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 Kate has said that we should start with either our book group’s current read or the book we’re currently reading. I’m not in a book group so it has to be the latter for me. I actually put this chain together in the last week of August (I like to prepare it in advance), so I used the book I was reading at that time, which was The Matchbox Girl by Alice Jolly.
The Matchbox Girl won this year’s Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. It’s set in Nazi controlled Vienna and is narrated by Adelheid Brunner, a girl with autism who collects matchboxes.
I’m using collections as my first link. The Collector of Dying Breaths by MJ Rose (1) is set in the 16th century at the court of Catherine de’ Medici and follows a perfumer who believes he can capture a person’s dying breath in a bottle and use it to reanimate their soul. An interesting and unusual book, but it’s the sixth in a series and I think I really needed to have read the others first.
The author of my next book shares a name with the previous one: she’s Rose Tremain, whose novel Restoration (2) was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1989. It’s another historical novel, this time set at the court of Charles II, where physician Robert Merivel comes to the king’s attention after tending to his spaniels and later becomes embroiled in his love affairs. I enjoyed the book but preferred the sequel.
The winner of that same year’s Booker Prize was The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (3). I loved this book, which is narrated by an elderly butler, Stevens, reminiscing about his career in the service of Lord Darlington of Darlington Hall. Stevens is played by Anthony Hopkins in the 1993 adaptation.
One of Hopkins’ earliest roles was Richard the Lionheart in The Lion in Winter. Katharine Hepburn won an Oscar for the same film for her portrayal of Richard’s mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Eleanor’s story has been told in many novels, including The Summer Queen by Elizabeth Chadwick (4), the first part of an excellent trilogy taking us through the whole of Eleanor’s life.
The Queen of Fives by Alex Hay (5) shares a word in the title – but this time, it’s not about a real queen. The ‘Queen of Fives’ is a title given to Quinn Le Blanc, the leader of a London network of con artists. This was an entertaining read and I’ve actually just finished Alex Hay’s new one, The Midnight Guests, which was also fun.
My final link is to another book with playing cards on the cover. Ace, King, Knave by Maria McCann (6) is also a similar sort of novel, with two young women becoming embroiled in a world of thieves, pickpockets, gamblers and grave robbers. I really enjoyed this book but had forgotten all about it until putting this chain together!
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And that’s my chain for September! My links have included: collectors, the name Rose, the 1989 Booker Prize, Anthony Hopkins, the word Queen and playing cards.
In October we’ll be starting with Life of M by Rachel Cusk.
She Reads Novels 
Nice historical chain Helen!
Thanks! I hadn’t realised they were all historical books until I reached the end.
I love this chain, it has a sort of playful air, is it the playing cards?!
I wonder if I could have made a whole chain of books with playing cards. I almost used Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie!
that’s a chain to keep up your sleeve!
I loved The Remains of the Day, too. Haven’t read your other books but am tempted by the last two (The Queen of Fives and Ace, King, Knave).
Yes, The Remains of the Day is a great book. The Queen of Fives and Ace, King, Knave are both very entertaining!
Enjoyable chain, Helen. I’ve only read the Ishiguro. I’m intrigued by the idea behind The Collector of Dying Breaths.
The Collector of Dying Breaths had a fascinating plot – I just wish I’d known it was part of a series so I could have read the earlier books first.
Excellent chain here. I’ve only read Remains of the Day and loved it!
Yes, it’s a great book!
Love the Anthony Hopkins connections. I remember him in The Lion in Winter and The Remains of the Day is one of my favourite ever films. In fact, I can hear the opening theme music in my head right now.
I love both of those films!
I don’t think I knew there was a sequel to Restoration. I read that a very long time ago but remember enjoying it.
I reread The Remains of the Day recently for a book group of lawyers I am in. I had forgotten how sad it is! I am excited about his new book. That is one I will purchase right away and not wait for the library.
It is amazing how Eleanor of Aquitaine continues to inspire writers and readers! It started very early for me when I read A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver which came out in 1973.
Constance
The sequel to Restoration is called Merivel and I remember liking it better because the main character is more mature in that one.
I’m looking forward to Ishiguro’s new book as well. I didn’t read his last one because it didn’t appeal to me, but this one sounds really interesting.
To my great shame, I have not read Remains of the Day… seems like a must read!
It’s an excellent book!
I loved The Remains of the Day and the film too! I haven’t read your other books, but I think I’ve read something else along the lines of The Collector of Dying Breaths – just can’t remember what though.
Yes, I loved both the film and book as well. The Collector of Dying Breaths was interesting, although the fact that it was a later book in a series definitely affected my enjoyment of it.
Like Kate, I haven’t read The Remains of the Day. How shocking! Nor your other choices either, but it’s an excellent-looking chain, as usual
I would highly recommend The Remains of the Day. It’s a great book.
A Must Read. Noted! Thanks
Clever!
Thanks!
Wonderful chain Helen. The Collection of Dying Breaths does sound very intriguing. I enjoyed Remains of the Day, and though your link is different could get over the T-remain to Remain-s transition!
I didn’t even notice the Tremain/Remains link until you pointed it out!
Nice work. I loved both the book and the movie Remains of the Day
Yes, me too – they’re both great!
The only one of these I’ve read is The Remains of the Day, but I’m interested in all of the books you’ve chosen. This is the danger of Six Degrees!
Yes, Six Degrees is very bad for the TBR!
I always do my posts in advance too, but this time I will need to think about it a bit more than normal!
I do love Elizabeth Chadwick’s books. I must get back to the Eleanor trilogy. I listened to the first one but didn’t get any further.
I loved all three books in the Eleanor trilogy. I still have a lot of other Elizabeth Chadwick books to read, though!
Hi Helen
Thanks for these short notes about these books. We only read ‘Remains of the Day’ and ‘Restauration’. We liked ‘Remains of the Day’ but found ‘Restauration’ a bit boring. It’s not the best of Tremain’s novels.
The Fab Four of Cley
:-):-) 🙂 🙂
I liked Restoration but I thought the sequel, Merivel, was better.
These chains are always interesting to see, I love the variety of links that you’ve used. I havent read any of these books by a few are on my TBR and I’ll have to look up the series that The Collector is part of as it sounds like an interesting premise. Glad to hear you enjoyed The Midnight Guests too.
Thanks! I always enjoy putting these chains together as I never know where I’m going to end up.