📖 Favourite Read of the Month ~ The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett

Penguin
21 May 2026
Thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read this book 

 

In 1933 Oxford, Mississippi, Prohibition is on the wane, and the Great Depression is tightening its grip. Poor and rich folks alike have fallen on hard times, even as the old social order remains. For women on the margins, the options are few and the price of dignity and self-determination is unbearably high.

Eleven-year-old Meg, one of the unadoptable “big girls” at the Lafayette County Orphan Asylum, fights each day to keep her spirit unbowed. Birdie, unmarried and outspoken, has come to Oxford on a mission to ask her social-climbing sister to help the struggling family she’s left behind. And Charlie is a woman with a past, running low on luck but driven by fire, fury, and grit. When their fates converge, they come up with an audacious plan to take back control of their lives. Together, they form an unlikely sisterhood—but in a place and time where hypocrisy is rife, women’s freedom is fragile, and making an enemy can have dire consequences, will the price they pay for their outrageous risk-taking be too high.

📖My Review..

Oxford, Mississippi in 1934 is suffering from the consequences of the Great Depression, times are hard and money is scarce. Birdie Calhoun leaves her home to travel to Oxford in order to ask her sister, Frances, who has married into a wealthy family, for a cash handout which will make life a little easier for her mother and grandmother back home. On arrival Birdie finds her sister’s life far from perfect but determined to get what she came for, Birdie immerses herself in Oxford life and it is there where she comes into contact with eleven year old Meg who has been placed in the local orphanage. This eventful meeting will change the course of both Birdie and Meg’s life along with the lives of several other women who enter into the story.

The Calamity Club is a long book, coming in at over 600 pages, and yet I found the story flowed beautifully. It draws you into the lives of others, with characters you soon become emotionally attached to, especially Birdie and Meg, who I loved. Some of it is unbearably sad and yet there were also parts, particularly with the good time girls at the dance club, which made me laugh out loud. Small town America during the years of the depression is highlighted with a real sense of being in the moment, the poverty of some juxtaposed against the wealth of others is heartbreaking and the consequences of losing everything features large. It’s also about sisterhood and friendship, of women standing up for each other and of the resilience of fighting back when the odds were stacked against them. 

The story unfolds almost cinematically and I can well imagine this being snapped up for movie rights, it would make a cracking good film, just as it’s a cracking good read and so, for this reason, I am delighted to make The Calamity Club my Favourite Read of the Month for June.

About the Author

Kathryn Stockett was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. She is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Help. She lives in Mississippi and New York City.

Website

Instagram @KathrynStockettAuthor

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📖 Book Review ~ Prodigal Flowers Ten Ecopoems by Mario Petrucci

Candlestick Press
May 2026

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this pamphlet 

These poems by ecopoet and environmentalist Mario Petrucci offer a series of remarkable encounters with the natural world. They question and warn, while finding wonder and beauty amid the sobering realities of climate change. The flowers may seem “prodigal” but it’s their vulnerability that sharpens the poet’s attention.

We look through both ends of the telescope to view the intricate lives of plants and insects as vividly as the abstract grandeur of the cosmos. Sometimes the two come together; here, rare seeds are akin to stars:

“Each tiny face has its look:

the black-shiny. The varnishy-brown.

The specks too – it’s like telling stars

apart, rolling them thumb to palm.”

from ‘Seedwoman’

The vigour of Petrucci’s language shows us the world as a place that is intensely, though precariously, alive. He is a scientist as well as a poet, and these heady encounters are energised by that juxtaposition.

“Mario’s poems pull no punches – they will intrigue, delight, terrify and provoke at every level of emotion, learning and action.” The Poetry Society (World Environment Day).

📖 My Review..    

It’s always a treat to discover something new which delights and intrigues, defining and realigning with a sense of purpose, and highlighting the world of nature, as in this collection of eco poems by poet and environmentalist Mario Petrucci. It’s difficult to compartmentalise as each poem is uniquely different each sharing a snap shot of time which serves to emphasise the vulnerability of the natural world:

 

How quietly she works

One midnight at a sudden 

clench of breeze

The soft seed-moon

Splits and her comets fly - 

From Lion’s Tooth

or common dandelion

Beautifully descriptive of an ecosystem which is vulnerable to climate change, its subtle nuances float effortlessly in ten sensitive poems which place under the macro spotlight the intricate lives of plants and animals. With its poppy laden front cover Prodigal Flowers is a perfect gift instead of a card for any environmentalist or as a stark reminder that we should all protect our planet.

