Best of the best books 2018

Beadyjans favourite books 2018 My top 10

We're all doing it - frantically compiling lists of our favourite reads in 2018. 

I don't know why we readers feel compelled to make lists of everything but its a common trait, and we love reading other peoples lists too. So while I should really be making a shopping list, a packing list for my festive break etc, here's a list of my very favourite reads over the past 12 months.

UPDATE: - Already I'm fretting that I missed a few books I adored and then I've just finished reading yet another which really blew me away. Do not view this as a definitive list!!

2018 has been a year of change for me, we bought a little holiday home in the sun which has proven to be rather a mixed blessing and I finally escaped the job I loathed and have landed firmly on my feet working for the most amazing and lovely small family business, who have all but adopted me, not just employed me. I only wish I'd started working for them donkeys years ago and could have made a lifelong career with them rather than working out my last few years until retirement.

It has also been the year before Brexit which is grieving me so sorely I can't bear to speak more of it, so here we go with something more cheerful: 

Books I've loved reading this year.

Some are titles I've been fortunate enough to read in advance of publication and a few may not be published until early 2019. As a Book-blogger I'm brought into contact with many authors and titles I may not otherwise have discovered and I'm in the privileged position of reading many new books as soon, or even before, they are published. For this, I thank all the publishers, authors and blog tour organisers for helping me find so many books which have made a great impact on me.

2018 for me, has been THE year of the historical novel. 

I just don’t seem to have been able to get enough of escaping the madness of 2018 by travelling back into the past and there have been some damn good offerings so that it’s come as no surprise that the majority of my top ten are from the historical genre:
My top 10 books are as follows:

1. The Corset by Laura Purcell 

The Corset is a very worthy successor to her extremely good previous book The Silent Companions. However for me The Corset is in a league of its own. The book I wish I’d written and will probably still be telling people to read in ten years time.

2. The Binding Bridget Collins

So good I want to cry just thinking about it.

3. Walls of silence - Ruth Wade 

Wonderful story telling with a killer twist that punched me in the gut.

4. Blackberry and Wild Rose – Sonia Velton

DO judge this book by it's cover - the words inside are as glorious as the image on the outside, a stunning debut novel built around the lives of Huguenot silk weavers.

5. The Story Keeper Anna Mazzola (review to follow as part of the blog tour in January)

Beautifully descriptive, set on the Isle of Skye following the Highland Clearances.

6. Salt Creek – Lucy Treloar

Stunning award-winning novel set in the far-flung Coorong Australia.

7. When Winter comes – VA Shannon

Truly wonderful gripping book about the tragedy surrounding the real pioneering Donner Party.

8. The lighthouse keepers daughter – Hazel Gaynor

Lovely romantic fiction based on the life of Grace Darling.

9. Ghost – Helen Grant

Delightful dual-time frame novel of the lives of two young women, past and present which become entwined.


10. The Perfect Friend – Barbara Copperthwaite

The only contemporary thriller in my top  this year and no surprise it’s by my go-to author when I want a shiver to run down my spine – the sublime Barbara Copperthwaite who nearly always manages to get into my top reads lists and if you haven’t read any of her books yet – start now.

That's my top ten and I really must add an honourable mention to The Glovemaker by Ann Weisgarber which really should be on my list too and a nod to 2019 and a note to watch out for this one ..... The Doll Factory by Elizabeth MacNeil and apologies to anyone else whose book I've loved, there were just too darned many this year!!

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Blog Tour Once Upon a River Diane Setterfield

Once Upon A River by Diane Setterfield

Today sees me taking part in the blog tour for a new book that I predict is going to be HUGE. It is the long-awaited new title from Diane Setterfield, noted author of the bestseller The Thirteenth Tale.

My thoughts:

Already being hailed as a masterpiece of storytelling Once upon a River is an otherworldly tale of myth and legend woven around the winding river Thames in times gone by.

It's a book-lovers book based on traditional storytelling, with a touch of magic, a hint of the supernatural and a lot of twisting and turning. As the river meanders so does the tale.

Although its a relaxing piece of escapism, don't get too comfortable, this is a book with depth and needs a good level of concentration to follow it, constructed as it is from lots of separate stories which weave together to become a book.

This clever and mysterious book is set in various hostelries and Inns along the river in an indistinct past era, where storytellers gather and tales get passed on until nobody is sure which are fact and what is fiction.

We begin our journey in the Swan Inn nestled on the banks of the Thames. This is a waterman's Inn which has been there for years and where drinkers gather at the end of a long shift to chat and yarn and sup together. One particular evening a disturbance interrupts the cosy scene when a drenched, wounded man stumbles through the door carrying the body of a young child in his arms.

