Tag: the mercies

Rosie | Little Bird Book Blog6 Comments

Monthly Wrap Up – October 2020

Firstly in non-book news, this month I got a new addition to my family! After several years I have finally adopted a kitten – Yuki! He’s three months old and 90% fluff, he loves attention and sleep. He also makes an excellent alarm clock as he demands breakfast from 5am every morning.

This month I changed things up a bit on my blog with a fresh new theme and I have dropped the WordPress from my domain! I’m so happy with the changes that I have made and feel this blog is much more me and what I envisioned the site to be when I first started up again. 

I also joined the ‘bookstagram’ community, so you can now find me over there too! Whilst I’m not new to Instagram, I am new to bookstagram so if you have any tips, then please let me know!

You’ll notice that this month I did endeavour to read spookier novels to get into the spirit of things. It was quite refreshing to change up genres for a bit and I’ll be sure to sprinkle in some of these reads throughout my year in future. 

Books read this month

This month I read a total of 14 books (8 physical books and 6 ebooks).

  1. The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
  2. The Wolf and the Water by Josie Jaffrey (ARC)
  3. The Winter Duke by Claire Eliza Bartlett (ARC)
  4. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
  5. Letters From the Dead by Sam Hurcom (ARC)
  6. Earthlings by Sayaka Murata (ARC)
  7. Where the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda
  8. Dracula’s Child by J.S. Barnes
  9. A Touch of Death by Rebecca Crunden (Review request)
  10. The Ghost Tree by Christina Henry
  11. Mango Bay by Serena Fairfax (Blog tour)
  12. The Vegetarian by Han Kang
  13. The Dead of Winter by Nicola Upson (Blog tour)
  14. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
www.blackwells.co.uk

Favourite books read this month

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
This is one of the most unique novels that I’ve read in a long time. It’s so mysterious and magical that it’s difficult to describe. For risk of saying anything that could be remotely deemed a spoiler, all I can do is urge you to check this novel out for yourselves – there’s nothing quite like it! 

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata
Whilst this is only a short novel, so much is packed into it and it left me speechless by the end. I had no idea what to expect and as each page passed I became more and more surprised and gripped. I loved how complex the characters were and their situations, it was a very refreshing read. 

Dracula’s Child by J.S. Barnes
This spiritual successor of Bram Stoker’s classic Dracula could easily have been a sequel that Bram Stoker had written himself. Barnes captures everything that makes Dracula great and creates a sensational story. I loved how this novel didn’t feel like a contemporary novel at all and how it was just as gripping, perhaps more so, than its predecessor. 

The Ghost Tree by Christina Henry
The Ghost Tree feels like a classic dark fairytale, despite it being set in 1980s America. When two girls are found brutally murdered the most shocking thing about this novel is how the town reacts to the fact. In this novel Henry has created a wonderfully unsettling community which leaves you feeling intensely uneasy. 

On Earth Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong 
This novel is a beautifully written letter from the protagonist to his mother. It is a brutally honest letter which covers many important topics that should be spoken about. Covering the Vietnam war, sexuality and racism, this novel doesn’t shy away from the difficulties some people faced and still face to this day. 

How was your October? Did you focus on spooky reads too or do you read them throughout the year? Let me know in the comments!

www.blackwells.co.uk

Rosie | Little Bird Book Blog4 Comments

The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Publication Date: 06/02/2020
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction | Gothic

CW: n/a

Blackwells.co.uk

Finnmark, Norway, 1617. Twenty-year-old Maren Magnusdatter stands on the craggy coast, watching the sea break into a sudden and reckless storm. Forty fishermen, including her brother and father, are drowned and left broken on the rocks below. With the menfolk wiped out, the women of the tiny Arctic town of Vardø must fend for themselves.

