Mostly birthday gifts with a single pre-order and a couple of impulse purchases. Let’s get to it….

The Gifts

• The Fall of Robespierre by Colin Jones – an hour by hour analysis of the last 24 hours in the life of Maximilien Robespierre, architect of the Terror; a major turning point in French history. Fascinating stuff
• Woodsmoke and Sage: The Five Senses 1485 -1603: How the Tudors Experienced the World by Amy Licence – “woodsmoke and sage, peacocks and cinnamon, falcons and linen” – an examination of the tactile world in which the Tudors lived
• Cecily by Annie Garthwaite – a fictional take on Cecily Neville, a key figure in the Wars of the Roses, wife of the Duke of York, mother of 12 including Edward IV and Richard III, and politically very astute – looking forward to reading this
• She Walks in Shadows, edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R Stiles – a collection of Lovecraftian weird stories written by women – “they emerge from the shadows, to claim the night”
• The Lunacy Commission by Lavie Tidhar – Adolf Hitler is a man forgotten by history, a man who never came to power, and who spends the 1930s making a living in London as a private detective; how could I not want to read that?
• Pageant of Kings: the Nine Sovereigns at Edward VII’s Funeral by Julia P Gelardi – “Of all the impressive sights that they beheld, the gun-carriage carrying the late King’s body had made a profound impression. But so, too, did the unprecedented sight of nine reigning monarchs astride on their horses. For here gathered the monarchs of England, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Belgium, Norway, Germany, Bulgaria, and Denmark to pay homage to King Edward VII. Follow these monarchs’ lives whose stories are filled with drama, pathos, tragedy, and heroism.”

The Rest

• The Grand Tour by Agatha Christie – a century ago Agatha Christies toured the British Empire and this book collects the letters and photographs she made on that trip – a glimpse into a past long gone (and a good thing to)
• Trio by Aram Saroyan – I can’t remember now what led me into a Wikipedia rabbit hole but where I ended up was Saroyan’s book about the close and long-term friendship between his mother Carol Matthau, Gloria Vanderbilt and Oona Chaplin – the roll call of husbands alone ,are this a must read for me
• Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt – “Travel journalist and mountaineer Nick Grevers awakes from a coma to find that his climbing buddy, Augustin, is missing and presumed dead. Nick’s own injuries are as extensive as they are horrifying. His face wrapped in bandages and unable to speak, Nick claims amnesia—but he remembers everything.”

Lots of history, a chunk of horror – not bad at all 🙂