It’s the first Saturday of the month which means it’s time for another Six Degrees of Separation, hosted by Kate of Books are my Favourite and Best. The idea is that Kate chooses a book to use as a starting point and then we have to link it to six other books of our choice to form a chain. A book doesn’t have to be connected to all of the others on the list – only to the one next to it in the chain.
This month we’re starting with Rapture by Emily Maguire, which is loosely based on the legend of Pope Joan, who was supposedly the first and only female pope. I haven’t read it and am not sure if I want to, but it does sound interesting.
I found it very easy to decide on my first link this month, particularly with the recent death of Pope Francis. It’s Conclave by Robert Harris (1), a fictional account of a papal conclave, the process by which cardinals gather at the Vatican to elect a new pope. It may not sound like the most exciting subject for a thriller, but Harris makes it gripping and suspenseful.
The Vatican is my next link and leads me to The Vatican Princess by CW Gortner (2). Set in Renaissance Italy, this novel is narrated by Lucrezia Borgia, whose father Rodrigo bribes his way to the papal throne and becomes Pope Alexander VI.
City of God by Cecelia Holland (3) also tells the story of the Borgias, this time seen through the eyes of Nicholas Dawson, secretary to the Florentine ambassador to Rome. This is a complex novel, mainly concerned with political intrigue and spying, and gives a completely different perspective from the Gortner book.
Another book with the word ‘God’ in the title is Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry (4). Set in Ireland, this novel follows Tom Kettle, a retired police detective looking back at his memories of a case from the 1960s which has been reopened. It involves one of the darkest episodes in the recent history of the Catholic Church.
In A History of Loneliness (5), John Boyne tackles the same subject from the perspective of Odran Yates, a Catholic priest. This is a fascinating novel, raising the question of whether choosing to look the other way and do nothing makes us complicit in crime.
The John Boyne novel is set in Dublin and so is The Graces by Siobhan MacGowan (6), the final book in my chain. This is the story of Rosaleen Moore, known as The Rose, who becomes known for her gifts of prophecy and healing in the early 20th century and makes a shocking deathbed confession to the priests of Mount St Kilian Abbey.
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And that’s my chain for May! My links have included: popes, the Vatican, the Borgias, the word God, Irish authors writing on a shared theme and Dublin. The books are also all connected to the topic of religion and the Catholic Church.
In June we’ll be starting with All Fours by Miranda July.
She Reads Novels 
Oh, well done! Connecting your chain with religiously-themed stories is inspired!
I didn’t intend to do that, but the first two or three books were all religious, so I thought I’d try to keep the theme going until the end!
Oh, you stayed within a very specific niche, well done! I don’t think I could have thought of enough books in this area.
It wasn’t as difficult as I expected. I didn’t think I had read that many books with a religious theme!
Nicely worked chain! I like the sound of The Graces.
I loved The Graces! It doesn’t seem to have had much attention, which is a shame as I found it very moving.
Oh, another religious themed chain. Good for you!
Thank you! I enjoyed putting this chain together.
Great chain Helen … but how different your Rapture cover is! I love your link to Conclave, particularly suitable right now. Of your links though I’m most interested in the Boyne and the Barry.
The other Rapture cover is much prettier! The Boyne and the Barry are both excellent books which deal with a similar topic but approach it in completely different ways.
Yes, I thought so too re the cover – and table re the Boyne!
I like the sound of both Conclave and The Vatican Princess! Great bookish chain. 😀
They are both great books, though very different of course! I’m glad you like the chain 🙂
Great links! I liked your chain made up of religious themed books and I’ve enjoyed one of these – Old God’s Time. As you know mine went a different route.
I don’t often stay with the same theme for my whole chain, but I thought it would be interesting to do that this month. I’m glad you enjoyed Old God’s Time – Sebastian Barry’s writing is beautiful.
Well. This is a marvellous chain. I’ve read – and really liked – the Barry, but every single one of the others jumps straight on to my TBR. An inspired direction for you to take your chain in!
Old God’s Time isn’t one of my favourites by Barry, but he always writes beautifully. I enjoyed all of the other books in my chain, particularly Conclave and A History of Loneliness.
Definitely noted. Thanks!
Good job! Conclave is very popular today! I had it in a different post this week–excellent book & film. I love hearing about more Borgias books–I had the Jeremy Irons t.v. version in the same post with Conclave.
Lots of us have Conclave in our chains this month! And yes, the Borgias are always fascinating to read about.
Excellent chain. I like that they are connected by the original theme but also by religion. I have read two of them: Conclave and Old God’s Time. Liked the former more than the latter. I have the Gortner’s on my TBR, and would like to read Boyne at some point; I have several books of his in my digital library.
I liked Old God’s Time because I think Sebastian Barry always writes beautifully, but I found it harder to get into than some of his other books. John Boyne is great – I’ve read a lot of his books and enjoyed almost all of them.
Well done on keeping the religious theme for your chain.
I was surprised to see the CW Gortner book there. I didn’t recognise the title at all and I thought I was familiar with most of his older books!
I haven’t read much by Gortner, but I enjoyed that one. It does seem to be one of his lesser known books, though.
A wonderful chain, Helen–loved how the theme of the church and religion runs through it. I keep meaning to read Conclave (having enjoyed other books by Harris) and it seems all the more interesting to, given the current conclave. The Vatican Princess sounds very good too. I enjoy exploring the Borgias.
I thought Conclave was an excellent book. I was completely gripped by it! This would be an appropriate time to read it, too. And yes, the Borgias were a fascinating family.
Let me see if I can fit it in soon!
Thanks for visiting my list. I think it’s no surprise a lot of us went with a church theme.
Yes, the church theme was the most obvious route to take this month, I think!
I think most of us were forced to go with the theme, so it was only natural that we ended up there.
Loved your chain! And The Graces intrigues me the most.. I am guessing Conclave is on everyone’s minds and thus on so many of our chains this time…
The Graces is a fascinating book. I hope you’re able to read it. And yes, Conclave is in a lot of our chains this month, which isn’t really surprising!
Conclave was the first book that entered my mind, too, but I went with Pope Joan instead. Apparently Rapture and Pope Joan are based on the same (probably apocryphal) story.
Yours is a very timely chain with all that is going on in Rome right now.
Late to the party but finally got my chain up.
Rapture