80 other readers and 16 authors. I have been to all three and they are always a lot of fun, and a great chance to connect with other readers and with authors! Here are the links to my 2023 and 2024 recap post. For context, Perth is about at a 3 and a half to 4 hour flight from where I live in Melbourne, which it turns out it the perfect length of time to read a book that you have left to the last minute to read!

I was born in Perth, and I still have a lot of family left there so I was able to combine the retreat with spending a little bit of time with a few of them, particularly my aunts! We went to lunch at a nearby pub on the Friday before one of them dropped me off at the hotel in Scarborough, and the other one picked me up on Sunday afternoon before we all had dinner together before I got on the red-eye flight which basically leaves Perth at midnight and arrives in Melbourne at 5.15 the next morning (still about 3 and a half hours allowing for time zone changes)

One of the highlights is always catching up with the people who you don't get to see very often. We now have a pretty established group of people, most of whom come from Sydney, but there are a couple from Melbourne and Adelaide. One of the people who goes is Bree from All the Books I Can Read. There are a few other bloggers and bookstagrammers who attended too.  Here are some of us at the photo booth during the Friday night cocktail party in our bad bridesmaid and/or devil horns! The theme is related to the last book released by Rachael Johns, which is called The Bad Bridesmaid

Scarborough is a beachside suburb and the venue was literally across the road from the beach. Think long sandy beaches, decent waves, and the weather was a perfect 25 or 26 celcius every day. I did manage to go and stick my feet in the Indian ocean. And the sunsets? Absolutely spectacular.

I mentioned the theme for the Friday night cocktail party. There is another reason to dress up which is the formal dinner on Saturday night. The theme for that was All that Glitters. As you might imagine the sequins got a big workout! There was bling everywhere! It was fantastic!

It's not all about socialising though. During the weekend their are two book club discussions. The first was for Stella Quinn's latest book A Snowy River Summer, which was the book that I read on the plane, and the Sunday session was for Natasha Lester's The Madamoiselle Alliance (which I reviewed here). Both sessions included an In Conversation with the featured author and an opportunity for us as readers to have a face to face conversation about the books.

In addition there were also several author panels. These covered topics like The Dark Side of Fiction, Bold Women, Big Stories and finally From Meet Cutes to Magic. The last two were moderated by Bree who did a great job! We also got to meet all the authors in a couple of speed dating sessions. And what is the effect of all of these reader/author interactions? An ever expanding TBR list of course! And there are also lots of opportunities to get books signed. The dodgy curtains did provide a distraction during the panels because the sun was beating down on the glass and the maintenance guy had to come in to try and move them. I wasn't sure that they weren't going to fall down at one point.

I did come home with 3 books, one from the goodie bag that we received on arrival, which is also packed with things like bookmarks and other merch, and one as a prize. There are always so many great prizes to choose from through the weekend. I did also buy some book earrings, a tea strainer and mug and one book! Here's some of the merch. Yes, there is more!

One of the highlights every year is the closing debate. This year the theme was that historical fiction is harder to write than contemporary fiction (paraphrasing but it was basically that). This is always so much fun and has everyone laughing. I have to say that Stella Quinn did amazingly well given that she got called in at the last minute. And the winner? The historical fiction writers for the win!

There are so many others things I could talk about and photos I could share but I hope that this summary gives you a good feel for the event!

Next year's event is a bit closer to home in Geelong, which is about an hour an a bit from my place. I have already booked my ticket and the hotel and I am already looking forward to it! We were also given a clue as to what the Friday night cocktail party theme might be. That gives me just over a year to stress about what to wear! 

Have you ever attended a book event like this?

The Madamoiselle Alliance by Natasha Lester

 

Recently I went to hear Australian author Natasha Lester speak at a library in a small town about half an hour away from me. The talk that she gave was absolutely fascinating. She talked about the main character in her latest novel, a French woman by the name of Marie-Madeleine Fourcade who was the only woman who led a French Resistance organisation during WWII. She shared some of her exploits in her talk, and I left that event knowing that I was going to have to read the book asap. I did have another reason for needing to read the book too. This was the book club selection for the Rachael Johns Readers Retreat that I attended last weekend and so I needed to read it before the group discussions. Natasha Lester was there as one of the authors, so I got to hear her speak again. Here she is being interviewed by Anthea Hodgson.