As patrons and workers rush to help, the man is bedded down in a spare room and following a careful examination which reveals the little girl is not breathing, her body is also laid to rest. But in the morning whilst the man remains part conscious, the girl suddenly draws a breath and wakes. Is it a miracle? Or something more sinister?

As folk try to work out who she is, the strangely silent child becomes the pivot around which stories unfold and one by one we learn about mysteries and tragedies, all of which, as they unfold make the reader realise that there is something of the folklore about each event and personage around which this story unwinds.

We have a couple awaiting the return of a missing child who was taken by the river who claim her as their own, a man who may be her grandfather, is she a daughter or sister or perhaps she is a creature of the river who never belonged to anyone human?

There's a great sense of mystery and loss and longing in this intriguing book and you are never quite sure whether what you are reading is a factual account, a richly embroidered rural legend or merely a fairytale told to while away the dark hours spent in an Inn by the River. The characters are rich and lively and a teeny bit larger than life, with foibles and quirks, many have mysteries and dark deeds hidden in their pasts.

If this hasn't whetted your appetite enough to rush out and buy this magical book here is the publishers blurb to tempt you further

The Blurb:

THE LONG-AWAITED, SPELLBINDING NEW NOVEL FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE BESTSELLING THE THIRTEENTH TALE, A 'MISTRESS OF THE CRAFT OF STORYTELLING' (Guardian).

A dark midwinter’s night in an ancient inn on the Thames. The regulars are entertaining themselves by telling stories when the door bursts open on an injured stranger. In his arms is the drowned corpse of a little child. 

Hours later the dead girl stirs, takes a breath and returns to life. 

Is it a miracle? 

Is it magic? 

Or can it be explained by science? 

An exquisitely crafted multi-layered mystery brimming with folklore, suspense and romance, as well as with the urgent scientific curiosity of the Darwinian age, Once Upon a River is as richly atmospheric as Setterfield’s bestseller The Thirteenth Tale.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: DianeSetterfield’s bestselling novel, The Thirteenth Tale waspublished in 38 countries, sold more than three million copies, and was madeinto a television drama scripted by Christopher Hampton, starring Olivia Colmanand Vanessa Redgrave. Her second novel was Bellman & Black, and her new novel is Once Upon a River. Born in rural Berkshire, she now lives near Oxford, by the Thames.

Website : http://www.dianesetterfield.com/

Twitter : @DianeSetterfie1

Author Page on Facebook

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Rustic Recipes The Woodburner cookbook by Jennifer Lunenborg - Review and #Giveaway

And now for something completely different .... Today I am reviewing a recipe book and bringing news of a #giveaway of this book

It's called Rustic Recipes - the Woodburner Cookbook by Jennifer Lunenborg

My Review:

The author has drawn on her own experience of cooking without power to create this collection of recipes which, in addition to being cooked by the more usual oven methods, have been tried and tested for cooking on your woodburner stove. This would have been SO handy the Christmas we had a power cut in a holiday cottage with only a logburner to keep us warm, we could have cooked on it, but I didn't even try.

So, whether you're coping with a sudden power-cut, or are a complete eco-warrior living off-grid in a Yurt, you too can produce tasty hearty meals from your woodburner stove.

The first recipes are all for hearty soups perfect to come home to after a day outdoors, from hearty minestrone to delicious pumpkin soup and there's even a recipe for stinging nettle soup which sits alongside a host of recipes using foraging as the inspiration. My taste is more for the delicious leek and potato.

In the Savoury dishes collection there is something to suit every palate, whether you fancy Stilton and leek tartlets (yum), or pizza, curry or the enigmatic sounding Dutch Stamppot, which can also be made as a vegetarian dish. I will be trying several of these (but using my trusty electric oven).

Completed with a handful of accompaniments, basics and puddings (Jam roly poly included of course) there are even some festive recipes to impress your guests with.

I am quite intrigued by the idea of cooking on a wood stove, this is a nicely thought out collection of recipes which will appeal to anyone hankering after the Good life and would make an ideal gift for your friend who loves to gather sustainable wood for their stove and enjoys a quick forage whilst they're in the woods, even if it is between quick trips to Waitrose.

A copy of this book is available as a prize giveaway I am helping organize on the Homecare supplies Facebook page (They also sell some amazing woodburners, multifuel stoves, Gas fires, range cookers and accessories for your stove so please visit it, have a browse and enter our competition to win this book)

Alternatively you can find it here

The Blurb:

More than just a recipe book, but a lifestyle change, encouraging time out from busy schedules to learn from a simpler time. This book not only contains 50 recipes, ranging from hearty soups to rustic French, Italian and Dutch dishes, to a section on foraging; but also gives snippets of information on each recipe, for example; how the chocolate truffle was invented, why carrots are orange? etc.

