I love anything Kate Atkinson writes. I admit my bias: Kate originated in York, Yorkshire, a Yorkie like me. The historical fiction stories I write also begin their journeys in York.
Kate has a wickedly dry sense of humor, which reveals itself throughout her writing. I read this book during a challenging year and needed the humor as I nursed my husband back to health from a catastrophic illness.
I enjoy how Kate used her research on the period (1929) to take me deep into the era, so I learned as I laughed.
'Atkinson on her finest form. A marvel of plate-spinning narrative knowhow, a peak performance of consummate control.' OBSERVER
'This is the perfect novel for uncertain times.' THE TIMES
'I can think of few writers other than Dickens who can match it' SUNDAY TIMES
'Brilliant' RICHARD OSMAN
'Kate Atkinson is simply one of the best writers working today, anywhere in the world' GILLIAN FLYNN
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1926, and in a country still recovering from the Great War, London has become the focus for a delirious new nightlife. In the clubs of Soho, peers of the realm rub shoulders with starlets, foreign dignitaries…
I had promised myself I would savor this book on a plane flight to Europe in the winter of 2022. Alas, the flight was canceled due to my husband’s illness. I delayed opening the book until the autumn of 2023 when I flew from Canada to the U.K. I’m glad I did.
The nine-hour flight ‘flew by’ as I found myself living alongside William Shakespeare’s family in 1580s Warwickshire and shared the minutiae of Elizabethan rural life as well as their joy and sorrow.
I am fascinated by Shakespeare anyway. In one of my books, Shakespeare joins my protagonists in 16th-century London and creates illusions to foil the local gangs.
WINNER OF THE 2020 WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION - THE NO. 1 BESTSELLER 2021 'Richly sensuous... something special' The Sunday Times 'A thing of shimmering wonder' David Mitchell
TWO EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE. A LOVE THAT DRAWS THEM TOGETHER. A LOSS THAT THREATENS TO TEAR THEM APART.
On a summer's day in 1596, a young girl in Stratford-upon-Avon takes to her bed with a sudden fever. Her twin brother, Hamnet, searches everywhere for help. Why is nobody at home?
Their mother, Agnes, is over a mile away, in the garden where she grows medicinal herbs. Their father is working in London.
I plucked this book out of one of those little free libraries as I had nothing to read and a limited time. I did not care that it was an older Detective Inspector John Rebus series edition. I have read most of them, and opening this edition was like slipping on an old comfortable shoe while sipping hot chocolate.
I am familiar with Ian Rankin’s characters: old friends by now. I always enjoy Ian’s laconic Scottish sense of humor and his familiarity with the ancient streets of Edinburgh.
I was recently in Edinburgh and was the butt of the same humor as well as being thrilled to be in Rebus’ locale. Having re-indulged, I can’t wait to play "catch up."
John Rebus can't close the door on the death of glamorous socialite Maria Turquand. Brutally murdered in her hotel room forty years ago, her killer has never been found.
Meanwhile, Edinburgh's dark heart is up for grabs. Young pretender Darryl Christie may have staked his claim on the city's underworld - but has criminal mastermind and Rebus' long-time adversary, Big Ger Cafferty, really settled down to a quiet retirement? Or is he hiding in the shadows until Edinburgh is once more ripe for the picking?…
When Annie Thornton, midwife and fledgling witch, falls through time to a fifteenth-century Yorkshire village, she befriends two soldiers returning from the French Wars. Her ancestral witchy aunt deliberately brought them together to expose corruption in her troubled community.
Hearing about the mysterious disappearance of the local innkeeper, the three investigate. Asking questions in a village shrouded in fear and long-held secrets is dangerous. Annie’s clumsy spellmaking brings her to the notice of the powerful Manor Steward. Between falling in love, delivering babies medieval-style, becoming an apprentice witch, and seeking a murderer, Annie discovers that even magic and steadfast friends cannot keep her out of danger.