The story of Marie-Madeleine is absolutely fascinating. She married young and moved to Morocco where she learnt to fly, did some rally car driving and a bit of espionage which helps her husband's career! When her marriage breaks down, she returns to France with her children. There, at a party, she witnesses two men having a very intense disagreement. One is Charles de Gaulle, and the other a man who will recruit her to help create a resistance network known as Alliance, whose code name is Navarre. 

Alliance worked closely with the British MI6 and provided them with a lot of information like U-boat locations and maps of the coast of France which eventually helped with the planning for the D-Day invasion.  However, there is a very high cost for this information with the loss of members through arrest and death, the constant threat of betrayal, the constant moving around, always living with fear, and more.

For Marie-Madeleine the human cost of the work that she was leading was immense and it did take it's toll. Despite that she continued relying on her risk taking mentality, her intuition and those closest to her to help lead. There was a physical cost too. Some of the stories that are told in these pages seem incredibly far-fetched and yet those are the ones that are true including being smuggled to Spain, making split second decisions to leave a headquarters based on instinct alone, and sending her children away so that the Germans cannot use them to get to her. 

Despite the success of her team's work, she also faced a struggle due to her sex. No one, including the Germans most of the time, could believe that a woman could lead the network and do such a great job!   This is reflected in the fact that, after the war, whilst others were public acknowledged by de Gaulle for the resistance work done during the war Marie-Madeleine was not, despite several of her subordinates receiving the acknowledgement. 

There is a lot of action in this book, and sometimes it was a little difficult to keep up with the constant location changes, new people in the organisation and the who was doing what in the various acts of resistance. This is despite the fact that the author did combine a lot of the real life characters and moves so that there was less in the book than there was in real life! There was also the personal story of the woman, Marie-Madeleine,  who cared too much for the people that she put in harm's way but who inspired great loyalty from the people in the network, the leader who felt every death and betrayal to her very core, the mother who couldn't see her children, the woman who had a passionate love for a man who served France wholeheartedly, and the woman who gave everything that she had to fight against the Germans.

In the acknowledgements at the end of the book,  Lester wrote that she had been told that WWII were not as publishable as they have been because it isn't what readers want any more, and it is a sentiment that I have seen expressed multiple times in reviews. The market is saturated with WWII stories. My response is if it is WWII stories like this one, of the amazing people who gave everything and more in the fight against the enemy, those as yet unknown stories of heroes, then I still want to read them!

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted by The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews and with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host! This book has also been released in the US so if you would like to give this Aussie author a try, if you haven't already done so, you should be able to find it in other markets!

Rating 4.5/5

This week...

Rachael Johns Reader's Retreat

I spent the weekend in Perth (my home town) at the Rachael Johns Readers Retreat! I will do a proper post later in the week once I catch up on a few things, but it was an amazing weekend. The hotel was right on the beach, the weather was glorious, the sunsets were spectacular and I got to talk about books all weekend with other book lovers! I am already looking forward to next year's event which is going to be in Geelong which is a bit closer to home!

I'm reading

Most of my reading this week for for the retreat. There were two book club books and so at the very least I wanted to make sure that I had read both of those. I had started The Madamoiselle Alliance by Natasha Lester last week and I finished that this week. 

The second book club book was A Snowy River Summer by Stella Quinn. I saved that one for the plane because I was hoping that I would get it read on the flight, and it turned out it was the perfect length as I started it at the airport and I finished it just as we were landing in Perth!

I took The Bad Bridesmaid by Rachael Johns with me to Perth to get signed so I figured it was probably time to read it! I finished this one on the flight home. I was glad I didn't have much left to read as I was on the red-eye special which left Perth at 11.45 at night and got to Melbourne at 5.15am. I was able to finish the book and then attempt to sleep a bit!

In other books, I finished An Italian Wedding Adventure by Leonie Mack which I started last week. 

I have two reviews due this week. The first is Wicket Maiden by Chrissie Harrison which is cricket romance featuring a woman cricketer. I have started this one. I haven't even started the second one yet. Time to get reading. 

I'm watching


We didn't realise that there was a second series of Andor so we watched the first episode of that last week. We will watch more. 

There are a couple of new shows that came out over the last week that I am excited about so I am hoping to get to those soon. 

