Ladies of the Lake by Cathy Gohlke — a Book Review

Ladies of the lake book review

  From the desk of Syrie James I just read an advance copy of the most wonderful novel, “Ladies of the Lake” by Cathy Gohlke, and I wanted to share. I was hooked from the first chapter. There are so many suspenseful threads and need-to-know questions between the story in the 1930s and the earlier…

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Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner — Book Review

Bloomsbury Girls - Book Review

  From the desk of Syrie James I enjoyed Natalie Jenner’s debut novel The Jane Austen Society and was excited to dive into Bloomsbury Girls, the tale of three shop girls working at a male-run century-old bookstore in 1950 London. Evie Stone (one of my favorite characters from The Jane Austen Society) is a studious…

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The Siren of Sussex by Mimi Matthews – Book Review

  From the desk of Syrie James Can a daring, independent-minded equestrian and a brilliant, half-Indian dressmaker overcome the pressures of fashionable society to find love and happiness in Victorian London? That’s the premise of Mimi Matthew’s new novel The Siren of Sussex, and I have to admit, I was so intrigued that I could…

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Down a Dark River by Karen Odden — Book Review

From the desk of Syrie James I’m always up for a good Victorian murder mystery, and I was excited to dive into Karen Odden’s Down a Dark River, the first book in her new Inspector Corravan Mystery series. It’s 1878 in London, when a small boat bearing a young woman’s corpse drifts down the Thames.…

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