Three years later, a sinister figure arrives. Absalom Cornet comes from Scotland, where he burned witches in the northern isles. He brings with him his young Norwegian wife, Ursa, who is both heady with her husband’s authority and terrified by it. In Vardø, and in Maren, Ursa sees something she has never seen before: independent women. But Absalom sees only a place untouched by God, and flooded with a mighty evil.

As Maren and Ursa are drawn to one another in ways that surprise them both, the island begins to close in on them, with Absalom’s iron rule threatening Vardø’s very existence.

Inspired by the real events of the Vardø storm and the 1621 witch trials, The Mercies is a story of love, evil, and obsession, set at the edge of civilization.

GoodReads
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Book Haul – August 2020

My August 2020 book haul!

So, this month I have got quite an eclectic mix of books! Due to the heatwave, I’ve not got through as many books on my TBR as usual, however that wasn’t going to stop me from ordering more! Especially as I filled up my Waterstones loyalty card stamps and had a £10 voucher to spend! Check out the GoodReads descriptions for the books below.

How We Disappeared by Jing-Jing Lee

Singapore, 1942. As Japanese troops sweep down Malaysia and into Singapore, a village is ransacked, leaving only two survivors and one tiny child.

In a neighboring village, seventeen-year-old Wang Di is strapped into the back of a troop carrier and shipped off to a Japanese military brothel where she is forced into sexual slavery as a “comfort woman.” After sixty years of silence, what she saw and experienced still haunts her.

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

This was never the story of one woman, or two. It was the story of all of them…

In the middle of the night, Creusa wakes to find her beloved Troy engulfed in flames. Ten seemingly endless years of brutal conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans are over, and the Greeks are victorious. Over the next few hours, the only life she has ever known will turn to ash…

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

When Rin aced the Keju—the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies—it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence. That she got into Sinegard—the most elite military school in Nikan—was even more surprising.

But surprises aren’t always good.

Whistle in the Dark by Emma Healey

Jen’s fifteen-year-old daughter goes missing for four agonizing days. When Lana is found, unharmed, in the middle of the desolate countryside, everyone thinks the worst is over. But Lana refuses to tell anyone what happened, and the police think the case is closed. The once-happy, loving family returns to London, where things start to fall apart. Lana begins acting strangely: refusing to go to school, and sleeping with the light on.

With her daughter increasingly becoming a stranger, Jen is sure the answer lies in those four missing days. But will Lana ever reveal what happened?

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

When Zachary Rawlins stumbles across a strange book hidden in his university library it leads him on a quest unlike any other. Its pages entrance him with their tales of lovelorn prisoners, lost cities and nameless acolytes, but they also contain something impossible: a recollection from his own childhood.

The Lost Soul Atlas by Zana Fraillon

A boy awakens in the Afterlife, with a pocketful of vague memories, a key, a raven, and a mysterious Atlas to guide him as he sets out to piece together the mystery of his final moments…

Back on Earth, Twiggy is a street kid with a missing dad. But when he meets Flea, a cheerful pickpocket, the pair become fast friends, better even than blood family itself. Together, Twig and Flea raise themselves on the crime-ridden streets, taking what they need and giving the rest to the even-poorer. Life is good, as long as they have each other. But the all-powerful Boss who rules the streets has other plans.

The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Finnmark, Norway, 1617. Twenty-year-old Maren Magnusdatter stands on the craggy coast, watching the sea break into a sudden and reckless storm. Forty fishermen, including her brother and father, are drowned and left broken on the rocks below. With the menfolk wiped out, the women of the tiny Arctic town of Vardø must fend for themselves.

Three years later, a sinister figure arrives. Absalom Cornet comes from Scotland, where he burned witches in the northern isles. He brings with him his young Norwegian wife, Ursa, who is both heady with her husband’s authority and terrified by it. In Vardø, and in Maren, Ursa sees something she has never seen before: independent women. But Absalom sees only a place untouched by God, and flooded with a mighty evil.

Have you read any of the books I got this month? Are any on your wish list? Let me know!