Mario Petrucci Website

About the Publisher 

Candlestick Press is a small, independent press publishing sumptuously produced poetry pamphlets that serve as a wonderful alternative to a greetings card, with matching envelopes and bookmarks left blank for your message. Their subjects include Mountains, Clouds, Walking, Birds, Wine and Happiness. Candlestick Press pamphlets are stocked by chain and independent bookshops, galleries and garden centres nationwide and available to order online.

Twitter/X @poetrycandle 

Blue Sky @candlestickpress.bsky.social

☀️Summer Reads ~ A Nantucket Fling by Kathryn Freeman

It’s that time of year again when I choose books which would make perfect holiday reading. The stories which are easy enough to pick up and put down and which lend themselves, both by plot and characters, to lazy afternoons in the sunshine.

 Over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing a few of the books which I think are perfect escapism for summer reading.

Look for #SummerReads

Harper Collins
One More Chapter
9 June 2026

Thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

Can love begin when the summer ends?

Dragged to the charming island of Nantucket for her niece’s wedding celebrations, finance hotshot Olivia plans a week of spreadsheets and sunscreen – until she meets Connor: ten years younger, impossibly charming, and a single dad with a playboy past.

Unable to deny their beachside chemistry, Olivia and Connor dive into a carefree romance with a built-in expiry date…

But as the Nantucket sunshine starts to fade and real life resumes, will this just be a postcard-perfect fling – or the start of something more..

☀️ My Review..

When career-focused Olivia arrives on the beautiful New England island of Nantucket for her niece’s hen week, and wedding, she is certainly not looking for romance, instead she is entirely focused on gaining a promotion at work and this time away from her office is nothing more than an inconvenience for her. However, putting that on one side, she is ill-prepared for the punch of desire she feels for the very handsome, and much younger, Connor, who is working at the hotel as a chef and barman. 

What then follows isn’t a typical holiday romance, for a start there’s an age difference which Olivia finds difficult to rationalise and even whilst Connor offers her a sizzling opportunity to have a sexy and uncomplicated fling, she still finds lots of reasons why she shouldn’t consider having her head turned by a man ten years her junior. I enjoyed this light hearted summer romance and whilst it also considers some serious topics it doesn’t take itself too seriously and though I would have liked to have spent more time in New England I understand why the narrative had to move back to the UK in order to have the characters progress in their will they, won’t they relationship. I enjoyed observing both Connor and Olivia, especially Connor in his role as a single dad, however, it took me a while longer to warm to Olivia who is a bit prickly but as her story progressed she became much more likeable.

A Nantucket Fling does what this author does best, it’s a lighthearted, sexy, summer read which is perfect escapism for a long, hot afternoon in the sunshine.

Best read with …one of Connor’s delicious cocktails 🍸 

About the Author

A former pharmacist, Kathryn now writes romantic comedies. Feel good books that are sexy and sweet, funny yet heart-warming. Mr Right Across the Street won the RNA Award for Romantic Comedy in 2022.

With a husband who asks every Valentine’s Day whether he has to buy a card (yes, he does), the romance in her own life is all in her head. Then again, his unstinting support of her career change proves love isn't always about hearts and flowers - and heroes come in many disguises.

Twitter: @kathrynfreeman1

Facebook: facebook.com/kathrynfreeman

Instagram: kathryn.freeman_author

Website: http://kathrynfreeman.co.uk

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📖 Book Review ~ The Queen’s Painter by Wendy Holden

Headline 
18 June 2026

Thanks to the publisher for the invitation to read this book

 

When the brilliant young Holbein arrives at the Tudor court, Anne Boleyn is among his first patrons. As she rises to the top, Hans rises with her. Courtiers clamour for his portraits of life-like accuracy; pictures which tell the truth about their subjects.

When his beloved Anne is beheaded on false evidence, Hans is heartbroken and enraged. And he's not alone. Poet and diplomat Thomas Wyatt is agonised at his own unwitting part in her tragedy. He and Hans join forces and vow revenge on the person they blame for Anne's downfall: Thomas Cromwell, the king's ruthless chief minister.

But what can a poet and painter do against the most powerful man in England? The answer comes when Henry VIII seeks a fourth wife. Cromwell turns to Holbein and Wyatt, his trusted artist and envoy, to travel across Europe to find and paint a new bride. Cromwell's position depends on a portrait of someone young and beautiful, painted with Hans' trademark truth. Anything less could bring the whole court crashing down.

It's the opportunity they've been waiting for...

📖  My Review..

Hans Holbein is the celebrated German painter right at the heart of the Tudor court. His clever portraiture depicts the great and the not so good of Tudor England but it is his connection to Anne Boleyn, and his search for vengeance, following her death, which features strongly in this story. 

