September favorites

Mrs. Endicott's Splendid Adventure by Rhys Bowen.  Lake Union Publishing, 5 August 2025.

Surrey, England, 1938. After thirty devoted years of marriage, Ellie Endicott is blindsided by her husband’s appeal for divorce. It’s Ellie’s opportunity for change too. The unfaithful cad can have the house. She’s taking the Bentley. Ellie, her housekeeper Mavis, and her elderly friend Dora—each needing escape—impulsively head for parts unknown in the South of France.

With the Rhône surging beside them, they have nowhere to be and everywhere to go. Until the Bentley breaks down in the inviting fishing hamlet of Saint Benet. Here, Ellie rents an abandoned villa in the hills, makes wonderful friends among the villagers, and finds herself drawn to Nico, a handsome and enigmatic fisherman. As for unexpected destinations, the simple paradis of Saint Benet is perfect. But fates soon change when the threat of war encroaches.

Lightning in a Mason Jar by Catherine Mann.  Lake Union Publishing, 1 July 2025.

Since Bailey Rae Rigby’s adoptive aunt Winnie passed, she thingks Bent Oak, South Carolina, doesn’t have much of a hold on her anymore. 

Bailey Rae aims to settle the small estate and, armed with her aunt’s inspiring personal cookbook, move to Myrtle Beach and buy a food truck. Everything goes awry when a distraught young mother arrives in town clutching a copy of that same cookbook. Embedded inside is a code that promises a safe place in Bent Oak for desperate women on the run. For Bailey Rae it opens up a world of questions about Winnie.

Winnie Ballard’s story reaches back fifty years—one of a Southern debutante’s harrowing marriage, of her escape and reinvention, and the galvanizing friendship of three resilient women who overcame their traumas, created shelter, and found purpose. But there’s more to Winnie’s deliverance and long-held secrets than Bailey Rae imagines.

The Secret Book Society by Madeline Martin.  Hanover Square Press, 26 August 2025.

London, 1895: Trapped by oppressive marriages and societal expectations, three women receive a mysterious invitation to an afternoon tea at the home of the reclusive Lady Duxbury. Beneath the genteel facade of the gathering lies a secret book club—a sanctuary where they can discover freedom, sisterhood, and the courage to rewrite their stories.

Eleanor Clarke, a devoted mother suffocating under the tyranny of her husband. Rose Wharton, a transplanted American dollar princess struggling to fit the mold of an aristocratic wife. Lavinia Cavendish, an artistic young woman haunted by a dangerous family secret. All are drawn to the enigmatic Lady Duxbury, a thrice-widowed countess whose husbands’ untimely deaths have sparked whispers of murder.

As the women form deep, heartwarming friendships, they uncover secrets about their marriages, their pasts, and the risks they face. Their courage is their only weapon in the oppressive world that has kept them silent, but when secrets are deadly, one misstep could cost them everything.

Dear Miss Lake (The Emmy Lake Chronicles #4) by A. J. Pearce. Scribner, 8 August 2025.

In July of 1944,Journalist Emmy Lake’s career is soaring. Woman’s Friend magazine is a huge success, and she is finally realizing her dream of becoming a Lady War Correspondent. On the personal front, Emmy’s husband Charles has been posted closer to home, and they and their friends Bunty and Harold have escaped to the countryside for a few precious summer days. They all know how lucky they are.

But after nearly five years of war, the nation is struggling. The “Yours Cheerfully” advice column receives more letters than ever, and even though it looks like the war might finally be over by Christmas, the situation is far from resolved. For Emmy and her team, it’s all about pulling together and pushing on. But then disaster strikes. Soon Emmy finds herself facing her greatest battle yet.

Funny Friday

 

- originally published 6 June 2025

Summer favorites

Travelling to and from Europe, some time when I wasn't feeling too great, and some time when it was just too hot to move meant I got a lot of reading done this summer.  

Here are my favorites, listed alphabetically by author:

For Duck's sake (Meg Lanslow #37) by Donna Andrews.  (Minotaur Books, 5 August 2025).

