On this page I will be keeping track of my progress in any 2025 reading challenges and events I decide to participate in. For details of challenges completed in the years 2009-2024 see my Completed Challenges page.

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Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2025

Hosted by The Intrepid Reader.

Books read:

Note: As last year, I am recording some additional statistics here (setting, source etc) to help with my end-of-year round up posts. NG = NetGalley. OC = Own Copy. NA = New (to me) Author. HFIT (Historical Fiction in Translation). DT (Dual Timeline)

1. The Ghosts of Rome by Joseph O’Connor – 2025, NG, Italy/Vatican, 20th century
2. The Queen of Fives by Alex Hay – 2025, NG, England, 19th century
3. The Resurrectionist by A. Rae Dunlap – 2025, NG, Scotland, 19th century
4. The Secrets of the Rose by Nicola Cornick – 2025, NG, England, 18th century (DT)
5. Woman in Blue by Douglas Bruton – 2025, NG, Netherlands, 17th century (DT)
6. Island Song by Pepsi Demacque-Crockett – 2025, NG, St Lucia/England, 20th century, NA
7. The Impossible Thing by Belinda Bauer – 2025, NG, England/Wales, 20th century (DT), NA
8. The Lost Passenger by Frances Quinn – 2025, NG, England/USA, 20th century
9. Clear by Carys Davies – 2024, NG, Scotland, 19th century, NA
10. Murder at Gulls Nest by Jess Kidd – 2025, NG, England, 20th century
11. Moonfleet by John Meade Falkner – 1898, OC, England/Netherlands, 18th century, NA
12. The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry – 2024, OC, USA, 19th century, NA
13. The Queen and the Countess by Anne O’Brien – 2025, NG, England, 15th century
14. The Eights by Joanna Miller – 2025, NG, England, 20th century, NA
15. The Hymn to Dionysus by Natasha Pulley – 2025, NG, Ancient Greece
16. Mother Naked by Glen James Brown – 2024, OC, England, 15th century, NA
17. The Versailles Formula by Nancy Bilyeau – 2025, NG, England/France, 18th century
18. The Darkening Globe by Naomi Kelsey – 2025, NG, England, 16th century, NA
19. The Midnight Carousel by Fiza Saeed McLynn – 2025, NG, England/France/US, 20th century, NA
20. The Woman in the Wallpaper by Lora Jones – 2025, NG, France, 18th century, NA
21. Cleopatra by Natasha Solomons – 2025, NG, Ancient Egypt
22. The Edinburgh Murders by Catriona McPherson – 2025, NG, Scotland, 20th century
23. Traitor’s Legacy by S.J. Parris – 2025, NG, England, 16th century
24. The Sirens by Emilia Hart – 2025, NG, Australia, 19th/20th century (DT)
25. The Cardinal by Alison Weir – 2025, NG, England, 16th century
26. The Surgeon’s House by Jody Cooksley – 2025, NG, England, 19th century, NA
27. Love, Sex & Frankenstein by Caroline Lea – 2025, NG, Switzerland, 19th century
28. Before Dorothy by Hazel Gaynor – 2025, NG, USA, 20th century
29. A Schooling in Murder by Andrew Taylor – 2025, NG, Wales, 20th century
30. The Hounding by Xenobe Purvis – 2025, NG, England, 18th century, NA
31. The Rush by Beth Lewis – 2025, NG, Canada, 19th century, NA
32. These Wicked Devices by Matthew Plampin – 2025, NG, Italy, 17th century
33. The Art of a Lie by Laura Shepherd-Robinson – 2025, NG, England, 18th century
34. The Mourning Necklace by Kate Foster – 2025, NG, Scotland, 18th century
35. Love & Other Poisons by Lesley McDowell – 2025, NG, Scotland, 19th century
36. A Case of Life and Limb by Sally Smith – 2025, NG, England, 20th century
37. The Lily and the Lion by Maurice Druon – 1959, OC, France, 14th century
38. Sinners by Elizabeth Fremantle – 2025, NG, Italy, 16th century
39. The Emerald Shawl by Louise Douglas – 2025, NG, England, 19th century
40. How to Lose a Lord in Ten Days by Sophie Irwin – 2025, NG, England, 19th century
41. Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault – 1969, OC, Macedonia/Greece, 4th century BC
42. The Greek House by Dinah Jefferies – 2025, NG, Greece (Corfu), 20th century
43. The House at Devil’s Neck by Tom Mead – 2025, NG, England, 20th century
44. No Life For a Lady by Hannah Dolby – 2023, OC, England, 19th century, NA
45. The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell – 2017, OC, England, 19th/17th century, DT
46. The Portrait Artist by Dani Heywood-Lonsdale – 2025, NG, England, 19th century, NA
47. The House of Seymour by Joanna Hickson – 2025, NG, England, 15th century
48. The Elopement by Gill Hornby – 2025, NG, England, 19th century
49. The Predicament by William Boyd – 2025, NG, England/Germany/Guatemala, 20th century
50. Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon – 2024, OC, Sicily, 5th Century BC, NA
51. A Ghost Hunter’s Guide to Solving a Murder by F.H. Petford – 2025, NG, England, 20th century, NA
52. Simon the Coldheart by Georgette Heyer – 1925, OC, England/France, 15th century
53. Buckeye by Patrick Ryan – 2025, NG, US, 20th century, NA
54. The Christmas Clue by Nicola Upson – 2025, NG, England, 20th century, NA
55. The Twelve Days of Christmas by Susan Stokes-Chapman – 2025, NG, England, 19th century