Devastated at the callous obliterating of Anne Boleyn, Holbein joins forces with the poet Thomas Wyatt to take revenge on the one person they hold entirely responsible for Anne’s devastating downfall; namely the King’s henchman, Thomas Cromwell. Two years after Anne’s death, Henry VIII now seeks to replace Jane Seymour, so the royal families of Europe start to dread the envoy who comes in search of a potential bride for the now infamous King of England, who callously replaces lost wives.

The Queen’s Painter is a different slant on the usual Tudor court intrigue and I enjoyed learning more about Holbein and the background to some of his famous paintings. The story flows well and I found moving between European courts interesting particularly the imagined background to the famous portrait of Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan, once on Henry VIII’s list as a potential bride, who bravely said she would only consider marrying Henry VIII if she had two heads.

Wrecking revenge on Thomas Cromwell was never going to be straightforward and this is a clever interpretation of using art to gain the upper hand. The story is imaginative, well described and with an authentic feeling of its time and place in history. Tudor England with all its myriad intrigues comes alive and revenge, when it comes, is all the sweeter for being unexpected.

About the Author

Number one bestselling author Wendy Holden has written ten consecutive Sunday Times Top Ten bestsellers. A former journalist on the Sunday Times, Tatler and the Mail on Sunday, she contributes to a range of publications and is a TV and radio regular. She was a judge for the Costa 2013 Novel and Book of the Year Awards. Wendy lives with her husband and two children in Derbyshire.

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📖 🎧 Book Review ~ A Far-Flung Life by M L Stedman

 

Transworld Digital 
Audible
March 2026

Own purchase

 

Western Australia, 1958. A truck rumbles along a lonely outback road. A moment’s inattention, and in a few muddled seconds the lives of the MacBride family are shattered.

Instead of leaving them to heal, fate comes back for them in a twist of consequences that will cause one of them to lose their life, and another to sacrifice theirs for the sake of an innocent child.

Set in the expanse of a vast and flat landscape, where the weather is a capricious god and a million-acre sheep station is barely a dot on the map, A Far-flung Life explores the hearts of a handful of isolated souls and the secrets they shield in order to survive.

📖  My Review..

I read this author’s debut novel way back in 2012 and remember being completely blown away by The Light Between Oceans so I was especially excited to learn of the publication of her much awaited second novel.

A Far-Flung Life is set in the author’s native Australia and follows the fortunes of the MacBride family on their remote sheep farm in Western Australia. In the aftermath of a devastating tragedy, Laura MacBride must continue to keep the farm functioning whilst at the same time keeping the shattered fragments of her family together. Spanning forty years and multiple generations this is an ambitious story which reveals much about life in Australia during the middle years of the twentieth century. There is the inevitable isolation from living, and tending, such a vast and often drought ridden landscape, all of which is dramatically set against a family who are burdened by secrets and scarred forever by overwhelming sadness which forms the very backbone of the story.

I made the decision to listen to the Audible version and I wasn’t disappointed. Expertly narrated by Lewis Fitz-Gerald the 13hrs and 40 minutes of the recording never felt burdensome as the narration, such an integral part of the story, flowed beautifully. There were moments of huge sadness, with a devastating family secret, which could have made the novel emotionally difficult but it was expertly navigated by an author who knows how to weave and twirl a story into something which becomes almost tragically beautiful.

A Far- Flung Life is an emotional read, with a gut-punch as big as the endless skies above the MacBride Homestead. It has been a long time in coming, but, my goodness, the wait was well worth it and I am sure this fully deserves its place on my Book of the Year List.

About the Author

M L Stedman was born and raised in Western Australia and now lives in London. Her first novel, The Light Between Oceans, was a Sunday Times, New York Times and international bestseller and won the Goodreads Choice Best Historical Novel Award and the HWA Goldsboro Crown Debut. It was also longlisted for the Women’s Prize and the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin literary award and shortlisted as an Amazon Rising Star. In Australia, it won the Indie Best Debut and the Indie Best Book awards and was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award and the Literary Society Gold Medal. The Light Between Oceans has been published in around forty-five languages and has sold nearly five million copies worldwide. It was made into a Dreamworks film starring Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, produced by Heyday Films. A Far-flung Life is M L Stedman’s second novel.

