Six Degrees of Separation: From The Gate of Angels to A Killing of Angels

Published on by Margaret4 Comments

This is a monthly link-up hosted by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. On the first Saturday of every month, a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to form a chain. Readers and bloggers are invited to join in by creating their own ‘chain’ leading from the selected book.

Books can be linked in obvious ways – for example, books by the same authors, from the same era or genre, or books with similar themes or settings. Or, you may choose to link them in more personal ways: books you read on the same holiday, books given to you by a particular friend, books that remind you of a particular time in your life, or books you read for an online challenge.

A book doesn’t need to be connected to all the other books on the list, only to the ones next to them in the chain. This month we are staring with a novella that’s on your reading list – in recognition of Novellas in November.

I’m starting with The Gate of Angels by Penelope Fitzgerald, a novella on my reading list. It is 1912, and at Cambridge University the modern age is knocking at the gate. Fred Fairly, a Junior Fellow at the college of St Angelicus, where for centuries no female, not even a pussy cat, has been allowed to set foot, lectures in physics. Science, he is certain, will explain everything. Until into Fred’s orderly life come Daisy. Fred is smitten. Why have I met her? he wonders. How can I tell if she’s quite what she seems? Fred is a scientist. To him the truth should be everything. But even scientists make mistakes.

My first link is Angels and Insects by A S Byatt – two mesmerising novellas are set in the nineteenth century another novella. In Morpho Eugenia, an explorer realises that the behaviour of the people around him is alarmingly similar to that of the insects he studies. In The Conjugal Angel, curious individuals – some fictional, others drawn from history – gather to connect with the spirit world. Throughout both, Byatt examines the eccentricities of the Victorian era, weaving fact and fiction, reality and romance, science and faith into a sumptuous, magical tapestry.

Next another novella, Where Angels Fear to Tread by E M Forster. When a young English widow travels to Italy and makes an unexpected decision that shocks her conservative family, the consequences ripple across cultures and relationships. E. M. Forster contrasts the warmth, spontaneity, and passion of Italian life with the restraint and propriety of Edwardian England, creating a story filled with tension, irony, and quiet tragedy..

I’m staying with ‘angels’ and books on my reading list, but the next books are not novellas.

The Time of Angels by Iris Murdoch – The central character is Carel is a widowed rector presiding over a London church destroyed during the war. He believes that, God being dead, His angels have been released. This is a novel described on the back cover as ‘chilling‘ with an ‘all-pervading sense of evil you can almost touch – evil from which no-one can escape.’

The Wine of Angels by Phil Rickman, the first Merrily Watkins novel, in which the Rev Merrily Watkins tries to be accepted as the vicar (or priest-in-charge as she insists she ought to be called) in the country parish of Ledwardine in Herefordshire, steeped as it is in cider and secrets and echoes of the poet Thomas Traherne who was once based in the area.

The Weight of Angels by Catriona McPherson. I’ve read several of her Dandy Gilver books and enjoyed them. This book is a standalone psychological thriller, in which Alison McGovern takes a job as a beautician in a private psychiatric facility near her rented cottage and the ruins of Dundrennan Abbey.  A body is discovered in a shallow grave by the abbey on Ali’s first day at work.

A Killing of Angels by Kate Rhodes – the second book in her Alice Quentin series. I haven’t read the first book but I thought this looks good – it’s a psychological thriller. At the height of a summer heatwave, a killer stalks the City of London.The avenging angel leaves behind a scattering of feathers with each body – but why these victims? What were their sins?

All the books are linked by their titles with the word Angels and they are all books on my books to be read list.

Next month (December 2, 2026), we’ll start with a story that takes place at Christmas – Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan – a book I have read and another novella.

Pinkerton’s Sister: Friday Book Snippets

Published on by Margaret3 Comments

Friday Book Snippets combining Book Beginnings on Friday and the Friday 56, is co-hosted by Anne@HeadFullofBooks and Olivia at Bemused and Bookish.

Directions: Share two snippets (a sentence or short paragraph) from a) the book’s opening and b) page 56 (or another page) from the book you are currently reading. No spoilers, please.

This week I’m featuring Pinkerton’s Sister by Peter Rushforth.

