March Book Haul

This morning I brought home my first library haul of the month:


Longbourn - Jo Baker

"'If Elizabeth Bennet had the washing of her own petticoats,' Sarah thought, 'she would be more careful notto tramp through muddy fields.'

It is wash-day for the housemaids at Longbourn House, and Sarah's hands are chapped and raw. Domestic life below stairs, ruled with a tender heart and an iron will by Mrs Hill the housekeeper, is about to be disturbed by the arrival of a new footman, bearing secrets and the scent of the sea."




The Other Typist - Suzanne Rindell

"New York City, 1924: the height of Prohibition. In a police precinct on the lower East Side young typist Rose Baker coolly records the confessions of killers and gangsters. But when a new typist arrives - the captivating Odalie - Rose finds a true partner in crime. Flitting between sparkling speakeasies by night and their work at the precinct by day, the girls are drawn further into a dark, glamorous world. Soon Rose's fascination with Odalie and her glittering life turns to obsession. But does she know the real Odalie, and what will happen if she dares to find out?"



Season of Light - Katharine McMahon

"1788, and unrest rumbles across France. Asa Ardleigh, the impressionable daughter of a country squire, travels to Paris with her newly wedded sister, Phillipa. In the heady days before the Revolution they find a city fizzing with ideas - and Asa falls in love with the dashing activist, Didier Paulin. But as the storm clouds gather, Asa must return home. In England, no one knows of Asa's liaison and the family's financial worries put pressure on her to marry elsewhere. An exiled marquise is employed to help finesse Asa's accomplishments - until disturbing news arrives from France..."



I also received two books to review from Goodreads First Reads this week:


The Fortune Hunter - Daisy Goodwin

"In 1875, Sisi, the Empress of Austria is the woman that every man desires and every woman envies. Beautiful, athletic and intelligent, Sisi has everything - except happiness. Bored with the stultifying etiquette of the Hapsburg court and her dutiful but unexciting husband, Sisi comes to England to hunt. She comes looking for excitement and she finds it in the dashing form of Captain Bay Middleton, the only man in Europe who can outride her. Ten years younger than her, Bay has everything to lose by falling for a woman who can never be his, for he is promised to Charlotte, rich and devoted yet with a mind of her own. But Bay and the Empress are as reckless as each other, and their mutual attraction is a force that cannot be denied..."


Bring Me Home - Alan Titchmarsh

"Standing at the door of the lochside castle that has been his family's home for generations, Charlie Stuart welcomes his guests to the annual summer drinks party. Conversation, laughter and the clinking of glasses soon fill the air as friends and neighbours come together to toast the laird's happiness and prosperity. But Charlie sees the truth behind the facade: the sacrifices made to safeguard the estate; the devastating losses that have haunted him for decades; the guilt that lies at the heart of it all. And in a few hours, he knows, the perfect afternoon will come to an end. The past, with its dark secrets of love, death, loyalty and betrayal, is about to catch up with him. And it could finally tear his family apart . . ."


Have you got any new books you're excited to read this week?