Other than that I watched sunsets and sunrises from the hotel window



Life


While I was in Perth I was able to spend some time with my aunts and other family. It is always lovely to see them! And we always talk about books too!

Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: Change is Good....and Somewhat Inevitable

Blog Tour: The Cornish Cottage by the Sea by Kim Nash

Blog Tour: One Summer in Italy by Victoria Springfield

Away with the Fairies by Kerry Greenwood

Afternoon Tea Diaries - Red at Oxi Tea Room

Spell the Month in Books - May


I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date and Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz

This Week

Melbourne Writers Festival

Over the weekend I attended Melbourne Writers Festival. I always try to make sure that I attend something at the festival, and this time I was able to attend three events.

On Saturday, we attended an In Conversation with Anita Heiss which was facilitated by Shelley Ware. This was a wide ranging conversation from being a method writer to the inclusion of indigenous people in Australian stories to the plight of children in the current situation. Heiss' latest book, which was originally an Audible original, is called Red Dust Running and features an Indigenous cowboy so both of the presenters were dressed up in jeans, boots and cowboy hats. I have met Anita Heiss before and she is always engaging too listen too, very funny, and yet covering important topics!

On Sunday, I attended two sessions. The first was too hear Japanese author Asako Yuzuki who was interviewed by cookbook author and TV host Alice Zaslavsky. The conversation covered topics from food, the roles and expectations of women in modern Japanese society, and so much more. Like last year when we saw Toshikazu Kawaguchi in conversation, this was a translater assisted session, and she did an amazing job. There was a lady behind us who spoke Japanese relatively well and at the end of the session she was gushing about how well the translator did!

The final session was Australian author Jane Harper In Conversation with Irish author Marian Keyes. Keyes got a rapturous welcome from the moment that she walked on stage and she kept the audience engaged from the outset. I am pretty sure Harper could have asked just one question and just let Marian Keyes talk for the whole hour. One of the highlights of the conversation included the news that there is a TV series being made of the Walsh sisters books which has been sold to an Australian streaming service. It is going to be shown in Ireland later this year so hopefully we won't have to wait too long for it here! The audience laughed and clapped all the way through the hour and there was a real buzz in the room. I am so glad to have had the chance to hear her talk live. Now I wish I had time to go back and re-read all the Walsh sisters books!

I have some other photos from the two days on my Bookstagram account - Intrepidreaderandbaker.

While the festival doesn't feel the same as it did a few years ago when it was over two weekends, it was heavily promoted as a city event and there was a real buzz in the host locations, it is an event that really fills my cup. And the bonus is we get to visit some iconic Melbourne locations as well. One if the Capitol Theatre which usually isn't open to the public. This place is gorgeous! And the ceiling - amazing art deco style!

I'm reading

I mentioned last week that I was reading The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson as it is the current selection for Cook the Books. I finished that book this week, and I know what I am going to cook for the cooking part of the equation. Now I just need to find the time to make it, hopefully this week. 

I also finished The House At River's Edge by Rachel Burton, which I reviewed here.

The other book that I had to read last week as I had committed to a review date was Booked for Summer by Kathryn Freeman. I reviewed that book here. 

Even though I have two books to review this week that I haven't started yet, I started reading An Italian Wedding Adventure by Leonie Mack. I really like this author's books and so far this is a good one too. 

I also started The Madamoiselle Alliance by Natasha Lester. I went and heard her speak a couple of weeks ago and the story that she told about the main character in this book was fascinating. This is one of the two book club books that we will be talking about at the Rachael Johns Readers Retreat this coming weekend. I think that there is every chance that I might be reading the other book on the plane on the way over to Perth!

I'm watching


We are very lucky here as there are often film festivals which bring movies to the big screen that I would otherwise never hear about. The German Film Festival is currently on, and one of the two movies that I really wanted to see was the book to screen adaptation of the Door to Door Bookstore. I read the book last year and liked it. I was a bit surprised to see that it had been made into a very family friendly movie and I thought it a sweet movie. There was almost a cartoonish feel to it from some of the costumes to the sets and more. It also shared the magic of books and story, about the importance of found family and the impact of grief. 

On Saturday night my husband and I went to see Thunderbolts, the latest Marvel movie, and it was really good! Definitely felt like a return to form. 

We also watched a new Netflix documentary called Pangolin: Kulu's Journey. Before watching this show I had no idea what a pangolin even looked like. It is made by the same people who made My Octopus Teacher and once again it is a really nicely made documentary. 

