Monday 25 February 2019

Mailbox Monday - Feb 25th


Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog. Head over and check out other books received during the last week. 


 

My postman was certainly kept busy this week with six books received for review.

Under The Midnight Sky by Anna Romer
Publication Date: 1st may 2019

When an injured teenager goes missing at a remote bushland campground, local journalist Abby Bardot is determined to expose the area’s dark history. The girl bears a striking resemblance to the victims of three brutal murders that occurred twenty years ago and Abby fears the killer is still on the loose.

But the newspaper Abby works for wants to suppress the story for fear it will scare off tourists to the struggling township. Haunted by her own turbulent memories, Abby is desperate to learn the truth and enlists the help of Tom Gabriel, a reclusive crime writer. At first resentful of Abby’s intrusion, Tom’s reluctance vanishes when they discover a hidden attic room in his house that shows evidence of imprisonment from half a century before.

As Abby and Tom sift through the attic room and discover its tragic history, they become convinced it holds the key to solving the bushland murders and finding the missing girl alive.

But their quest has drawn out a killer, someone with a shocking secret who will stop at nothing to keep the truth buried.


Beneath the Mother Tree by D.M. Cameron
Publication date: 1st August 2018

On a small island, something sinister is at play. Resident alcoholic Grappa believes it’s the Far Dorocha, dark servant of the Faery queen, whose seductive music lures you into their abyss. His granddaughter Ayla has other ideas, especially once she meets the mysterious flute player she heard on the beach.

Riley and his mother have moved to the island to escape their grief. But when the tight-knit community is beset by a series of strange deaths, the enigmatic newcomers quickly garner the ire of the locals. Can Ayla uncover the mystery at the heart of the island’s darkness before it is too late?


The Woman from Saint Germain by J.R. Lonie
Publication date: 1st march 2019

She is a celebrated writer stranded in Paris after her French lover is killed fighting the German invasion. He is an enigmatic foreigner with a dangerous secret, fleeing Nazi-controlled Austria. Only the war could bring them together. 

Armed with a precious first edition of Finnegans Wake and an even more precious stash of Chesterfield cigarettes to barter with, Eleanor Gorton Clarke joins the sea of refugees escaping the city for the Spanish frontier. But when a stranger kills two German soldiers to save her life, Eleanor is forced on the run with her mysterious rescuer, pursued by a vengeful detective from the Wehrmacht.

Two strangers from vastly different worlds, the unlikely pair despise each other at first. But as the ruthless hunt for the two fugitives escalates and they are forced to become allies to survive, a powerful attraction erupts between them.

As their relentless German pursuer begins to close the net, a heartbreaking discovery forces the great romantic novelist to experience something she was supposed to know all about – the true nature of love.


War Doctor - Surgery on the front line by David Nott
Publication date: 21st February 2019

For more than twenty-five years, David Nott has taken unpaid leave from his job as a general and vascular surgeon with the NHS to volunteer in some of the world’s most dangerous war zones. From Sarajevo under siege in 1993, to clandestine hospitals in rebel-held eastern Aleppo, he has carried out life-saving operations and field surgery in the most challenging conditions, and with none of the resources of a major London teaching hospital.

The conflicts he has worked in form a chronology of twenty-first-century combat: Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Darfur, Congo, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Gaza and Syria. But he has also volunteered in areas blighted by natural disasters, such as the earthquakes in Haiti and Nepal.

Driven both by compassion and passion, the desire to help others and the thrill of extreme personal danger, he is now widely acknowledged to be the most experienced trauma surgeon in the world. But as time went on, David Nott began to realize that flying into a catastrophe – whether war or natural disaster – was not enough. Doctors on the ground needed to learn how to treat the appalling injuries that war inflicts upon its victims. Since 2015, the foundation he set up with his wife, Elly, has disseminated the knowledge he has gained, training other doctors in the art of saving lives threatened by bombs and bullets.
 


I Thought I Knew You by Penny Hancock
Publication date: 7th March 2019


Jules and Holly have been best friends since university. They tell each other everything, trading revelations and confessions, and sharing both the big moments and the small details of their lives: Holly is the only person who knows about Jules’s affair; Jules was there for Holly when her husband died. And their two children – just three years apart – have grown up together.
So when Jules’s daughter Saffie makes a serious allegation against Holly’s son Saul, neither woman is prepared for the devastating impact this will have on their friendship or their families.
Especially as Holly, in spite of her principles, refuses to believe her son is guilty.



The Go-Away Bird by Julia Donaldson
Publication date: 7th March 2019

A gorgeous story about friendship and working together from a star picture-book partnership, the inimitable Julia Donaldson and award-winning Catherine Rayner.

‘The Go-Away bird sat up in her nest, With her fine grey wings and her fine grey crest.’ One by one, the other birds fly into her tree, wanting to talk or to play, but the Go-Away bird just shakes her head and sends them all away. But then the dangerous Get-You bird comes along, and she soon realizes that she might need some friends after all . . .


I also attended an author signing day in Sydney and came home with another 10 books which I won't list here or this post will be much too long. You can read all about the Books By The Bridge author signing event in my post here
 
What am I looking forward to reading?
This week I am going to choose War Doctor. I have recently read two Historical Fiction books set during WWII where the main character was a doctor so I'm very interested to read a non fiction account of a doctor operating on the front line and seeing just how true to real life the fiction accounts were.

What Books did your postman deliver this week?
Have you attended an author signing event? What did you think? Would you attend again?
Post a link to your Mailbox Monday or simply list your books in the comments below.






 
 


12 comments:

  1. I'm looking forward to the Anna Romer book, Bene
    Ath the mother Tree was really enjoyable. I'm reading The Woman from Saint Germain at the moment I've got about 80 pages to go and to tell you the truth, I've skipped to the end to see what happens because I really don't care, lol that's terrible, I hope you enjoy it more than me, the stories a good one, I just am not a fan of the main character.War Doctor and I Thought I knew you sound good. I'm waiting for The Orchardists Daughter to arrive in my mailbox

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    1. I don’t have The Ochardist’s Daughter. I see it’s getting good reviews. I hope you enjoy it. I will see how I go with The Woman from Saint Germain. I really don’t like a book that drags.

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  2. A nice mix of books - hope you love them!

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    1. Thanks Mary. I know there are a couple there that I'm certain to enjoy as they are return authors.

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  3. There are a lot good-looking books here.

    THE WOMAN FROM ST. GERMAINE is definitely catching my eye.

    ENJOY all of your books and your week.

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  4. So many tempting books! Beneath the Mother Tree is going on my list. Enjoy!

    Here are MY WEEKLY UPDATES

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    1. I met the author at a luncheon and she very kindly gave me a copy to read. It has been getting some great reviews.

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  5. They all look good but I'm partial to nonfiction lately so War Doctor stands out to me.

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    1. I rarely read nonfiction but I've recently read books featuring doctors in WWII so I'm very interested to read this.

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  6. The Go Away Bird looks gorgeous to me. You have several others that sound good - Under the Midnight Sky and War Doctor particularly. Happy Reading!

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    1. My Granddaughter already loves The Go-Away Bird and we did an online search to learn a bit more about the bird.

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