1st snippet, Chapter 1 :

The mad woman in the attic was standing at the window.

Something about the slant of her body – slimped , drooping to one side – gave her a look of Marianna-like weariness,

2nd snippet, page 113:

Time ceased to exist, and she became one with what she read, what she contemplated, within the work of art, like her namesake Alice within the looking glass. It happened every time she studied Linnaeus’s painting in the school room. The water in the ewer was still hot, steam rising. It must be like dreaming was supposed to be, when time was concentrated into a few seconds, or like drowning, when a life passed before the eyes in moments. Maggie Tulliver must have experienced this, clasped in Tom’s arms as she and her brother sank to their deaths beneath the flood water: beating her doll’s wooden head against the pillars, cutting her hair jaggedly, Behaving Worse than She Expected, Trying to Run Away from her Shadow …

Description from the book cover:

Though her neighbours consider her a simpleton, in reality Alice’s mind is razor sharp. She is thirty five years of age, and all she has is her books. Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Edgar Allen Poe are her inspirations: Jane Eyre, Maggie Tulliver her companions, nourishing her lonely life. And as she moves through the witless world around her, observing its prejudices, its shallow culture, its hatred of truth, she transports those who belittle her into these books, where they can no longer hide, forced to reveal their true characters.

Twenty five years in the making, heartbreakingly funny, fiercely intelligent Pinkerton’s Sister is an extraordinary work of imagination, about imagination.

My thoughts:

I first read this book in October 2005 before I began writing this blog. At that time I decided I wanted to know more about it and a Google Search led me to Book World’s Blog where Sandra had written a post about it (I can no longer find her blog to thank her.) I had not heard about blogs before, but I was hooked and using her blogroll I discovered more book blogs. I decided to write one myself mainly to keep a record of what I’d read, but it took me another year before I plucked up the courage to make a start in July 2006 with a very short post and another nine months before I really got going in April 2007. I’d just left work and had more time to read and write about books, so I began this blog partly to help me remember what I’ve read and also to extend the pleasure of reading. And so ‘BooksPlease’ was born.

In November 2019 I wrote this about Pinkerton’s Sister: It’s a bizarre story seen through the main character’s, Alice’s eyes, which because she lives in a world of books is a very strange place indeed. It’s funny, well, ludicrous at times, full of literary and musical references and I got lost in it for hours.

Now, I want to re-read it!

Nonfiction November 2026: Week 1

Published on by Margaret17 Comments

Nonfiction November is back.

Week 1 (November 2-8) – My Year in Nonfiction – Heather. What nonfiction books did you read this year?  What were your favorites?  Did you find yourself reading a particular category of nonfiction most often? Is there a topic you want to read about more? What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?

Hosted by Heather at Based on a True Story. Heather is a veterinarian living in Ohio who blogs at Based on a True Story. She reads all genres but really loves nonfiction and fantasy.

I love nonfiction but I don’t read enough of it. From December 2025 to date I’ve read 8 books, mainly autobiography/biography, nature and history. I enjoyed each one of these books, so they’re all my favourites. It’s been quite a hard year for me this year with different health issues and so although I’ve carried on reading regardless I haven’t reviewed many books and I’ve only reviewed two of these (marked with an *). I’ve linked those I haven’t reviewed to Goodreads or Amazon.

*Homeward Bound by Hamza Yassin, a British wildlife cameraman and presenter. This a beautiful book, conveying his passion for nature and wildlife and his sense of wonder at it all. If you love nature you’ll love this book.

Keep Laughing: the Autobiography by Chris McCausland – Chris is an English actor and a stand-up comedian. He has appeared on comedy shows such as Have I Got News for You, Would I Lie to You?, QI, The Last Leg, and 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. He is blind due to retinitis pigmentosa, so I was absolutely amazed and full of admiration seeing how well he did and even more so when I read his life story.

Chris was born in Liverpool. He writes about the fact that even as a baby his eyesight was beginning to deteriorate. He describes it as ‘a slow march over a quarter of a century into a blurry soup of nothingness.‘ By the age of 10 he was down to about 25%. He could only read a book if it had large print and he held it close to his face. By the age of 25 a blurry nothing would cloud everything and eventually he reached a state of unchanging blindness.

I intend to write more about this book.