Here's the trailer:

Life

Not much more to add here really

Posts from the last week



Top Ten Tuesday: Authors Attending the Rachael Johns Readers Retreat

Blog Tour: One More Day of Us by Shari Low

Blog Tour: The House at River's Edge by Rachel Burton

Blog Tour: Booked for Summer by Kathryn Freeman

Weekend Cooking: The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe by Catherine Greer

Sunday Salon: Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - April stats






I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? hosted by Book Date and Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors attending the Rachael Johns Reader Retreat 2025

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Authors (or books by authors) Who Live In My State/Country (submitted by Jennifer @ Funk-N-Fiction)

I love it when I am able to focus on Australian authors, and I think I could write a post just on authors who live in Melbourne but I am going to narrow it down a little bit. In a couple of weeks I am heading over to Perth for the weekend to see some family and to attend the 3rd Rachael Johns Reader Retreat. There will be about 100 readers and 20 featured authors attending and I am looking forward to it! 

Today, I am sharing ten authors who are attending the retreat! A lot of these authors live in Perth so it is good for them not to have to travel to the retreat this year. I have met some of the other authors at previous retreats so I am going to start with the ones I have not yet met.

I posted about the previous retreats. This is the post for 2024 and this is the one for 2023.

Some of these might be a bit hard to track down for anyone living outside Australia, but I hope that this list is still of interest

Barbara Hannay - I have read Barbara Hannay before when she was part of the quartet of writers who wrote the Outback Brides of Wirralong (reviewed here) and the Outback Babies series. She has quite an extensive backlist!

Kylie Kaden - I am not familiar with this author's books so it will be interesting to learn more about her!

Alexandra Almond - A debut author who comes from Melbourne!

Nadia Mahjouri - I have heard such good things about this author's debut novel.

Deb Jordan - The third of the debut authors who will be attending the retreat

Nicole Flockton - I am not really that familiar with this author although she has written a lot and is a USA Today best selling author! I had to pick this title as soon as I saw it although this particular book doesn't come out until June!

Christine Wells - I have been meaning to read Christine Wells for the longest time as I should love her books! I did start this one once but didn't get very far before I got distracted!

Sara Foster - Technically I did meet Sara Foster years ago, but it was a very, very long time ago!

Natasha Lester - I actually did meet Natasha Lester a couple of weeks ago, but her book The Madamoiselle Alliance is one of the book club books we will be discussing over the weekend.

Stella Quinn - This is the other book club book that we will be discussing over the weekend. Stella was at the inaugural retreat a couple of years ago.

There are lots of other authors going that I have met before! I will most likely post something about the retreat once I get back!

This week....

I'm reading

I finished reading The Rainfall Market by You Yeong-Gwang, and liked it. It was a book I picked up on a whim from the library having not heard anything about it. It has a really fun premise, is a bit fantastical and just that little bit different.

I started reading The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson. This is the current Cook the Books selection and so I will be reviewing it later this month and finding something to cook from it as well. It's not as foodie as most of the other selections are so I am not sure what I will make yet.

I read One More Day of Us by Shari Low, which I am due to review this week. I also started The House on the River by Rachel Burton which is also due for review this week. I actually have another book that I need to squeeze in before Friday but I haven't started that yet. 

A couple of weeks ago I went to an author event at my local library to see Australian author Amanda Hampson talk about her latest book, The Deadly Dispute, which is the third book in the Tea Ladies series. I just finished reading the first book in the series, called The Tea Ladies, and it was a fun tea-cosy mystery! It is set in the garment trade in 1965 so it is also a great choice for my read on a theme book club this month as the theme for that is the 60s.

On audio, I finished listening to Away with the Fairies which is the 11th book in the Phryne Fisher series by Kerry Greenwood. I hadn't actually read any of the series for many years, but it didn't take me long to get back into that world! I then started listening to Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry. Is there a more perfect author/narrator combination than Emily Henry and Julia Whelan? I'm not sure there is!

I did also go to one author event last week. I drove to a small country town called Gisborne which is about 40 minutes away from me to hear Natasha Lester talk about her new book, The Madamoiselle Alliance which is based on a real person. What a woman! I was ready to drop anything and just start reading that book straight away. I will read it next week as it is one of the book club selection for the readers retreat I am going to in a couple of weeks.