The book club for troublesome women by Marie Bostwick.  (Harper Muse, 22 April 2025).

Kate & Frida by Kim Fay.  (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 11 March 2025).

Our last Vineyard summer, by Brooke Lea Foster.  (Gallery Books, 1 July 2025).

The Martha's Vineyard beach and book club by Martha Hall Kelly. (Ballantine Books, 27 May 2025.

It's a love story by Annabel Monaghan. (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 25 May 2025).

April favorites

The Witches Catalogue of Wanderlust Essentials by Ciara Blume.  Dolce Villa Press, 6 May 2025.

Zani, a vampire-slaying, relic-hunting witch whose satchel is always packed for adventure, faces her most mortifying mishap yet: losing a dangerously enchanted artifact. Just her luck that the bloodstone amulet goes missing right before an eclipse that could awaken its curse.

Enter Will, a half-fae rogue with the rare gift of opening portals through space and time. He’s always admired Zani's adventurous spirit from afar. When she approaches him with the request to journey through history to help her recover the bloodstone, he can't resist the opportunity—or her company.

The Library of Lost Dollhouses by Elise Hooper.  HarperCollins, 1 April 2025.

Tildy Barrows, Head Curator of a beautiful archival library in San Francisco, is meticulously dedicated to the century’s worth of inventory housed in her beloved Beaux Art building. She loves the calm and order in the shelves of books and walls of art. But Tildy’s life takes an unexpected turn when she, first, learns the library is on the verge of bankruptcy and, second, discovers two exquisite never-before-seen dollhouses.

After finding clues hidden within these remarkable miniatures, Tildy sets out to decipher the secret history of the dollhouses, aiming to salvage her cherished library in the process. Her journey introduces her to a world of ambitious and gifted women in Belle Époque Paris, a group of scarred World War I veterans in the English countryside, and Walt Disney’s bustling Burbank studio in the 1950s. As Tildy unravels the mystery, she finds not only inspiring, hidden history, but also a future for herself—and an astonishing familial revelation.

The Champagne Letters by Kate MacIntosh.  Gallery Books, 10 December 2024.

France, 1805: Barbe-Nicole Clicquot has just lost her beloved husband but is determined to pursue their dream of creating the premier champagne house in France, now named for her new identity as a widow: Veuve Clicquot. With the Russians poised to invade, competitors fighting for her customers, and the Napoleonic court politics complicating matters she must set herself apart quickly and permanently if she, and her business, are to survive.

Chicago, Present day: broken from her divorce, Natalie Taylor runs away to Paris. In a book stall by the Seine, Natalie finds a collection of the Widow Clicquot’s published letters and uses them as inspiration to step out of her comfort zone and create a new, empowered life for herself. But when her Parisian escape takes a shocking and unexpected turn, she’s forced to make a choice. Should she accept her losses and return home, or fight for the future she’s only dreamed about? 

The Secrets of Flowers by Sally Page.  Blackstone Publishing, 25 February 2025.

A heartwarming novel about a grieving woman who rediscovers herself by uncovering the lost story of the girl who arranged flowers on the Titanic. 

One year after her husband's death, Emma has become a wallflower, hiding among the brighter blooms in the florist shop where she works.

But when a colleague invites her to a talk on the Titanic, she begins a quest to uncover who arranged the flowers on board.

As Emma discovers the lost story of the girl and the great ship, she realizes that flowers may unlock long-buried secrets in her own life.

The Otherwhere Post by Emily J. Taylor.  Penguin Young Readers, 25 February 2025.

Seven years ago, Maeve Abenthy lost everything: her world, her father, even her name. Desperate to escape the stain of her father’s crimes, she lives under a fake name, never staying in one place long enough to put down roots.

Then she receives a mysterious letter with four impossible words: Your father was innocent.
To uncover the truth, she poses as an apprentice for the Otherwhere Post, where she’ll be trained in the art of scriptomancy—the dangerous magic that allows couriers to enchant letters and deliver them to other worlds. But looking into her father’s past draws more attention than she’d planned...

