london

Gwendolyn Bainbridge and Iris Sparks attend a mutual friend’s wedding and hit it off immediately, both taking credit for the match. After a lovely lunch the pair decide to go into business together opening The Right Sort Marriage Bureau in Mayfair, London in 1946. Their services are much sought after and their pairings have lead to many happy marriages so far. They both have the ability to size people up and get a clear reading of personalities and secrets being withheld. 

Iris doesn’t talk about her training and time spent during the War. But she’s got a lot of particular skills useful for

"After their English aunt dies, listless American twins Julia and Valentina travel to London to live in their aunt's now empty flat overlooking Highgate Cemetery. There they become embroiled in the day-to-day sagas of their eccentric neighbors. But soon they discover that something is alive in Highgate--something unable to move on."

A haunted, aging apartment in north London, bordering one of the most famous cemeteries in the world, complete with an unusual set of inhabitants and a bit of London's darker history sprinkled throughout . . . no one had to convince me to pick this one up. 

Un

Everyone famous has to be discovered at some point in time. Jimi Hendrix was discovered in 1966 while playing guitar for a funky rock group in one of Manhattan's numerous clubs. Linda Keith, then girlfriend of Keith Richards, becomes captivated while Jimi plays and begins a frantic search to make him a star. She eventually lands Chas Chandler from the Animals as Jimi's new manager and whisks him away to London which is where, in the middle of the historical rock-and-roll scene, Jimi makes his mark on the music world and begins his journey to stardom.

Although this movie focuses less on his

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins is a fast-paced murder mystery with lots of twists and turns throughout. It is July 2013 and Rachel, a middle-aged single woman, commutes by train to London every day. She has memorized everything about the trip, from the stops to the landscape, and has become particularly fascinated by a happy couple she sees almost everyday. But then one day she sees something new and she cannot let it go. And then the rug is pulled out from underneath her when her dreamy couple becomes one of London's most intriguing headlines.

The similarities between this novel to

The improbably-named Cormoran Strike, a war-wounded vet with overdue bills to pay, has an equally improbable day; his fiancé dumps him, he accidentally hires a new secretary, and the biggest case of his career walks through the door.  This is how Robert Galbraith’s (aka J.K. Rowling’s) book The Cuckoo's Calling starts out, and thankfully, it gets much better from that over-the-top introduction.  When young model Lula Landry falls to her death from her balcony, family members deny it was a suicide.  Strike is brought in to prove that someone killed Lula, and he digs up family secrets and plenty

These poignant and lightly humorous episodes are based on Jennifer Worth’s memoirs about midwifery in East London in the 1950's.  The nurses and nuns that run Nonnatus House are well developed, and I especially adore nurse Chummy Browne’s fish out of water storylines.   Sister Monica Jean’s aging-but -still -feisty storyline is also very affecting.  The plots of some of the episodes can get a little heavy since we are dealing with 1950’s obstetrics and gynecology, so be prepared for  messy births, unhealthy mothers and children, and frank discussion of Catholicism vs. birth control.   I

When I first started reading The Bone Season I wasn’t sure I would like it. There was a fair amount of slang and the tone was dark. Even after finishing it, I can’t say it’ll be on my favorites list. And yet, it was compelling, drawing me in so I had to know how it would end. 

Of course, being the first book in a series it doesn’t really “end." Nevertheless, I was intrigued by the plot and felt for the characters. The Bone Season is a kind of alternate history/science fiction/urban fiction tale with a bit of steampunk thrown in. It takes place in England in the year 2059 and centers around

Dodger, a stand-alone novel by Terry Pratchett, is a quirky, adventurous, and wonderfully fun read for anyone who enjoys historical novels. The story takes place in an alternative Victorian London, where the protagonist not only meets Charles Dickens, but also Queen Victoria and Sweeny Todd.  Readers get to follow Dodger into the sewers of London, and bear witness to his quest for revenge, knowledge and, quite possibly, love. This novel quickly convinces readers to root for Dodger, and engrosses them into Victorian London with dialogue that is written in appropriate dialect and witty humor

The Last Letter from Your Lover opens with Jennifer Stirling, a woman of high society in 1960s London, who wakes from a coma following a car accident.  Suffering from amnesia, she struggles to piece together her past and regain some semblance of normalcy and happiness in a life she can’t remember.  Her curiosity is piqued when she discovers tucked away love letters, placing hope in the possibility that she can discretely find and escape to her lover, identified only as “B.”

The details begin falling into place as Moyes takes readers on an intriguing journey that bounces back and forth between

Anita Shreve's novels usually require patience on the part of the reader, and this book is no exception--in fact it can be quite demanding!  But the deeper the reader can get with this particular book,  more intricate and rewarding levels are mined.

Paul Sturgis is an elderly but vigorous bachelor living in London who contemplates his preferred isolation to his need for companionship, and who becomes marginally involved with two diametricaly opposite types of women.  This event alone culminates in a crisis of spirit and realization as the protagonist examines his current status, and begins to