Lisa See: Lady Tan's Circle of Women, Simon + Schuster UK, paperback & ebook available

"Lady Tan's Circle of Women" falls into one of my favorite reading categories, historical based on true facts.  Who would have thought that China had female doctors in the 15th century who, although considered inferior,  where  extremely knowledgable and allowed to treat women's illnesses,  often working together with midwives.

Tan Yunxian really existed but Lisa See took fictional liberties to tell the captivating  story of a female doctor, born into an elite family,  who received her medical training from her grandmother, knowledge passed down through generations.   After being married into an aristocratic family with a mother in law from hell and no longer living under her grandparents protection,  she has to go against convention using every diplomatic skill to be able to help ailing women. 

This is also a  great story of female friendship.  Meiling, a midwife, and Tan seem destined by fate from girlhood onwards to become the rock in each others lives, working together to make female life medically safer during the Ming dynasty .  A great historical read, loved it. 

 Joseph O' Connor: The Ghosts of Rome, Harvill Secker, trade paperback 9781787303881, pub date: January 30, 2025, 

"My Father's House" by Joseph O Connor, the prequel to a" The Ghosts of Rome" , is one of these literary historical thrillers that will stay with you for a while. 

 I was thrilled to be able to read the netgalley of " Ghosts of  Rome" which continues with the work of "The choir", a group of exceptional individuals trapped in the Vatican,  helping people to escape certain death during the Nazi occupation of Rome in 1943/44.   The writing in different voices depending on the background of certain characters is what captured me as did the story although I have to confess to me it lacked the  brilliance of the first book.  Coming in January 2025...

 Charlotte Wood: Stone Yard Devotional, Sceptre, paperback and ebook 

Longlisted for the Booker Prize this year, "Stone Yard Devotional"  is one of these books I would describe as strangely weird but so  beautifully written that you wonder how Charlotte Wood pulled it off. 

At times sobering and sad, I could not stop reading the story of a woman who leaves her husband and life behind, despite not being religious but in search of freedom and peace, to join a small community of nuns in the Australian outback. Add to that an invasion of mice in the convent,  the arrival of the remains of a former nun and another disturbing visitor not only the narrator shares a past with, it is not surprising that the feeling of why should I continue to read this strange story surfaced sometimes. 

But Wood is a remarkable writer, short chapters with reflections on life, flashbacks of the woman's past and  current challenges lend the novel an almost mediative quality.  It is a very special novel about female friendship, solidarity and perseverance. I am very glad I read it.  As was the case with The Weekend, her other brilliant novel about female friendship.