Bookish Chat About: My Autumn TBR

I don’t usually do seasonal TBR’s as a rule.  In fact I’m not much of a TBR maker at all.  I consider every unread book in my house as being my TBR!  However, there are certain seasons that lend themselves well to create a TBR and Autumn for me is the best season!  We have dark gothic historical fiction, we have spooky reads in the run up to Halloween and we also have cosy reads to snuggle up with on the dark nights (if that’s what floats your bookish boat).

With this in mind I had a little peruse along my various bookshelves and pulled out some books that I am feeling the urge to get to in the next 2 or 3 months.  Now this is a VERY loose TBR and I am well aware that other books may come along and usurp the ones I have chosen here, but I think having a vague idea of where you want to head next is always handy!

This post may be a little ‘blurb heavy’ which I don’t ordinarily like to do but as I haven’t read any of this books yet, we will have to find out what the blazes they are all about together via their blurbs.

First up:

 

The Turn Of The Key by Ruth Ware – Harvill Secker

BLURB:

When Rowan stumbles across the advert, it seems like too good an opportunity to miss: a live-in nanny position, with a very generous salary. And when she arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten by the luxurious ‘smart’ home fitted out with all modern conveniences by a picture-perfect family.

What she doesn’t know is that she’s stepping into a nightmare – one that will end with a child dead and her in cell awaiting trial for murder.

She knows she’s made mistakes. But she’s not guilty – at least not of murder. Which means someone else is…

I have seen LOTS about this one on social media and immediately placed a reservation at my library for a copy.  However, it was with dismay that I found out I was something like 68th on a 69 person reservation list! It’s a good job I have lovely bookish friends who are willing to loan me a copy (thank you @Hopeandfaithandbooks!)

 

The Glovemaker by Ann Weisgarber – Mantle

BLURB:

Winter, 1888. In the inhospitable lands of Utah Territory, glovemaker Deborah Tyler awaits her husband’s return home after months working across the state. But as his due date comes and goes without a word, Deborah starts to fear the worst. Facing a future alone, matters are only compounded when a desperate stranger arrives on her doorstep. And with him, trouble. For although the man claims to just need a place to rest for the night, he wouldn’t be here in the bitter month of January if he wasn’t on the run. And where he goes, lawmen are sure to follow. Lawmen who wouldn’t think twice about burning Deborah’s home to the ground if they thought she’d helped their fugitive. With her husband’s absence felt stronger by the minute, Deborah must make a decision. A decision that will change her life forever . . .

I had coveted this book for a while and had often picked it up and put it back down in Waterstones.  A lovely lady on Twitter very generously sent me a copy and I am really looking forward to picking it up.  Historical fiction is my bag as you know and this one sounds quite exciting!

 

A Shadow On The Lens by Sam Hurcom – Orion 

BLURB:

1904. Thomas Bexley, one of the first forensic photographers, is called to the sleepy and remote Welsh village of Dinas Powys, several miles down the coast from the thriving port of Cardiff. A young girl by the name of Betsan Tilny has been found murdered in the woodland – her body bound and horribly burnt. But the crime scene appears to have been staged, and worse still: the locals are reluctant to help.

As the strange case unfolds, Thomas senses a growing presence watching him, and try as he may, the villagers seem intent on keeping their secret. Then one night, in the grip of a fever, he develops the photographic plates from the crime scene in a makeshift darkroom in the cellar of his lodgings. There, he finds a face dimly visible in the photographs; a face hovering around the body of the dead girl – the face of Betsan Tilny.

I was very kindly sent a copy of this one by the publisher.  Historical fiction with a ghostly edge.  What could be more perfect on an autumn evening I ask ya!?

 

Bone China by Laura Purcell – Bloomsbury Raven

BLURB:

Consumption has ravaged Louise Pinecroft’s family, leaving her and her father alone and heartbroken.

But Dr Pinecroft has plans for a revolutionary experiment: convinced that sea air will prove to be the cure his wife and children needed, he arranges to house a group of prisoners suffering from the same disease in the cliffs beneath his new Cornish home.

Forty years later, Hester Why arrives at Morvoren House to take up a position as nurse to the now partially paralysed and almost entirely mute Miss Pinecroft. Hester has fled to Cornwall to try and escape her past, but surrounded by superstitious staff enacting bizarre rituals, she soon discovers that her new home may be just as dangerous as her last.

