Three completely different reads in November.

While on holiday in New Zealand I read two books that I had downloaded on my Kobo and the third I read when I arrived home.

The Yorkshire Shepherdess by Amanda Owen was one I had read about on Twitter when someone had posted about her latest book. It sounded interesting and I thought I would try her first book.

The book is the story of Amanda’s life, obviously as a shepherdess in Yorkshire, as the title would suggest. 🙂

“In The Yorkshire Shepherdess she describes how the rebellious girl from Huddersfield, who always wanted to be a shepherdess, achieved her dreams. Full of amusing anecdotes and unforgettable characters, the book takes us from fitting in with the locals to fitting in motherhood, from the demands of the livestock to the demands of raising a large family in such a rural backwater. Amanda also evokes the peace of winter, when they can be cut off by snow without electricity or running water, the happiness of spring and the lambing season, and the backbreaking tasks of summertime – haymaking and sheepshearing – inspiring us all to look at the countryside and those who work there with new appreciation.”

I really loved this book as it painted such a wonderful picture of farm life in the Yorkshire dales.

How the Dead Speak by Val McDermid

I love the writing of Val McDermid and have read almost all of her books and this is her latest and certainly was a thriller.

If you have watched the Wire in the Blood series on t.v. you will be aware of the character Tony Hill.

In the book prior to this one I thought we had seen the last of this character but that is not the case.  This is the eleventh book in the series but can be read as a stand alone

‘We are all creatures of habit. Even murderers . . .’
When human remains are discovered in the grounds of an old convent, it quickly becomes clear that someone has been using the site as their personal burial ground. But with the convent abandoned long ago and bodies dating back many years, could this be the work of more than one obsessive killer?

The investigation throws up more questions as the evidence mounts but, after their last disastrous case, Tony Hill and Carol Jordan can only watch from afar. As they deal with the consequences, someone with a terrifying routine is biding their time – and both Tony and Carol find themselves closer to the edge than they have ever been before . . .

A great read that left you with some unanswered questions.

A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier

I have read several of Tracy Chevalier’s novels and enjoyed them.  This one was also an enjoyable read.

“It is 1932, and the losses of the First World War are still keenly felt.

Violet Speedwell, mourning for both her fiancé and her brother and regarded by society as a ‘surplus woman’ unlikely to marry, resolves to escape her suffocating mother and strike out alone.

A new life awaits her in Winchester. Yes, it is one of draughty boarding-houses and sidelong glances at her naked ring finger from younger colleagues; but it is also a life gleaming with independence and opportunity. Violet falls in with the broderers, a disparate group of women charged with embroidering kneelers for the Cathedral, and is soon entwined in their lives and their secrets. As the almost unthinkable threat of a second Great War appears on the horizon Violet collects a few secrets of her own that could just change everything…”

I enjoyed the insights into the work of the broderers and the bell ringers, something I have not thought about before but nonetheless found very interesting. A rather thought provoking story but enjoyable.

No so many books in November but I was busy bike riding in New Zealand.