I did share my April highlights on Instagram which were the books below. There are reviews for three of them up on the blog already, and a fourth will be up this weekend. These are the books I rated as 4.5 or 5 star reads with Pictures of You being the 5 star read for this month.

I'm watching


Masterchef Australia is back! Yay! This is a show that my husband and I enjoy watching together. This year it is a Back To Win series, meaning that all of the contestants have been on the show once or twice before but never won! I think I would prefer a show with new contestants but this will still be good.

I watched the first three episodes of a new show called The Secret DNA of Us. The idea is that a couple of hundred people from a town all come together and get DNA tested and then they come back together once the results are in and talk about what connects them. In some cases they find out that they might be fourth cousins, or that at some point they had an ancestor from a part of the world they had no idea about. There is also a reporter who is a researcher and she has come up with some very interesting stories to connect the DNA results with history. It's my kind of show!

I need to say thank you to Erin from Still Life, with Cracker Crumb and Lisa from Boondock Ramblings who are hosting the Springtime in Paris movie event. I have been meaning to watch the French movie The Intouchables starring Omar Sy for the longest time and I never quite got around to it! It was this week's selection for the event, and I loved it!

The Intouchables is about a young unemployed man named Driss who just needs someone to sign his paper to say that he attended for a job interview and was unsuccessful so he can get his unemployment benefit. The job is to look after a man named Philippe who is a quadriplegic. No one is more surprised than Driss is when he is offered a trial period. Philippe is an aristocrat who lives in an amazing house in Paris, Driss grew up in the projects. Philippe loves classical music and expensive art. Driss grew up living off his wits and getting by however he could. What sets Driss apart from everyone else is that he doesn't see Philippe as just a quadriplegic man, he sees him as a man. A man who used to love extreme sports, a man who now has an accessible van to move around in but has a very expensive, fast car just sitting in the driveway.

The movie is a touching look at care and compassion and about seeing the best in each other, and it is even more touching given that it is based on a true story I am so pleased to have watched it now. 

Here's the trailer

The last movie for the event is Charade which I hope to watch this week.

Life

I went to aqua class for the first time in forever last week. In fact, I went twice and I am going again this morning. It's a friendly enough group, who clearly have all known each other for a long time. The first class I did I was thinking that it wasn't really pushing me, until later that day when I could definitely feel it in my legs. 

On Wednesday night we went to see German composer Hans Zimmer live in concert. My husband loves listening to movie soundtracks while he is working and Hans Zimmer is one of his favourites so this was his birthday present! It was a really good show, different to what I was expecting really. I wasn't familiar with everything but I still enjoyed the show. There was music from movies like Gladiator, Inception, Dune and much more. The highlight for me was music from The Lion King.

On Saturday it was our federal election. In Australia it is compulsory to vote, or should I say it is compulsory to turn up to the polling station and get your name crossed of. If you are lucky, your polling station will have a barbecue set up where you by what is known as a democracy sausage. It is a sausage in white bread, sometimes with onion, and with the sauce of your choice. Australians do get excited about the democracy sausage on election day. My polling station doesn't have a barbecue. I think we are going to have to find one that does for the next election.


Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with the Word Cafe in the Title
Blog Tour: The House of Lost Whispers by Jenni Keer
Blog Tour: A Greek Island Gift by Mandy Baggot
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - May Links
The King's Messenger by Susanna Kearsley
Where the Birds Call Her Name by Claire van Ryn
Weekend Cooking: In My Kitchen - April
Six Degrees of Separation: Rapture to The Swan Maiden



I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date and Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Autumn 2025 to-read list

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books on My Spring 2025 to-Read List. For us, it is autumn, so I am really doing Books on My Autumn 2025 to-Read List

The Mademoiselle Alliance by Natasha Lester - In May I am going to Perth for the Rachael Johns Reader Retreat and this is one of the book club books which will be discussed. 

A Snowy River Summer by Stella Quinn  - Same with this one!

Where the Birds Call Her Name by Claire van Ryn - This is the same book club's selection for April. I have a review copy so I really want to read it and participate in the conversation for once.

I am Nannertgarrook by Tasma Walton - This is a book from a new indigenous imprint with one of the major publishers. It is historical fiction and so it should work for me.

