Review: The Runaway Daughter

The Runaway Daughter by Libby Ashworth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A family torn apart. A daughter determined to stay together. When the parish guardians send Lydia, daughter of convict James Knowles, to be an apprentice in the cotton mill at Caton, she is distraught at being parted from her younger siblings and mother, Betty, but she has no choice.

At the mill, Lydia is bullied by some of the other girls and things do not go well when she stands up to the ringleader. Fearing she has killed someone and with the word murderess ringing in her ears, Lydia runs for her life.

Meanwhile, Betty and her children have been granted passage to Australia to join her husband, but Lydia cannot be found so Betty is forced to leave without her.

When Lydia arrives home to find her family has gone she is determined to follow them, all the while avoiding the law who seek to return her to the mill.

I just loved this three book saga.

Review: A Mother's Fight

A Mother's Fight by Libby Ashworth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

After her husband Jack is transported to Australia as a convict, Hannah and her children are sent to the workhouse. Hearing nothing from Jack and believing he’s dead, Hannah reluctantly agrees to marry widower Ellis Duxbury. But her children must remain in the workhouse, and when they are sent away as apprentices, it’s up to Hannah to track them down. On Christmas Eve, Hannah is blessed with a miracle when Jack returns to the village. Yet more trouble lies ahead as Hannah is arrested, accused of bigamy and threatened with deportation herself. Having fought so long for her and her children’s freedom, Hannah must once more dig deep to keep her family together. A gripping and inspiring saga.

Review: The Convict's Wife

The Convict's Wife by Libby Ashworth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When Molly Holden's husband, Thomas, is convicted of being a Luddite on the word of a secret informer, he is sentenced to be transported to Australia. Left with their baby daughter, Molly must find work to survive. But the man who informed on Thomas is a former suitor of Molly's, and Isaac believes that with Thomas out of the way she will return to him... Yet Molly is determined to join her husband and decides to raise the sum to pay for passage, first turning to the coal pits and then teaching herself how to weave quilts, all the while trying to stay one step ahead of Isaac's nefarious interferences. A gripping and inspiring Lancashire saga of one woman's journey of love, family and survival.

Very enjoyable read, especially finding out at the end that it is based on real people. The

authentic letters are being kept from that time period in Preston Lancashire archives.

Review: What the Dead Want

What the Dead Want by M.J. Lee
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

They are waiting for death. He is waiting to kill them. In May 2020, fourteen-year-old Andrew Golding went out for a walk following a row with his mum. He was never seen again.

Four years later, when the press discovers police errors in Andrew Golding's case, DI Ridpath is called in to investigate.

As Ridpath delves into the case, he slowly discovers something much bigger and far more brutal than he ever expected – a murderer from the past who threatens his career and the lives of those close to him. Can he unravel the secrets before the killer strikes again?

Review: Between You and Me

Between You and Me by Lisa Hall
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

They say every marriage has its secrets.
But no one sees what happens behind closed doors.
And sometimes those doors should never be opened …

Sal and Charlie are married. They love each other. But they aren’t happy. Sal cannot leave, no matter what Charlie does – no matter how much it hurts.

Contains a surprise ending.

Review: A Great Country

A Great Country by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I felt it was well written. Have read every book from this author. Unfortunately though, for some reason, I felt that the real issues were "sort of" skimmed over in this book. It is a topic that needs to be written about, but with the actual true events being brought out.

I do completely understand the author's need to write about this issue though and give her a lot of credit for giving it a try.

From the New York Times bestselling author, a novel in the tradition of Celeste Ng's Little Fires Everywhere, exploring the ties and fractures of a close-knit Indian-American family in the aftermath of a violent encounter with the police.

Pacific Hills, California: Gated communities, ocean views, well-tended lawns, serene pools, and now the new home of the Shah family. For the Shah parents, who came to America twenty years earlier with little more than an education and their new marriage, this move represents the culmination of years of hard work and dreaming. For their children, born and raised in America, success is not so simple.

For the most part, these differences among the five members of the Shah family are minor irritants, arguments between parents and children, older and younger siblings. But one Saturday night, the twelve-year-old son is arrested. The fallout from that event will shake each family member's perception of themselves as individuals, as community members, as Americans, and will lead each to consider: how do we define success? At what cost comes ambition? And what is our role and responsibility in the cultural mosaic of modern America?

For readers of The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett and Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid, A Great Country explores themes of immigration, generational conflict, social class and privilege as it reconsiders the myth of the model minority and questions the price of the American dream.

Review: The Alice Network

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In an enthralling new historical novel from national bestselling author Kate Quinn, two women—a female spy recruited to the real-life Alice Network in France during World War I and an unconventional American socialite searching for her cousin in 1947—are brought together in a mesmerizing story of courage and redemption.

1947. In the chaotic aftermath of World War II, American college girl Charlie St. Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and on the verge of being thrown out of her very proper family. She's also nursing a desperate hope that her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive. So when Charlie's parents banish her to Europe to have her "little problem" taken care of, Charlie breaks free and heads to London, determined to find out what happened to the cousin she loves like a sister.

1915. A year into the Great War, Eve Gardiner burns to join the fight against the Germans and unexpectedly gets her chance when she's recruited to work as a spy. Sent into enemy-occupied France, she's trained by the mesmerizing Lili, code name Alice, the "queen of spies", who manages a vast network of secret agents right under the enemy's nose.

Thirty years later, haunted by the betrayal that ultimately tore apart the Alice Network, Eve spends her days drunk and secluded in her crumbling London house. Until a young American barges in uttering a name Eve hasn't heard in decades, and launches them both on a mission to find the truth...no matter where it leads.

View all my reviews