The book is intended as a rough guide, encouraging its readers to try cooking on their woodburner when they have time, but equally it can be used as a standard recipe book.
This book is a way of bringing that desire for ‘The Good Life’ into everyday living.   

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Review - The Taking of Annie Thorne - C.J. Tudor - terrifying.

The Taking of Annie Thorne - by C.J. Tudor.

My thoughts:

Here's one SCARY tale for you, horror at its creepy shivery best.

Wow, this is a fabulous, scary, menacing story, that had me gripped all the way through. It's every bit as good as C J Tudor's wonderful previous book the Chalk man and similar in style and type of setting, though both are very different, stand-alone novels. This is a superb horror story well worthy of comparisons to Stephen King.

Our protagonist is Joe Thorne, he's a teacher who returns to his childhood hometown, an old pit village called Arnhill, near Nottingham, to take up a position teaching at the local school he was once a pupil at. Joe is quite a complex character, though one I really liked. He obviously has a bit of a past, both back when he was a boy and in the intervening 25 years since he left school as he seems to know a few really dodgy characters and it isn't long until he starts bumping into folk from his childhood, this is a small town with that claustrophobic feel, where everyone knows everyone else and you just can't avoid anyone for long.

He doesn't want to avoid people though, he's come back to confront a terrible event which happened when he was 15 and discover once and for all what happened to his little sister Annie, whom he adored. At only 8 years old she went missing. He has had a cryptic anonymous message saying only, it's happening again and he is reluctantly drawn back to this gloomy place, shadowed by the traces of the old mine which created the town in it's heyday, then virtually destroyed it following it's closure. Now turned into a piece of parkland the Pit looms around every corner and it's influence remains in the very air of Arnhill.

Like the authors first book, it is told in dual time as Joe narrates it now and then takes us back to when he was a lad, when the story of what happened to little Annie is the stuff nightmares are made of.

This is one heck of a scary book, creepingly fearful it oozes with a malignant miasma that taints everything it touches. Even the house Joe rents has its secrets. There is a taint of a murder which was committed there, we are treated to chittering, skittering creepy crawlies, and the overwhelming sense that something, or someone is out to get Joe.


Several storylines intertwine and we are never quite sure who, of the many brilliant characters can be trusted and who is to be viewed as an enemy. If you like something to send shivers down your spine this is the perfect book to curl up with by a cozy fire this winter, but maybe not when you're completely alone in the house.

The Blurb.

One night, Annie went missing. Disappeared from her own bed. There were searches, appeals. Everyone thought the worst. And then, miraculously, after forty-eight hours, she came back. But she couldn't, or wouldn't, say what had happened to her.

Something happened to my sister. I can't explain what. I just know that when she came back, she wasn't the same. She wasn't my Annie.


I didn't want to admit, even to myself, that sometimes I was scared to death of my own little sister.

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Blog Tour A Good Death - Michael Bagley

I am welcoming Micheal Bagley to Beadyjans Book Blog to celebrate the launch of his new book, A Good Death.

Here Michael reveals the main characteristics of his lead protagonist:

Five characteristics of my main protagonist.

Although one person begins as an antagonist, readers may think he becomes a protagonist later. 

The main protagonist:

• He’s 26, middle class, with a ‘good’ job and he drives a new Audi Quattro. Outwardly, then, he’s in the prime of life.

• But inwardly he’s stalled, frustrated with life and his job holds no satisfaction for him. The future seems boringly predictable. Like many people, he’s looking for a outlet and a new challenge.

• His relationships with the opposite sex remain largely sexual. Meaningful relationships are what he reads in novels.

• He does have two close friends, who he sees every Friday night and within this semi-drunken culture he finds solace.


• He’s also very intelligent. As his father tells him, “You have an IQ of 144. You should be conquering the world” and, secretly, he knows it.

So If you love books with well planned complex characters A Good Death may well be the novel for you this Christmas.

Heres the blurb to whet your appetite a little more.

The year is 2028 and it’s a stunning spring day on the Lincolnshire Wolds, when Bess finally persuades her Uncle John to tell her the story of the family scandal that’s been merely whispered about at weddings and funerals. We’re then transported back fifteen years where, as a young man, John Stafford is forced to chase his father across the USA and Europe.