The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris by Evie Woods - A bakery! In France! Sign me up

The House of Lost Whispers by Jenni Keer - I am due to review this towards the end of April. I am looking forward to it.

The King,s Messenger by Susanna Kearsley - Susanna Kearsley is one of my all time favourite authors but I still haven't read this! 

The King's Jewel by Elizabeth Chadwick - And the same applies for Elizabeth Chadwick!

The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor - I have heard such good things about this book!

The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki - I am heading off to Japan this week on holidays so I really want to read one or more Japanese books while I am away.

Of course, this is all subject to change at any times and some or all of these books may yet appear on my Winter reading list. Well, except for the first two!

Top Ten Tuesday: Places I visited which reminded me of books I have read

 

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Bookish Goals for 2023, I really only have two of those (and I am already behind on one of those) so instead I am twisting the topic to have the opportunity to share some photos from my trp!

My theme for this week is places I have visited which reminded me of books I had read. Obviously, I need to work on the title to make it a bit snappier, but it is what it is right now.

For context, I am currently in Italy, having visited The Netherlands, France and Italy. We will be travelling home via Singapore so there will be more, but for now, these are just some of the places where I found myself thinking about books I had read while I was away

Bayeux - There is so much history in Normandy, whether it be medieval or WWII or somewhere in between. I found my self thinking about Elizabeth Chadwick's books as well as Sharon Kay Penman's books. However, for the purpose of today, I am choosing to match with The Needle in the Blood by Sarah Bower

Saint Chappelle - Amy Plum introduced me to this place and it has been on my bucket list ever since.

St Malo - When we were planning our route we were looking for somewhere to stay between Normandy and the Loire Valley and I chose this place purely and simply because of Anthony Doerr's wonderful book All the Light We Cannot See.

Chennonceau - I first blogged about wantiing to visit Chennonceaux back in 2011! This book tells the story of Catherine de Medici who left her mark on this chateau.

Louvre - I have read a number of books now which talk about the saving of art from The Louvre. One passage which came to mind was from The Riviera House by Natasha Lester where they talked about the processs of getting The Winged Victory of Thamocrace out of the Louvre. Interestingly, at Chambord in the Loire Valley there is a new permanent exhibition which talked about saving the art from The Louvre during WWII.

Musee D'Orsay - We loved visiting Musee D'Orsay - we definitely did not have enought time thher. Whilst Renoir's painting Luncheon of the Boating Party is not one of the ones we saw, I did find myself thinking of this book while I was there.

Musee D'Orsay - I really wanted to get a photo of the clocks at Musee D'Orsay. They are on a number of covers but this it the one that comes to mind.

Naples - The obvious choice for Naples would be Elena Ferrante but instead I am choosing The Wedding Officer by Anthony Capella

Puglia - As I started this post I was staying in a trullo in Alberobello. I was inspired to want to visit Puglia thanks to this book. We did a walking tour of the town and the guide asked why we chose to stay here and I shared the title!

Rome - We arrived in Rome late on Monday so our main tourist day is tomorrow so no pictures yet!

Top Ten Tuesday: Books set in France which I still haven't read

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week there is a freebie, so we can pick our own topics. I am choosing to tie in my participation in Paris in July with a TTT post, so I bring you Books set in France which I still haven't read. All of these, and more, are currently on my Kindle.

The Perfect Meal by John Baxter - I am currently reading this at the moment.

Champagne Widows by Rebecca Rosenberg - This sound so interesting!

The Season of Dreams by Fiona Valpy - I actually have three unread books by Fiona Valpy on my Kindle, all set in France

The Little Antique Shop under the Eiffel Tower by Rebeca Raisin - I have read a number of Rebecca Raisin books, but not this one yet!

The French Photographer by Natasha Lester - I read The Riviera House by this same author last year, but I haven't read this one yet.

The Second Worst Restaurant in France by Alexander McCall Smith  - There are two books featuring cookbook writer Paul Stuart. The first was set in Italy, but this one is set in France.

The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff - I read other Pam Jenoff books years ago, but not this one yet.

The Lost Girls in Paris by Jina Bacard - It appears girls get lost in Paris quite often.

The Dressmaker of Paris by Georgia Kaufmann - Such a clever cover!

A Light in the Window by Marion Kummerow - Sounds interesting!

Have you read any of these? I am also sharing this post as part of Paris in July!