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 Flashlight by Susan Choi, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2025. I haven’t read it, but here’s what it’s about:
One evening, ten-year-old Louisa and her father, Serk, take a walk out on the breakwater. They are spending the summer in a coastal Japanese town. Hours later, Louisa wakes on the beach, soaked to the skin. Her father is missing: presumably drowned.
This sudden event shatters their small family. As Louisa and her American mother return to the US, Serk’s disappearance reverberates across time and space, and the mystery of what really happened that night slowly unravels.
The first book that comes to mind is Surfacing by Margaret Atwood (1), in which another father goes missing, possibly drowned. His daughter, an unnamed narrator, returns to her childhood home on an island in northern Quebec to discover the truth behind his disappearance. I read the book last year and found it fascinating, although I’m not sure I fully understood it all.
Quebec is my next link. The short story The Custom of the Army appears in Diana Gabaldon’s Seven Stones to Stand or Fall (2), a collection of stories and novellas featuring characters from her Outlander series. In The Custom of the Army, Lord John Grey goes to Canada to serve as a witness at a court martial and becomes caught up in the Battle of Quebec of 1759. That one wasn’t one of my favourite stories, but I enjoyed the collection overall.
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (3) shares the word ‘stone’ in the title. I loved this wonderful novel set in an Ethiopian hospital and following the stories of the conjoined twin sons of a British surgeon and an Indian nun. I still haven’t read Abraham Verghese’s second novel, but I really should.
Another book featuring conjoined twins is The Bell in the Lake by Lars Mytting (4), the first in the Sister Bells trilogy about life in the remote Norwegian village of Butangen where two church bells – commemorating the twins, Gunhild and Halfrid – are said to have supernatural powers. The novel was originally published in Norwegian and translated into English by Deborah Dawkin.
Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset (5) is another book set in Norway and written by a Norwegian author. It’s actually a trilogy, but often combined into one volume and tells the story of the title character, who grows up in Norway in the 14th century. It’s a sad, tragic story, but I loved it and can recommend Tiina Nunnally’s translation. The book led to Undset winning the 1928 Nobel Prize in Literature “principally for her powerful descriptions of Northern life during the Middle Ages”.
Another novel I’ve read by a Nobel Prize winner is Nights of Plague by Orhan Pamuk (6), translated by Ekin Oklap. It’s set on a fictional Mediterranean island during an outbreak of plague at the turn of the 20th century and Pamuk uses this a starting point to explore the fall of the Ottoman Empire.
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And that’s my chain for February! My links include: missing fathers, Quebec, the word ‘stone’, conjoined twins, Norwegian authors and Nobel Prize winners. The chain took me from Japan to the Mediterranean via Canada, Ethiopia and Norway, and features three books in translation.
In March we’ll be starting with Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë – one of my favourite classics!
She Reads Novels 
I loved Kristin Lavransdatter.
Yes, so did I. I keep meaning to read more of Sigrid Undset’s books, but haven’t done it yet!
‘Nights of Plague’ looks interesting! I’m starting to think about getting into Orhan Pamuk, so this will be a great addition to that push…….
Yes, Nights of Plague was interesting, especially after recently living through a pandemic, although I thought it was longer than it really needed to be. I’ll probably try another of his books at some point!
I loved ‘The Plague’ by Albert Camus which I read during the pandemic. I think you’d like it. My review is here:
https://cyberkittenspot.blogspot.com/2020/11/just-finished-reading-plague-by-albert.html
You have some fabulous books in your chain, Helen. I hope to get around to Kristin Lavransdatter soon, especially as next month we are travelling to Tromso, above the arctic circle!
I loved Kristin Lavransdatter. It was very long, but definitely worth the time it took to read it. I hope you enjoy visiting Tromso!
A great chain that moves nicely from book to book. I haven’t read Surfacing, but you have intrigued me now as I didn’t really have any idea of its subject matter. I have read Cutting for stone, though. I also rather like Pamuk, though have only read one novel and one nonfiction work.
Thank you! Surfacing is an interesting book, although not one of my favourites by Atwood. I’m glad you like Pamuk – I’m sure I’ll be trying more of his work.
I’d forgotten about the missing father in Surfacing. It’s a great book.
I just read it for last year’s Novellas in November so it was still fresh in my mind!
I really enjoyed your chain, I love the different geographical settings; I haven’t read any Margaret Atwood for ages so I’m putting Surfacing on my list.
Thank you! Surfacing was interesting, although I think I would need to read it again to be able to pick up all the things I missed the first time.
Such a well travelled chain! I recently read The Covenant of Water after loving Cutting for Stone. Bit of a slow burner but well worth reading.
I’m glad you thought The Covenant of Water was worth reading. I’m sure I’ll get round to reading it eventually!
Excellent chain. Cutting for Stone is brilliant but I think The Covenant of Water is even better!
Here’s my rather musical chain if you haven’t already seen it. https://portobellobookblog.com/2026/02/07/6degrees-of-separation-for-february-2026-from-flashlight-by-susan-choi-to-the-second-life-of-nathan-jones-by-david-atkinson-booksky-%f0%9f%92%99%f0%9f%93%9a/
Thanks! I loved Cutting for Stone, so if you think The Covenant of Water is even better I obviously need to read it as soon as possible!
Very good work. I really need to move Cutting For Stone up my list soon–it’s been on my list since it was published and that is way too long.
I loved Cutting For Stone! Hope you’re able to read it soon.
Surfacing is a great first link, although not one of my favourites either.
Surfacing is probably my least favourite of the Margaret Atwood books I’ve read so far, although I did still find it interesting.
Great chain, Cutting for Stone sounds interesting
Thank you! Yes, Cutting for Stone is a great book. Probably the only one I’ve ever read set in Ethiopia!
I’ve added it to my wishlist.
Excellent. Seems the chains this time are all very, very different!
Yes, very different, although a few of us have started with a father/daughter link. I’m looking forward to seeing where everyone goes from Wuthering Heights next month!
To the moors? Gosh, I’m worried.
I have only read (and loved!) Cutting for Stone in this chain. FYI, loved Covenant of Water too..
Your chain is so well done… ended up adding the rest of the books to my TBR. My post is here