Somewhere, a Boy and a Bear: The Remarkable Life of A.A. Milne and the Legacy of Winnie the Pooh Bear by Gyles Brandreth. This is the story of a man, a boy and a bear – but it is also a gripping family drama, and a fascinating exploration of the complicated nature of growing up, and the impossible longing for a return to the enchanted places of childhood.

The Borders: A History of the Borders from Earliest Times by Alistair Moffat. A long, detailed book about the land that covers the southern part of Scotland and the northern part of England. It is nonfiction but begins with an imaginary description of life in the most ancient times ‘where hunter-gatherers penetrated into the virgin interior‘, and continues through the centuries to the modern era, ending in 1979. At over 600 pages this took me a long time to read. I shall try to write in more detail about it in due course.

*Like a Cat Loves a Bird by James Bailey – an account of Muriel Spark’s life and works, drawing on a wide range of sources. He writes about her childhood in Edinburgh to her final years in Tuscany—via South Africa, London, New York, and Rome and he gives a synopsis of each of her books. Muriel Spark was a complex person who took brave choices in her life, but writing was her main motivation, or even her obsession. Bailey’s book is balanced between giving insights into her personal life, and into her work, showing how the two were intricately intertwined.

Inconceivable by Rebecca Coxon, a heart-wrenching memoir about a number of issues – infertility, endometriosis, donor conception and the complexity of family relationships. Rebecca Coxon, who was previously a documentary-maker, winning Edinburgh TV Festival’s ‘Debut Director’ award in 2020 and was shortlisted for the British Journalism Awards in 2022, writes with clarity and compassion. I just did not want to put it down – such compelling reading!

Diddly Squat: A Year on the Farm by Jeremy Clarkson, about his farm in the Cotswolds. He’s an English television presenter, journalist, author and TV farmer who is best known for hosting the motoring television programmes Top Gear and The Grand Tour alongside Richard Hammond and James May. It’s funny, entertaining and informative. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Miss Willmott’s Ghosts: the extraordinary life and gardens of a forgotten genius by Sarah Lawrence. I’ve only recently finished reading this and I hope to write more about it soon.

This a fascinating biography, a contemporary of Gertrude Jekyll. Born in 1858 Ellen Willmott died in 1934. She inherited wealth which enabled her to buy gardens in France and Italy to add to the garden at her home, Warley Place in Essex. It’s a detailed story of a life lived from riches to rags, well not exactly rags, but financial difficulties, caused by her excessive overspending, which forced her to sell her French and Italian properties, and eventually her personal possessions.

Homeward Bound by Hamza Yassin

Published on by Margaret1 Comment

Gaia| 11 Sept. 2025| e0book| 258 pages| My own copy|5*

Homeward Bound: The joy of nature and my life outdoors by Hamza Yassin. He is a British wildlife cameraman and presenter. I first saw him on Strictly Come Dancing in 2022, which he won with professional dancer, Jowita Przystał. Since then I’ve seen him on various wildlife programmes, including Countryfile and Hamza’s Hidden Wild Isles, a four-episode series with each episode covering a different season of the year. So when I saw he’d published Homeward Bound I had to read it. It’s fascinating!

He was born in Sudan and moved to the UK when he was young. He has a degree in Zoology with Conservation from Bangor University and a Masters in Biologival Photography and Imaging from the University of Nottingham.

He struggled at school because of his dyslexia and as he loved being outside he thinks because of his struggles in the classroom that meant that his brain compensated outside the classroom. He became very aware of the world around him. This book was inspired by two places where he spends a lot of his time – Ardnamurchan peninsula in the Scottish Highlands, where he lives and Longleat Estate in Wiltshire.

It’s about his fascination with the outdoors. From learning to ring birds in Wales to chasing orca in Scotland as he explores wildlife across the British Isles and delights in the hidden life that is found there. Throughout his journey, he shows us the wonder of wildlife and how mother nature is a home for us all. It’s full of personal stories, including life in the Scottish Highlands and his adventures as a wildlife cameraman. He shares the joy of nature and shows us how it has made him who he is today.

