The mysterious universe of books

  The Rune Stone  By Julia Ibbotson Book Title: The Rune Stone Series: Dr DuLac series, book #3 Author: Julia Ibbotson Publication Date: December 8th, 2021 Publisher: Archbury Books  Pages: 294 (ebook) / 376 (paperback) Genre: historical romance (timeslip mystery) A haunting time-slip mystery of runes and romance When Dr Viv DuLac, medievalist and academic, finds a mysterious runic inscription on a Rune Stone in the graveyard of her husband’s village church, she unwittingly sets off a chain of circumstances that disturb their quiet lives in ways she never expected. She, once again, feels the echoes of the past resonate through time and into the present. Can she unlock the secrets of the runes in the life of the 6th century Lady Vivianne and in Viv’s own life? Again, lives of the past and present intertwine alarmingly as Viv desperately tries to save them both, without changing the course of history. For fans of Barbara Erskine, Pamela Hartshorne, Susanna Kearsley, Christi...

Love Lost in Time By Cathie Dunn A reluctant daughter. A dutiful wife. A mystery of the ages. Languedoc, France, 2018 Historian Madeleine Winters would rather research her next project than rehash the strained relationship she had with her late mother. However, to claim her inheritance, she reluctantly agrees to stay the one year required in her late mother’s French home and begins renovations. But when she’s haunted by a female voice inside the house and tremors emanating from beneath her kitchen floorboards, she’s shocked to discover ancient human bones. The Mediterranean coast, AD 777 Seventeen-year-old Nanthild is wise enough to know her place. Hiding her Pagan wisdom and dutifully accepting her political marriage, she’s surprised when she falls for her Christian husband, the Count of Carcassonne. But she struggles to keep her forbidden religious beliefs and her healing skills secret while her spouse goes off to fight in a terrible, bloody war. As Maddie settles into her rustic vil...

Ghost Encounters:  The Lingering Spirits of North Devon By Helen Hollick with Kathy Hollick Book Title: Ghost Encounters: The Lingering Spirits of North Devon Author: Helen Hollick with Kathy Hollick Publication Date: 27th February 2025 Publisher: Taw River Press Pages: 201 Genre: Non-Fiction (with a bonus of two short stories) Everyone assumes that ghosts are hostile. Actually, most of them are not. You either believe in ghosts or you don’t. It depends on whether you’ve encountered something supernatural or not. But when you share a home with several companionable spirits, or discover benign ghosts in public places who appear as real as any living person, scepticism is abandoned and the myth that ghosts are to be feared is realised as nonsense. It is a matter for individual consideration whether you believe in ghosts or not, but for those who have the gift to see, hear or be aware of people from the past, meeting with them in today’s environment can generate a connection to years ...

  A Woman’s Lot The Second Meonbridge Chronicle By Carolyn Hughes Narrator Alex Lee Book Title: A Woman’s Lot  Series: The Meonbridge Chronicles, Book #2 Author: Carolyn Hughes Publication Date: February 5th, 2025 (audiobook publication) Publisher: Carolyn Hughes Listening Length: 12 hours and 15 minutes Genre: Historical Fiction How can mere women resist the misogyny of men? 1352. In Meonbridge, a resentful peasant rages against Eleanor Titherige’s efforts to build up her flock of sheep. Susanna Miller’s husband, grown melancholy and ill-tempered, succumbs to idle gossip that his wife’s a scold. Agnes Sawyer’s yearning to be a craftsman is met with scorn. And the village priest, fearful of what he considers women’s “unnatural” ambitions, is determined to keep them firmly in their place. Many men hold fast to the teachings of the Church and fear the havoc the “daughters of Eve” might wreak if they’re allowed to usurp men’s roles and gain control over their own lives. Not all m...

Death of a Princess  By R.N. Morris Book Title: Death of a Princess Series: Empire of Shadows, Book #3 Author: R.N. Morris Publication Date: 5th November 2024 Publisher: Sharpe Books Pages: 192 Genre: Historical Crime / Mystery Summer 1880. Lipetsk, a spa town in Russia. The elderly and cantankerous Princess Belskaya suffers a violent reaction while taking a mud bath at the famous Lipetsk Sanatorium. Soon after, she dies. Dr Roldugin, the medical director of the sanatorium, is at a loss to explain the sudden and shocking death. He points the finger at Anna Zhdanova, a medical assistant who was supervising the princess’s treatment. Suspicion also falls on the princess’s nephew Belsky, who appears far from grief-stricken at his aunt’s death. Meanwhile, investigating magistrate Pavel Pavlovich Virginsky arrives in Lipetsk from St Petersburg, seeking treatment after a nervous breakdown. Against his better judgement, Virginsky is drawn in to the investigation. But is he getting closer t...

  The Fires of Gallipoli  By Barney Campbell Book Title: The Fires of Gallipoli  Author: Barney Campbell Publication Date: February 13th, 2025 Publisher: Elliott & Thompson Pages: 320 Genre: Historical Fiction / WWI Fiction The Fires of Gallipoli is a heartbreaking portrayal of friendship forged in the trenches of the First World War.   ‘In this vivid and engaging novel of war and friendship, Barney Campbell shows us once again that he is a natural writer. This is a novel of men at arms of the highest quality.’  ~ Alexander McCall Smith Edward Salter is a shy, reserved lawyer whose life is transformed by the outbreak of war in 1914. On his way to fight in the Gallipoli campaign, he befriends the charming and quietly courageous Theodore Thorne. Together they face the carnage and slaughter, stripped bare to their souls by the hellscape and only sustained by each other and the moments of quiet they catch together. Thorne becomes the crutch whom Edward relies on...