I think most of you already know how much I have adored Laura Purcell’s previous books The Silent Companions and The Corset and when a book is described as ‘deliciously gothic’ I AM THERE FOR THAT!

 

Little Eve by Catriona Ward – W&N

BLURB:

New Year’s Day, 1921. Seven mutilated bodies are discovered in an ancient stone circle on a remote Scottish island. The victims are ‘the Children’ – members of a nature cult ruled by the charismatic, sadistic patriarch, the adder.

The sole survivor of the massacre, Dinah, claims that Eve is the murderer, apparently drowned while attempting her escape. Yet as Eve’s story of the years leading up the massacre intertwines with Dinah’s account of the aftermath, a darker, stranger truth begins to emerge.

The Isle is all Eve knows. Hidden from the world, the Children worship the Great Snake who dwells in the ocean, dance in the stones at dawn and offer their blood in sacrifice. The adder’s word is law. When Eve is forced into the world beyond the Isle her faith and love are tested by unexpected friendships that make her question everything. As she begins to see through the adder’s macabre fictions, the world Eve knows collapses. Does she lose her humanity with her belief? Does it drive her to kill?

This book has been on my shelf for a shamefully long time and I was so excited when I bought it.  It has just turned into one of those books I ‘really must get to’.  Well I will definitely be getting to it very soon.  Anything cult based always piques my interest and I have heard so many good things about this one and Catriona Ward’s other book Rawblood (which I also have on my shelf unread!)

 

Salt Slow by Julia Armfield – Picador

BLURB:

In her brilliantly inventive and haunting debut collection of stories, Julia Armfield explores bodies and the bodily, mapping the skin and bones of her characters through their experiences of isolation, obsession, love and revenge.

Teenagers develop ungodly appetites, a city becomes insomniac overnight, and bodies are diligently picked apart to make up better ones. The mundane worlds of schools and sleepy sea-side towns are invaded and transformed, creating a landscape which is constantly shifting to hold on to its inhabitants. Blurring the mythic and the gothic with the everyday, Salt Slow considers characters in motion – turning away, turning back or simply turning into something new entirely.

You all know that I enjoy a short story collection and I’ve heard lots of great things about this one. It’s a beautifully published book and the word ‘gothic’ in the blurb was enough to swing it for me!

 

The Girl Aquarium by Jen Campbell – Bloodaxe

BLURB:

Jen Campbell’s first collection The Girl Aquarium explores the realm of rotten fairy tales, the possession of body and the definition of beauty. Weaving between whispered science and circus, she turns a cracked mirror on society and asks who gets to control the twisted tales hiding in the wings.

I don’t read poetry, I do write it from time to time though. There was a conversation on Twitter recently about book bloggers not really reviewing much poetry and I was challenged to read some. On a recent visit to the lovely Mainstreet Trading Bookshop in Melrose I picked up a copy of The Girl Aquarium by Jen Campbell. It’s only slim so I am hoping to get to it soon and dive into some poetry.

 

Curtain Down At Her Majesty’s by Stewart Richards – The History Press

BLURB:

She was the most powerful woman in the world. Victoria had ruled through more than six decades, watching her kingdom spread to become the world’s biggest empire and witnessing massive change in society and leaps forward in technology. Many of her people had known no other monarch. It is little surprise, then, that her death resulted in chaos, shock and mass outpourings of grief across the world.

Here author and researcher Stewart Richards has delved through the archives to put together the definitive view of Victoria in her drawn-out final days of illness, through the immediate reaction to and aftermath of her death, to the state funeral on 2 February 1901. Based entirely on fascinating first-hand accounts, Curtain Down at Her Majesty’s offers a remarkable insight into the events of those tumultuous few days, and a truly unique perspective on the life and impact of one of history’s great monarchs.

I have always had a thing for Queen Victoria, I find her such a fascinating woman. I asked for this book for my birthday and my parents in-law kindly obliged. I’m really looking forward to getting to it.

 

Why Don’t You Stop Talking by Jackie Kay – Picador

BLURB:

In Jackie Kay’s first collection of stories, ordinary lives are transformed by secrets. Her world might seem familiar – sex, death and family cast long shadows – but the roles of mothers, daughters and lovers are imagined and revealed in the most surprising of ways.

