- This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay
- Paper Aeroplanes by Dawn O’Porter
- The Glass menagerie by Tennessee Williams
- Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler
- Endurance by Alfred Lancing
- Lord of the Flies by William Golding
- Animal Farm by George Orwell
- Hagseed by Margaret Attwood
- Tin Man by Sarah Winman
10. Heartstone by CJ Sansom
11. The Light Between Oceans by M.J. Stedman
12. Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
13. Llywbrau Cul by Mared Lewis (In Welsh)
14: Weird Thing People say in Bookshops by Jen Campbell
15: Educated by Tara Westover
16: Lamentation (Shardlake #6) by C.J Sansom
I am thoroughly enjoying the Shardlake series, enjoying each one more than the last one and this did not disappoint.
All the usual great characters are there - Matthew Shardlake himself, Jack Barak and his feisty wife Tamasin, the physician Guy Malton, and old adversaries - Richard Rich and Stephen Bealknap.
In the final months of Henry VIII's reign, Shardlake gets distracted from a difficult case of a brother and sister at war over their late mother's will, by a request from Queen Catherine Parr's uncle to investigate the theft of a religious book written by the Queen, which could see her condemned for heresy if it fell into the wrong hands.
While coming to and from the palace during his investigations, Shardlake witnesses how disabled and unwell the king is, and how the political powers are aligning preparing for a regency as Henry's heir, Prince Edward is only 9 years old.
I love these books as they are just the right amount of historical characters and politics and fictional narrative. It was a real page turner, worth ever one of the 600+ pages.
A bit sad there is only one Shardlake left to read.
17: Jane Seymour - The Haunted Queen by Alison Weir
This is another series I am thoroughly enjoying, this is the story of Henry VIII's third wife, Jane Seymour, the daughter of a minor noble family, who died in childbirth after delivering the long-awaited son (the failure to do so had resulted in the downfall of the two previous Queens, Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn).
The story of Henry's first three Queens overlap and are intertwined with each other. Jane was one of Catherine of Aragon's ladies in waiting, along with Anne Boleyn, and remained fiercely loyal to Catherine until her death, and then championed Catherine's daughter Mary's cause with the King after she became Queen. Apart from the first few chapters on the early lives of the queens, the first three books in this series largely tell the same story- Catherine's failure to produce a living son, Henry's obsession with Anne and his conviction she would bear him a son if he made her Queen, the break from the Catholic Church when the Pope refused to grant him a divorce from Catherine, and then Anne's downfall when, like Catherine, she produces just one living daughter (the future Elizabeth I). Jane's triumph of bearing the male heir, even though she dies, ensured the power of the Seymour family for decades.
Told from three totally different perspectives though, makes for very interesting reading. I understand it is largely fictionalised, but Weir's historical basis is sound and made it a real page-turner for me (even though I obviously know where the story is going.
Excellent read - the next one about Anne of Cleeves is out in May, really looking forward to it.