NHFT virtual book club meeting #38 - Daughters of Night

Returning from contemporary Japan via Durian Sukegawa's touching Sweet Bean Paste, we have arrived in Georgian London courtesy of Laura Shepherd-Robinson's Daughters of Night.

London, 1782. Desperate for her politician husband to return home from France, Caroline 'Caro' Corsham is already in a state of anxiety when she finds a well-dressed woman mortally wounded in the bowers of the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. 

The Bow Street constables are swift to act, until they discover that the deceased woman was a highly-paid prostitute, at which point they cease to care entirely. But Caro has motives of her own for wanting to see justice done, and so sets out to solve the crime herself. 

Enlisting the help of thieftaker, Peregrine Child, their inquiry delves into the hidden corners of Georgian society, a world of artifice, deception and secret lives.

But with many gentlemen refusing to speak about their dealings with the dead woman, and Caro's own reputation under threat, finding the killer will be harder, and more treacherous than she can know . . .

‘Daughters of Night has everything a historical crime thriller needs – intrigue, attention to detail, suspense, colourful characters and heroines a plenty. A triumph in its field.’ – The Wee Review

‘I would gamble what’s left of my virtue on Daughters of Night being the best historical crime novel I will read this year.’ - Antonia Senior, The Times

We'll be meeting on Thursday 29th of August via MS Teams where we will be discussing the novel. You can find the link via the Events Calendar on the Staff Room.

Hope to see you there...

NHFT virtual book club meeting #37 - Sweet Bean Paste

After our visit to Charon County, Virgina, via S.A. Cosby's searing mix of crime, religion and race in the superb gritty thriller All the Sinners Bleed, we are off to Japan for a rather different tale of friendship and social stigma in Durian Sukegawa's Sweet Bean Paste.

Sentaro has failed. He has a criminal record, drinks too much, and his dream of becoming a writer is just a distant memory. With only the blossoming of the cherry trees to mark the passing of time, he spends his days in a tiny confectionery shop selling dorayaki, a type of pancake filled with sweet bean paste.

But everything is about to change.

Into his life comes Tokue, an elderly woman with disfigured hands and a troubled past. Tokue makes the best sweet bean paste Sentaro has ever tasted. She begins to teach him her craft, but as their friendship flourishes, social pressures become impossible to escape and Tokue’s dark secret is revealed, with devastating consequences.

‘Simply delicious.’ – The Guardian 

‘An endearing, thoughtful tale about relationships and the everyday meaning of life....’ – Library Journal

‘A subtle, moving exploration of redemption in an unforgiving society... A book with deceptive heft and lingering resonance.’ - Japan Times

We'll be meeting on Thursday 25th of July via MS Teams where we will be discussing the novel. You can find the link via the Events Calendar on the Staff Room.

Hope to see you there...