Sometimes it is the things that we choose to hide within ourselves which can transform us – and that has never been more true than in Jackie Kay’s warm, exuberant storytelling. She sees the extraordinary in everyday life, and lights it up with humour and generosity in a way that is uniquely her own.

This is another short story collection. I picked it up on my Mainstreet Trading visit having heard nothing about it or the author. I’ve had a quick flick through and I have a feeling that the stories in this collection are going to be right up my street.

 

The Good People by Hannah Kent – Picador

BLURB:

County Kerry, Ireland, 1825. 

Nóra, bereft after the sudden death of her beloved husband, finds herself alone and caring for her young grandson Micheál. Micheál cannot speak and cannot walk and Nóra is desperate to know what is wrong with him. What happened to the healthy, happy grandson she met when her daughter was still alive?

Mary arrives in the valley to help Nóra just as the whispers are spreading: the stories of unexplained misfortunes, of illnesses, and the rumours that Micheál is a changeling child who is bringing bad luck to the valley. 

Nance’s knowledge keeps her apart. To the new priest, she is a threat, but to the valley people she is a wanderer, a healer. Nance knows how to use the plants and berries of the woodland; she understands the magic in the old ways. And she might be able to help Micheál. 

As these three women are drawn together in the hope of restoring Micheál, their world of folklore and belief, of ritual and stories, tightens around them. It will lead them down a dangerous path, and force them to question everything they have ever known.

Shamefully I’ve had this on my shelf for such a long time! Every time it accidentally features in a picture people always comment on how good it is. It will be great to finally get around to picking it up!

 

This House Is Haunted by John Boyne – Black Swan

BLURB:

1867. On a dark and chilling night Eliza Caine arrives in Norfolk to take up her position as governess at Gaudlin Hall. As she makes her way across the station platform, a pair of invisible hands push her from behind into the path of an approaching train. She is only saved by the vigilance of a passing doctor.

It is the start of a journey into a world of abandoned children, unexplained occurrences and terrifying experiences which Eliza will have to overcome if she is to survive the secrets that lie within Gaudlin’s walls…

 I bloody love John Boyne! The Hearts Invisible Furies is up there with my favourite books of all time. This one will be perfect for the dark Autumn nights.

The Greatcoat by Helen Dunmore – Hammer

BLURB:

In the winter of 1952, Isabel Carey moves to the East Riding of Yorkshire with her husband Philip, a GP. With Philip spending long hours on call, Isabel finds herself isolated and lonely as she strives to adjust to the realities of married life.

Woken by intense cold one night, she discovers an old RAF greatcoat hidden in the back of a cupboard. Sleeping under it for warmth, she starts to dream. And not long afterwards, while her husband is out, she is startled by a knock at her window.

Outside is a young RAF pilot, waiting to come in.

His name is Alec, and his powerful presence both disturbs and excites her. Her initial alarm soon fades, and they begin an intense affair. But nothing has prepared her for the truth about Alec’s life, nor the impact it will have on hers …

I love Helen Dunmore and I have been slowly and surely working my way through her back catalogue. Again this sounds like a perfect book for the Halloween/Autumn season.

 

Sudden Traveller by Sarah Hall – Faber & Faber

BLURB:

The seven stories of Sudden Traveller immerse us anew in one of the most distinctive literary imaginations. In Turkish forests or rain-drenched Cumbrian villages, characters walk, drive, dream and fly, trying to reconcile themselves with their journey through life and death. A woman fitted with life-changing technology returns to the site of her strongest memories; a man repatriated in the near east hears the name of an old love called and must unpack history’s suitcase; and from the new world-waves of female anger and resistance, a mythical creature evolves.

Radical, charged with a transformative creative power, each of these stories opens channels in the human mind and spirit, as Sarah Hall once more invites the reader to stand at the very edge of our possible selves.

Sarah Hall’s short story collection Madame Zero is one of my favourite short story collections and one I recommend most often. When I saw she had a new collection coming out soon I knew I had to get my hands on a copy. Luckily Faber & Faber are lovely and sent me this copy for review. Exciting!

So there we have it. I wonder how many of these books I’ll actually read by the end of the year? Do you make seasonal TBR’s?

See you all soon.

Amanda – Bookish Chat xxx