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📖Book Review ~ A Curse in Nuala by Harriet Steel

January 2026
Inspector de silva Mystery Book #16

My thanks to the author for the opportunity to read this book

Ceylon has gained its independence from Britain and Inspector Shanti de Silva is adjusting to his new boss, Police Commissioner Fernando, who much to Shanti’s annoyance hints that he doesn’t have enough to do. Fernando is soon proved wrong when a deposed Indian maharajah who has come to live at the former Residence is murdered, and the Star of Ceylon, a priceless sapphire from his royal collection, is stolen. The jewel is reputed to be cursed and when more suspicious deaths occur, fears that supernatural forces are at work mount. With his wife Jane’s help, can Shanti break the spell and prove his worth to Fernando?

📖My Review..

With Ceylon’s new found independence things are inevitably changing for Police Inspector Shanti de Silva who is, sort of, getting used to working for a new Police Commissioner. When an Indian Maharajah is found dead in suspicious circumstances it takes de Silva back to the Residence where he used to meet his former boss, Archie Clutterbuck. With memories of previous visits to the Residence de Silva must concentrate on finding who could have wanted the Maharajah dead, and with the added complication of the disappearance of a priceless jewel, which is believed to be cursed, the case proves to be more complex than de Silva could have imagined.

Once again de Silva is plunged into a shady world of crime and with quite a few of the inhabitants of the Residence having reasons for wanting the Maharajah dead there are lots of twists, turns and red herrings to be negotiated before the complex crime investigation can be concluded. I always enjoy spending time in de Silva’s world which is brought so cleverly to life by an author who has created such lovable and believable characters that being with Shanti and his lovely wife, Jane is like spending time with old friends.

I found it interesting to see the changes which are being brought about by Ceylon’s independence and how it affects de Silva’s place in Nuala. The new Police Commissioner is an interesting addition and I hope to discover more about him. Although de Silva is perhaps starting to tinker on the edge of considering his eventual retirement, I really hope that there are still a few more cosy mysteries for him to solve before that day comes.

About the Author

Harriet Steel wrote four historical novels before turning to crime with the Inspector de Silva mysteries, inspired by time spent in Sri Lanka (the former Ceylon)). Her work has also appeared in national newspapers and magazines. Visit her blog to sign up to her monthly newsletter for news of new releases and great offers, Blog 

Harriet is married with two daughters and lives in Surrey. When Harriet is not writing, she likes reading, long walks and visiting art galleries and museums.

Twitter @harrietsteel1

Facebook page: Harriet Steel Author

 Website

Blog 

Amazon UK

📖 Book Review ~ Death at the Castle Gates by Nick Oldham

 

Severn
2 June 2026

PS Jessica Raker #3

My thanks to the publisher for the copy of this book 

His dying wish will be her biggest regret . . .

With her colleague Dougie Doolan’s health rapidly failing, former firearms officer Sergeant Jessica Raker takes on his hunt for local crook Rory Walton. Not only is Rory the suspected arsonist behind a house fire that claims the life of a young mother, but he and his brother are also burgeoning rivals to the Ribble Valley’s crime supremo, Mags Horsefield.

As Jess strives to bring Rory to justice, she is drawn into a deadly web of deceit and corruption. But there’s another case Dougie also wants Jess to solve . . . Is she ready to confront a terrifying night from her own past twenty years ago to help a dying colleague?

📖 My Review ..

The opening prologue sets a rather creepy atmosphere which further continues as we meet once again with Police Sergeant Jessica Raker who, together with her small team of officers, seeks to keep the criminals at bay in rural Lancashire. However, as Jess discovers, to her cost, there is more going on in this small corner of the Ribble Valley than she could ever have imagined when she first moved to the North West from London. Chasing crooks is what Jess and her small team of police officers do best but this case is complicated from the start and it’s soon obvious that there is someone pulling the strings who may have previously had crime links in the area. 

Those who have read the previous book in the series Death on Wolf Fell will be more than familiar with this author’s gritty style of writing and whilst this story pretty much picks up where the previous story ended there are lots of new clues to follow and plenty of twists and turns in a plot which hits the ground running and which doesn’t let up its exciting pace until the dramatic conclusion, which more than lends itself to another story featuring Sergeant Jessica Raker.

The setting is perfect, rural Lancashire at its best, the police procedural is authentic and utterly convincing, the crooks are so bad, they’re horrid and yet there’s also humour and heart, with well drawn characters who remain long after the story is told.  Death at the Castle Gates had everything I wanted in a crime thriller, even a bit of a supernatural twist added for good measure, my only disappointment is that I’ll have to wait a while for the next book, which I hope won’t be too long in coming.

About the Author

Nick Oldham was born in Belthorn, Lancashire, in 1956. He has been a police officer since the age of nineteen, spending the majority of his service in operational roles, before retiring in 2005. He lives with his partner, Belinda, on the outskirts of Preston.

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