In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren and it is a place where we can show off and drool over our latest books.
I have had a good week this week with some great books landing on my doormat (and a few little treats for myself too!)
So here is what is new for me this week:
Sent to me for review
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson
“Major Ernest Pettigrew (Ret’d) is not interested in the frivolity of the modern world. Since his wife’s death, he has tried to avoid the constant bother of the village women, his ambitious son and the suburbanisation of the English countryside. He prefers to lead a quiet life, upholding the values that people have lived by for generations – respectability, duty and a properly brewed cup of tea (very much not served in a polystyrene cup with teabag left in). But when his brother’s death, and a love of Kipling, sparks an unexpected friendship with the widowed village shopkeeper, Mrs Ali, the Major is forced to confront the realities of the twenty first century. Written with a delightfully dry sense of humour, “Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand” is a charming, against-all-odds love story that introduces unforgettable characters and questions how much risk one should take for personal happiness in the face of family obligation and tradition.”
I was Jane Austen’s Best Friend by Cora Harrison
”When shy Jenny Cooper goes to stay with her cousin Jane Austen she knows nothing of the world of beautiful dresses, dances, secrets, gossip and romance that Jane inhabits. But Jane is already a sharp observer of the customs of courtship, and when Jenny falls utterly in love with the dashing Captain Thomas Williams, who better than Jane to help her win the heart of this most eligible of men?”
Far From the Land: A Irish Memoir by Thomas J Rice
“
The setting of Far From the Land is rural Ireland in the 1950s. Thomas Rice has written a memoir about a way of life that no longer exists: no running water, no toilets, no electricity, and little access to education, jobs or basic health care. Early on the story plunges into a culture haunted by recent memories of famines and still showing some of the scars from The Great Hunger of the 1840s.
Writing about father-son relationships, the author recalls the night his absentee IRA father returns from England for the first time in ten years. Known as “The Voice” because of his tenor’s talent, the impact of his first song, Thomas Moore’s haunting tribute to the sweetheart of his martyred friend, Robert Emmet, was beautiful. The poem was titled, She is Far From the Land. No one in the kitchen that night ever forgot it. It was the perfect song, sung by the perfect voice, at the perfect time.
Far From the Land has the benefit of five decades of retrospection as the author brings each of his characters to life with startling honesty, without nostalgia or cliché. Readers will come away with a renewed respect for rural Irish culture and her people.”
Playground by Samuel Bonner
“Jonah had been looking forward to going back to London since the moment he was forced to leave. After being away for so long, Jonah wasn’t expecting the sinister and brutal changes in his friends personalities and behaviour. It wasn’t that long ago, they were up to wayward antics typical of boys their age. Gone were the times of hanging around the fried chicken shop and loitering in the park where they got drunk on cheap booze. Shootings, rape, stabbings, robbery and drug induced violence were now their games of choice. What should have been the best week of the summer quickly turns into a nightmare for Jonah, as he is sickened by the depravity he witnesses. His friends prey on the weak, and before long Jonah is himself hunted down. Confused, betrayed and terrified, he scrambles across the once familiar streets as he desperately tries to survive and escape the viciousness of an unforgiving city. This is a shockingly disturbing tale of peer pressure and the evil among a gang of inner-city youths.”
Books I have bought
You Belong to Me by Mary Higgings Clark
“Regina Clausen is forty-three, successful in her career but insecure and unfulfilled in her personal life. Travelling alone on the luxury liner Gabrielle, she disembarks in Hong Kong saying she will rejoin the ship when it docks in Japan. She is never seen again. Three years later, an anonymous caller to psychologist Susan Chandler’s radio show tells of a strange encounter with a man on a cruise ship, and his sinister gift of a ring engraved: ‘You Belong To Me’. Susan thinks little of it at the time. But when Regina’s mother appears at her office with a ring bearing the same inscription, found amongst her daughter’s belongings, Susan begins to suspect that they are on the trail of something menacing and dangerous. As she looks deeper, Susan finds herself confronted with the horrifying possibility that she may know the killer, and that she may even be his next victim …”
While My Pretty One Sleeps by Mary Higgins Clark
“A story of domestic danger and mystery, set against the world of New York’s fashion industry. The sudden disappearance of Ethel Lambston, a gossip writer known to many but loved by few, draws boutique-owner Neeve Kearny into a tangled drama in which she is already unknowingly involved.”
Wedlock: How Geaorgian Britain’s Worst Husband Met His Match by Wendy Moore
“WEDLOCK is the remarkable story of the Countess of Strathmore and her marriage to Andrew Robinson Stoney. Mary Eleanor Bowes was one of Britain’s richest young heiresses. She married the Count of Strathmore who died young, and pregnant with her lover’s child, Mary became engaged to George Gray. Then in swooped Andrew Robinson Stoney. Mary was bowled over and married him within the week. But nothing was as it seemed. Stoney was broke, and his pursuit of the wealthy Countess a calculated ploy. Once married to Mary, he embarked on years of ill treatment, seizing her lands, beating her, terrorising servants, introducing prostitutes to the family home, kidnapping his own sister. But finally after many years, a servant helped Mary to escape. She began a high-profile divorce case that was the scandal of the day and was successful. But then Andrew kidnapped her and undertook a week-long rampage of terror and cruelty until the law finally caught up with him.”
I can’t wait to dive into these books. The review books all look very exciting and I just love Mary Higgins Clark for a good old cozy mystery so I always look forward to reading those. The final one has some great reviews and I love non-fiction about historical figures so this should be a good’n.
Ally synopses are take from Amazon except for Far From the Land which is taken from Goodreads.
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