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Read Christie 2025

Hosted by the official Agatha Christie website

JANUARY – Didn’t take part
FEBRUARY – The Thirteen Problems
MARCH – Didn’t take part
APRIL – Didn’t take part
MAY – A Daughter’s a Daughter
JUNE – A Caribbean Mystery
JULY – Come, Tell Me How You Live
AUGUST – One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
SEPTEMBER – Didn’t take part
OCTOBER – Didn’t take part
NOVEMBER – The Big Four
DECEMBER – Didn’t take part

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Other events and challenges:

JANUARY

Japanese Literature Challenge: The Little Sparrow Murders by Seishi Yokomizo

FEBRUARY

Read Indies/Japanese Literature Challenge – Strange Pictures by Uketsu
Read Indies – The Secrets of the Rose by Nicola Cornick
Read Indies – Woman in Blue by Douglas Bruton

MARCH

Reading Ireland – The Morrigan by Kim Curran
Reading Wales – Clear by Carys Davies
Reading Ireland – The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry

APRIL

1952 Club – Linden Rise by Richmal Crompton
1952 Club – The Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham
1952 Club – Aunt Clara by Noel Streatfeild

JUNE

Reading the Meow – Jennie by Paul Gallico
Reading the Meow – We’ll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida

JULY

Paris in July – The Lily and the Lion by Maurice Druon

SEPTEMBER

RIP XX – Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife by Martin Edwards
RIP XX – Murder at the Black Cat Cafe by Seishi Yokomizo

OCTOBER

RIP XX – White Teeth, Red Blood: Selected Vampiric Verses
RIP XX – A Ghost Hunter’s Guide to Solving a Murder by F.H. Petford
1925 CLUB – Simon the Coldheart by Georgette Heyer
1925 CLUB – The Black Cabinet by Patricia Wentworth
RIP XX – Murder Most Haunted by Emma Mason

NOVEMBER

NOVELLAS IN NOVEMBER – The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas
NOVELLAS IN NOVEMBER – Air by John Boyne
NOVELLAS IN NOVEMBER – Seascraper by Benjamin Wood
MARM / NOVELLAS IN NOVEMBER – Surfacing by Margaret Atwood
NONFICTION NOVEMBER – 100 Books to Live By by Joseph Piercy
GERMAN LIT MONTH – Tales from the Underworld by Hans Fallada
NOVELLAS IN NOVEMBER – The Christmas Clue by Nicola Upson

DECEMBER

DEAN STREET DECEMBER – The Art School Murders by Moray Dalton
DEAN STREET DECEMBER – Alice by Elizabeth Eliot

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Non-fiction:

I’m trying to read more non-fiction books this year and thought I would list them below as I review them:

1. Britain’s Greatest Private Detective by Nell Darby
2. That Dark Spring by Susannah Stapleton
3. The Crying of the Wind: Ireland by Ithell Colquhoun
4. Come, Tell Me How You Live by Agatha Christie
5. Masquerade Balls in Regency Britain by Anne Glover
6. The Living Stones: Cornwall by Ithell Colquhoun
7. A History of England in 25 Poems by Catherine Clarke
8. 100 Books to Live By: Literary Remedies for Any Occasion by Joseph Piercy
9. The Official Agatha Christie Puzzle Book