Her secretive, infuriating mentor knows she’s lying about her identity, and time is running out to convince him to trust her. Worse, she begins to receive threatening letters, warning her to drop her investigation—or else. 

Lucy Maud Montgomery

In Lovers' Lane

I know a place for loitering feet Deep in the valley where the breeze Makes melody in lichened boughs, And murmurs low love-litanies. There slender harebells nod and dream, And pale wild roses offer up The fragrance of their golden hearts, As from some incense-brimméd cup. It holds the sunshine sifted down Softly through many a beechen screen, Save where, by deeper woods embraced, Cool shadows linger, dim and green. And there my love and I may walk And harken to the lapsing fall Of unseen brooks and tender winds, And wooing birds that sweetly call. And every voice to her will say What I repeat in dear refrain, And eyes will meet with seeking eyes, And hands will clasp in Lovers' Lane. Come, sweet-heart, then, and we will stray Adown that valley, lingering long, Until the rose is wet with dew, And robins come to evensong, And woo each other, borrowing speech Of love from winds and brooks and birds, Until our sundered thoughts are one And hearts have no more need of words.

Lucy Maud Montgomery( 1874-1942), is arguably Canada’s most widely read author. Her first novel, Anne of Green Gables, became an instant best-seller, and has remained in print for more than a century.

Montgomery produced more than 500 short stories, 21 novels, two poetry collections, and numerous journal and essay anthologies. 

Montgomery was named an Officer of both the Order of the British Empire and the Literary and Artistic Institute of France. 

She was the first Canadian woman to be made a member of the British Royal Society of Arts and and has also been declared a Person of National Historic Significance in Canada.

Joy Kogawa

July in Coaldale

July in Coaldale
and so hot the scalp steams 
and I am curling my mother's 
fine white hair with her 
new mist curler iron 
I bought for her 
81st birthday and 
she is telling me 
of her early morning dream 
that it was Christmas and 
there was music. "I can't 
remember the song" she says 
but after a few more curls 
he is singing in Japanese 
"Joy to the World" 
somewhat out of tune 
because she is deaf now 
and her throat is dry 
but she was famous for her singing once 
and she says in her dream 
there was an old dry plant 

that started to bloom.

From Woman in the Woods, (Mosaic Press1986) 

Joy Nozomi Kogawa (1935 -) is a writer and poet. Born in Vancouver to Japanese immigrant parents, Kogawa grew up in a predominantly white, middle-class neighbourhood.
Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, she and her family were forced into an internment camp in the British Columbia Interior. Kogawa's childhood experiences in the internment camp form the basis for her most famous book, the courageous Obasan, published in 1981 to widespread critical acclaim.

She won numerous awards for the book, which she adapted for children in 1985 under the title, Naomi's Road. After the war, Kogowa and her family re-settled in Alberta. She launched her writing career with the publication of a book of poetry, The Splintered Moon, in 1967. Kogawa went on to produce seven more books of poetry, three novels, two children's books and a recent work of non-fiction.
Kogawa is a member of the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia.

Funny Friday - Robert W. Service

Robert W. Service (1874-1958)  was born in England, and emigrated to Canada in 1894.

In 1907 he published his first collection of poems, Songs of a Sourdough; an immediate success, it was followed by Ballads of a Cheechako (1909) and Rhymes of a Rolling Stone (1912).

Poems such as "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" assured Service of lasting fame and gave rise to his nicknames: "the Canadian Kipling" and "the Poet of the Yukon."

During WWI he was an ambulance driver, and after the war he travelled throughout Europe but lived mostly in France.
His later works include Ballads of a Bohemian (1921), Rhymes of a Roughneck (1950) and his autobiographical works: Ploughman of the Moon (1945) and Harper of Heaven (1948).

Artist: Ted Harrison

Narrator:  Max Ferguson