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 All Fours by Miranda July. I haven’t read it and probably won’t as it doesn’t really appeal to me, but here’s what it’s about:

A semi-famous artist announces her plan to drive cross-country from LA to NY. Thirty minutes after leaving her husband and child at home, she spontaneously exits the freeway, beds down in a nondescript motel and immerses herself in a temporary reinvention that turns out to be the start of an entirely different journey.

Miranda July’s second novel confirms the brilliance of her unique approach to fiction. With July’s wry voice, perfect comic timing, unabashed curiosity about human intimacy and palpable delight in pushing boundaries, All Fours tells the story of one woman’s quest for a new kind of freedom. Part absurd entertainment, part tender reinvention of the sexual, romantic and domestic life of a 45-year-old female artist, All Fours transcends expectations while excavating our beliefs about life lived as a woman. Once again, July hijacks the familiar and turns it into something new and thrillingly, profoundly alive.

I had no idea how to get started with this month’s chain – I couldn’t think of anything similar I’ve read and nothing in the blurb inspired me. Eventually, I decided to go with another book written by a Miranda: in this case Miranda Malins, author of two historical novels about the family of Oliver Cromwell. Set in the years of Cromwell’s Protectorate following the English Civil War, The Puritan Princess (1) tells the story of his youngest daughter, Frances.

Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris (2) is the story of a manhunt involving two former soldiers who fought in Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army and signed the death warrant that led to the execution of King Charles I. When the monarchy is restored several years later, the two men flee to New England to go into hiding in the new Puritan colonies of Connecticut, Massachusetts Bay and New Haven.

Another book with the word ‘act’ in the title is Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie (3). This is a Poirot novel which also features one of her other recurring characters, Mr Satterthwaite. The two investigate the death of a guest who drops dead at a party hosted by an actor. The book was originally published in 1934.

Also published in 1934 was A Pin to See the Peepshow by F. Tennyson Jesse (4), now available as part of the British Library’s Women Writers series. Part of the novel is based on a true crime known as the Thompson-Bywaters case which took place in 1922. However, the crime element of the story was not as strong as I’d expected and I found it more of a character study of the main character, Julia Almond.

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters (5) is set in London in 1922 and is also inspired by the Thompson-Bywaters case. The ‘paying guests’ of the title are Leonard and Lilian Barber, a married couple who become lodgers in the home of Frances Wray and her mother. What seems at first to be a quiet domestic novel slowly becomes something much more dramatic.

The Paying Guests appeared on the longlist for the 2015 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction but didn’t make the shortlist. A book that did get shortlisted that year was A God in Every Stone by Kamila Shamsie (6). Set in the early 20th century, it follows three characters – a British archaeologist, a Pashtun soldier and a twelve-year-old-boy – who are linked by a search for the legendary Circlet of Scylax.

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And that’s my chain for this month! My links have included: the name Miranda, Oliver Cromwell, the word ‘act’, books published in 1934, the Thompson-Bywaters case and the 2015 Walter Scott Prize.

In July we’ll be starting with Michelle de Kretser’s Theory & Practice.

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.

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 Knife by Salman Rushdie. Here’s what it’s about:

On the morning of 12 August 2022, Salman Rushdie was standing onstage at the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York, preparing to give a lecture on the importance of keeping writers safe from harm, when a man in black – black clothes, black mask – rushed down the aisle towards him, wielding a knife. His first thought: So it’s you. Here you are.

What followed was a horrific act of violence that shook the literary world and beyond. Now, for the first time, Rushdie relives the traumatic events of that day and its aftermath, as well as his journey towards physical recovery and the healing that was made possible by the love and support of his wife, Eliza, his family, his army of doctors and physical therapists, and his community of readers worldwide.

I haven’t read Knife, but I’m going to begin my chain by linking to the one book I have read by Salman Rushdie: The Enchantress of Florence (1). This unusual novel takes us to a 16th century India populated with giants and witches, where emperors have imaginary wives and artists hide inside paintings.

I read The Enchantress of Florence for a reading event called A More Diverse Universe hosted by a fellow blogger in 2013. The following year, for the same event, I read another book by an Indian author – The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan (2). It’s set in 17th century Mughal India and is the first in a trilogy of novels describing the history behind the construction of the Taj Mahal.

From twentieth to tenth now! The Tenth Gift by Jane Johnson (3) is a fictional account of the 1625 raid on Cornwall by Barbary pirates who took sixty men, women and children into captivity to be sold at the slave markets of Morocco. The novel is divided between the past and the modern day, focusing on the story of one of the young women abducted during the raid.

Another author known for her books set in her native Cornwall is Daphne du Maurier. I could have chosen several of her novels for my chain, but I’ve decided on Jamaica Inn (4). This 1936 classic features stormy weather, smugglers, locked rooms, shipwrecks, desolate moors, and a remote, lonely inn – everything you could ask for in a Gothic novel! It isn’t one of my absolute favourites by du Maurier, but I enjoyed it much more on a re-read several years ago.

Using Jamaica as my next link, Small Island by Andrea Levy (5) is about a Jamaican couple who leave their island in the 1940s to come to another island, Britain. The book is narrated by the two Jamaican characters and the British couple whose house they lodge in, giving a range of voices and perspectives.

My final book is linked by a word in the title (island) and also a theme of immigration. Island Song by Pepsi Demacque-Crockett (6) follows the stories of two people from St Lucia who start new lives in London in the 1950s. The book is inspired by the author’s own family history and I enjoyed reading about the experiences of the characters, both good and bad.

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And that’s my chain for April! The links have included Salman Rushdie books, blogging events, positional numbers, Cornwall, Jamaica and immigration. My chain has taken me from India to St Lucia via Italy, Morocco, England and Jamaica!

Next month we’ll be starting with Rapture by Emily Maguire.