The Briar Club: Set in Washington DC in the 1950’s during the McCarthy years, this takes place in a boarding house run by a battle axe of a landlady who rents rooms to mostly single women, with strict rules and requirements they confirm to the mores of the day. They’re a disparate bunch of women, each with their own backgrounds and stories – but when Grace March arrives and sets up residence in a tiny room she gradually brings the women together and they become friends and neighbours. When there’s a murder in the house, they have to figure out once and for all – who is the true enemy in their midst? It’s terrific historical fiction, which Kate Quinn always delivers. 

Precipice: Again, this is wonderful historical fiction. It’s about Henry Asquith who was Prime Minister of Britain before WW2 but, at the age of 60 fell madly in love with a woman 35 years younger and used to obsessively send her three letters a day, in which he disclosed a lot of top secret information, and even included telegrams and letters he’d received from generals, ambassadors and royals. This is all true. He was reckless in the extreme and his letters began to be monitored by Scotland Yard, as he increasingly imperilled Britain, being totally hooked on the Hon Venetia Stanley when he should have been planning for war. 

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