Welcome to Litsy!

“I understood that he was offering me a thread and, if I pulled it, my entire world would unravel.Mother would never live it down.Johanna might never see me again.And if I left the thread where it was, refused to touch it—what then? James would eventually remarry…Andrew would continue to work away as much as he did, and I would be left at Carrick House to stain my fingers with my oil paints and oversee peacocks being stuffed into pies.”
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Combination of 2 Little Free Library scores the last Thursday of the school holidays when I treated myself to a Stockton op shop. I caught the ferry over and had a lovely morning to myself.

Gritty, powerful and at times darkly humorous. Really enjoyed reading this one #pick #themaiden

I got halfway in and then skimmed the last couple of chapters. Does that constitute a bail?

I wanted more subtlety of plot & character development and less on “I must have gone mad with lust….I thought of nothing but sex.” 🤣

Favorite of 4/30 - 5/11

It won‘t make my top books of the year list but it was good.

@Read4life

Although The Maiden in the title refers to Scotland‘s guillotine it is a story of women in 1600‘s whose lives are dictated by the men and fate. A mother trying to raise two daughters after the father gambles away their funds, a man grooming a young girl for his future pleasure and abusing every other female in his path, a man who needs a wife but doesn‘t want one. The women trying to survive the hand they‘ve been dealt. 4🌟

#WomensPrize

Interesting HF inspired by true event where a woman was sentenced to be executed in the maiden, a guillotine used at that time. The story fictionalized the life, affair and sentence this woman. Interesting but also a sad story. Trigger point, sexual and physical abuse. However I thought, why this novel was in the Women‘s Prize fiction long list? I‘m not an expert but author describes so well each character giving them an unique/different voice⬇️

From the first chapter, we know Christian has been jailed for the murder of her uncle John in 1679 Edinburgh. Then we learn about her life and what transpired to arrive here. I loved this! I‘m so glad I ordered this from the UK (it has no US pub date) and that it was on the Women‘s Prize for fiction list so that I read it.

Beauties of all shapes and sizes. Pleasures to suit every taste. And as long as you keep your head down and your arse up, you've a roof over your head. Just remember to stay in Mrs Fiddes's good books. And she takes a daily note, I can tell you. Now come, let me pour you a whisky and I'll tell you a tale that's taller than these high tenements...

An interesting story, based on a true one, which for me always adds a bit to a book. Christian was too wild for the times she lived in and that caused her downfall.
I feel like the book could have used some editing ( the story took endless to pick up speed) and though I liked it, I wonder why it is on the #WomenPrize longlist.

#52BookClub24 - More than 40 chapters

Inspired by a real murder case.
A man who had it coming.
Two female suspects.
A supporting cast of bawds, bigots, and shocked relatives.
I found the first half a bit dull, (because you know what's coming and just get on with it already and what a shame the local Reverend didn't bite the dust too) but it then had twists and turns and a solid, if drawn out, ending.

#WomensPrize24 #EasterCrime #WomensPrize

Took my book to Liverpool City library. Such a wonderful place.

#WeeklyForecast 15/24

I am reading an enjoying both Brotherless Night and The Maiden from the #womenprize longlist. I highly doubt I‘ll finish both this week. I‘ve had an extra long Easter weekend at the coast but will have to make up for it during the rest of the week!
Maybe just maybe there‘ll be time to start another John Marrs 😇

Sharing my shame here. I got home from the library and called up my account online and realized I must not have understood the new self checkout machine because all of my library books say they are waiting at the library for me! I didn't check out any of them! I walked right out the door with 5 library books! I stole from the library!
The remodel got rid of the sensors so no alarm sounded. I am so embarrassed.

My first book from the Women‘s Prize for Fiction since the long list was announced (although I had read 2 previously) and I really enjoyed it.

I‘m not a huge fan of HF, although I‘ve enjoyed similar books based on re-tellings in previous years of the list, such as Hamnet and The Marriage Portrait.

In my view, this holds its own against such exalted authors - it really rattled along and I didn‘t want to stop reading.

🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2 loved This book ! It is so well written ! Gripping absorbing 🧽 a real page turner and based on really people and true events . I‘d never heard of the maiden before , don‘t you love that when a book you pick up on a whim is not what you thought but better ! Fans of historical fiction , romance , thriller , crime you‘ll love it and short chapters mean when your dropping off 😴it‘s easy to put down and pick up

Next read in our January book spin bingo
#doublespin pick 📖🙂 and perfect setting for some reading 📖 me tjme after 2 work out classes back to back !
#readingbythefire
#januaryreads
#rushtonhall historic hotel & spa

Picked this up today for #99ponkindle

This was very good, based on a real-life event, about Lady Christian Nimmo. It was gripping and very moving. Even though you know what happens, you still hope for the best. It has short chapters, so it is also a fast read.

Bk19 of my recent #BookMail is this gorgeous signed edition. Edinburgh, 1679. Lady Christian Nimmo is arrested and charged for the murder of her lover, James Forrester. A year before she was living a highly respectable life, what made her throw it away for an affair? And does that make her guilty of murder? The papers & public have already convicted her, but she wasn‘t the only woman in his life & there were others that wanted him dead.

An interesting crime story with a modern feminist twist about a real-life 17th-century murder in Scotland. I found the first half to be quite gripping & it made me grateful to be living at a time after the hard-fought gains of feminism, no matter how small, in contrast to the kind of anguish & physical harm that came women's way in matters of sex & reproduction. Yet I found the "whydunnit" aspect here somewhat strange & not fully developed.

I really do like this book. It‘s a debut novel but the author really does seem to have cared for the woman she‘s writing about. Fun fact: the maiden is a execution device