Reviews catch-up:
10.The Crowded Street: Winifred Holtby.
Muriel lives in Marshington, a small town in Yorkshire, waiting for life to happen under the watchful eye of her socially ambitious mother. Muriel does her best to please her and be attractive to men so that a suitable suitor will turn up and propose to her. But the years pass and nothing happens. She muses that life is like a crowded street in that there's lots going on, but not for her; she's just an observer.
I liked this very much. I like a book that spans a few years, twenty in this case, from 1900 to 1920. There's a slow start, then the outbreak of the First World War brings changes and the renewal of an acquaintance gives Muriel the courage to forge her own path in life, if she could only dare. 'The thing that matters is to take life into your own hands and live it, following the highest vision as you see it.'
A good, satisfactory read.
11.Bitter Orange: Claire Fuller.
Frances Jellico, recovering after the death of her mother to whom she was sole carer for ten years, has taken on the job of researching the architecture of Lyntons, a dilapidated country mansion. She spots the couple from her attic room; beautiful, wild Cara and strikingly handsome Peter who also work and live in the suite of rooms below hers. She quickly becomes besotted with Peter and is more than pleased when they invite her to join them for dinner and picnics. She takes any opportunity she can to get close to Peter.
As the hot summer days of 1969 roll into into an endless blur of boozy, giddy get-togethers, Frances notices that details of Cara's stories don't add up and she finds herself entangled in the couple's lives. It isn't long before the boundaries between truth and lies, right and wrong begin to blur and she finds finds herself in a web of deceit. The summer of 1969, undoubtedly the best year of her life, will change her life forever.
I really enjoyed this book. It was a dark, thrilling, creepy, immersive read. It was mentioned on this thread, so thank you, whoever it was!
12.Curtain Call: Anthony Quinn.
On an afternoon in London in 1936, actress Nina Land accidentally interrupts an attempted murder in a hotel room and helps the young woman get away. She faces a dilemma; should she do her duty and inform the police when she shouldn't have been in the hotel in the first place?
Nina follows her conscience and events unfold which take the reader from the world of theatre and art to the underworld of nightclubs, drag balls and fascist groups. I liked how the paths of the various characters kept crossing at different times and what bound the two young women was the fact that only they met 'The Tie-Pin Killer' who continued stalking them.
This is an offbeat murder mystery that was good for a rainy day read. The bittersweet end to the tale took me by surprise. A good, absorbing read.