He writes about a variety of locations – Cities and Gardens, Wetland and Rivers, Heathland, Farmland, Woodland, Meadows and Moorland, and Highlands. It’s a wonderful book, packed with many facts and information, without making it feel like a dry data download. It’s well written in a relaxed style, yet conveying his passion for nature and wildlife and his sense of wonder at it all. If you love nature you’ll love this book

My Year in Novellas 2026

Published on by Margaret13 Comments

For the SEVENTH year in a row, Cathy of 746 Books and Rebecca of Bookish Beck are co-hosting Novellas in November as a month-long blogging and social media challenge. A novella technically contains 20,000 to 40,000 words, but to keep things simple they define it as any work under 200 pages.

I’m beginning with looking back at the novellas I have read since the end of last year’s Novellas in November.

  1. The Christmas Clue by Nicola Upson
  2. The Aspern Papers by Henry James
  3. Homeward Bound by Hamza Yassin
  4. The Christmas Guest by by Peter Swanson
  5. The Rose and the Yew Tree by by Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie)
  6. Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym
  7. Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey
  8. The Third Man and The Fallen Idol by Graham Greene
  9. Maigret in Vichy by Georges Simenon
  10. Maigret and the Old People by Georges Simenon
  11. Maigret’s Pickpocket by Georges Simenon

I hope to write more about the ones I haven’t reviewed yet.

These are some I haven’t read yet:

Maigret Defends Himself by Georges Simenon – When suspicion turns on Inspector Maigret for a crime he did not commit, he must use every investigative tool in his arsenal to clear his name.

Seascraper by Benjamin Wood – this follows shanker Thomas Flett as his quiet life in a small English coastal town is forever changed over the course of one fateful day.

Grief Is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter – Goodreads tells me this is part novella, part polyphonic fable, part essay on grief, Max Porter’s compassion and bravura style combine to dazzling effect. Full of unexpected humour and profound emotional truth.

The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers – the fifth book in the Peter Wimsey series, in which he unravel the mysteries of ninety-year-old General Fentiman’s death.

Brief Answers to the Big Questions by Stephen Hawking – his final thoughts on the universe’s biggest questions in this brilliant posthumous work.

North to Paradise: A Memoir by Ousman Umar – The inspiring true story of one man’s treacherous boyhood journey from a rural village in Ghana to the streets of Barcelona—and the path that led him home.

Evil in High Places: Friday Book Snippets

Published on by Margaret10 Comments

Friday Book Snippets combining Book Beginnings on Friday and the Friday 56, is co-hosted by Anne@HeadFullofBooks and Olivia at Bemused and Bookish.

Directions: Share two snippets (a sentence or short paragraph) from a) the book’s opening and b) page 56 (or another page) from the book you are currently reading. No spoilers, please. 

Today I’ve just started to read Evil in High Places by Rory Clements, the second book in his Detective Sebastian Wolff series. This is historical fiction, a murder mystery set in 1936 as Germany is hosting the Olympic Games.

First snippet: Chapter One:

When Elena Lang went missing, Sebastian Wolff couldn’t work out what all the fuss was about.

‘She’s a film star,’ he told his boss, ‘She’s probably overslept – in someone else’s hotel room, That’s how this business works.

Second snippet: Page 103

It suddenly occurred to Seb that he had his police pistol in a shoulder holster under his jacket. He was not more than thirty metres away from Hitler. With one well-aimed shot he could change the course of history.

The moment passed and the Walther remained unfired.

Description from Amazon UK:

HOW DO YOU CATCH A KILLER WHO BELIEVES THEY’RE ABOVE JUSITCE?

Munich, 1936. All eyes are on the Bavarian capital for the upcoming Olympic Games. As athletes fight for gold and the Nazis fight for power, Detective Sebastian Wolff faces a battle of his own.

A famous actress has disappeared and Wolff has been ordered to find her, fast. But Elena Lang is no ordinary film-star: she is the mistress of Joseph Goebbels – Hitler’s right-hand-man in the party that Wolff despises.

But this is a country on the brink of war, and corruption runs deep. In a search that will take him from high society to the city’s darkest corners, Wolff will soon learn just how fine the line is between justice and jeopardy…

I enjoyed the first book in this series, Munich Wolff, set in 1935 and so I’m keen to read what happens next as Hitler moves Germany towards the Second World War.

What do you think? Would you read on?