We discover, over three time-zones, that A Good Death is essentially about three characters: an embittered, former military father, a quiet, troubled son, suddenly thrust into the midst of a family crisis, and a bright, questioning young woman, who acts as conscience to both uncle and grandfather. The relationship between all three is constantly tested, as John discovers aspects of his father’s past, and is forced to remember disturbing elements of his own history, when he was just a small child.


The novel is about love and hate and betrayal and in parts it’s a dark story. But all three characters are on their own personal journeys – which each feels compelled to make – and they don’t end until back in 2028, where fate, at long last, waits.

Published by Clink Street Publishing the book is out now and can be ordered from your favourite seller. Find it here on Amazon and read more about it on Goodreads. 

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Blog Tour and review - The Blue - Nancy Bilyeau

Welcome to the Blog Tour for yet another fascinating historical fiction book The Blue by Nancy Bilyeau.

My thoughts on this book with its beautiful blue and white cover.

It was the cover which drew me in, as its so pretty and reminds me somewhat of another book I recently read and enjoyed – Midnight Blue by Simone Van Der Vlugt which is also historical fiction focussing on the life of a woman involved in decorating porcelain and pottery.

The heroine of Nancy Bilyeau's new book, The Blue is Genevieve Planche – of Huguenot descent, a young woman who desperately wants her ambition to be a famous painter to be taken seriously but in 18th century Spitalfields this is an almost impossible goal.

Parallels here, too as I also recently read BlackBerry and Wild Rose by Sonia Velton, set in spitalfields amidst the Huguenot silk weavers. If you like this type of book here are 3 great reads to spend your Christmas book tokens on!

Back to The Blue ....

Trying to emulate her hero the renowned painter Hogarth Genevieve is determined to learn and develop her skills as an artist and feels this will be wasted in the job which she has been offered as a painter of flowers in a factory, little does she comprehend the deadly allure of the secrets of porcelain and in particular the production of the perfect Blue which people are dying to get hold of, literally.

Genevieve is a misfit, her family name marks her out as a Frenchwoman but living in an England at war with France this instantly makes her a bit of a pariah. She is also outspoken, a risk taker and somewhat reckless. Far from the perfect, biddable young lady her uncle tries to mould her into becoming she gatecrashes a party where she knows famous faces in the art world will be present convinced she will be able to persuade one of her idols to take her on as an apprentice. When she is brushed aside and scorned she comes into contact with a charming and rakish young man who promises to be her stepping stone into the society she longs to join, if she will only make a compromise which may prove to be her undoing. 


At this point I felt the book might dissolve into a regency romance a la Barbara Cartland but I needn’t have worried as what evolves is a complex and twisty tale of mystery, deceit and espionage set in an art-filled background. 

There is romance and passion but this is a well-researched and written novel with lots going on to keep the reader gripped. The locations of London, Derby and France are particularly atmospheric and the characters often flawed and complicated. 

With so much going on it gets quite complex at times but never boring and is a must for readers who enjoy historical fiction with enough historical fact and a few real historical characters thrown in to feel realistic as well as entertaining and lively.

Genevieve is charming and rather feckless, sometimes she annoyed me but I was rotting for her all the way, through her adventures and many misadventures. You know she's making bad decisions yet you can also see why she does and what she ends up involved in - well you'll have to read it to find out.

It can be ordered from the usual booksellers and here it is on Amazon.

The Blurb

In eighteenth century London, porcelain is the most seductive of commodities; fortunes are made and lost upon it. Kings do battle with knights and knaves for possession of the finest pieces and the secrets of their manufacture.

For Genevieve Planché, an English-born descendant of Huguenot refugees, porcelain holds far less allure; she wants to be an artist, a painter of international repute, but nobody takes the idea of a female artist seriously in London. If only she could reach Venice. 

When Genevieve meets the charming Sir Gabriel Courtenay, he offers her an opportunity she can’t refuse; if she learns the secrets of porcelein, he will send her to Venice. But in particular, she must learn the secrets of the colour blue… 

The ensuing events take Genevieve deep into England’s emerging industrial heartlands, where not only does she learn about porcelain, but also about the art of industrial espionage. 


With the heart and spirit of her Huguenot ancestors, Genevieve faces her challenges head on, but how much is she willing to suffer in pursuit and protection of the colour blue? 

About the author:

Nancy Bilyeau has worked on the staffs of InStyle, DuJour, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, and Good Housekeeping. She is currently the deputy editor of the Center on Media, Crime and Justice at City University of New York and a regular contributor to Town & Country, Purist, and The Vintage News.

A native of the Midwest, she earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan. THE CROWN, her first novel and an Oprah pick, was published in 2012; the sequel, THE CHALICE, followed in 2013. The third in the trilogy, THE TAPESTRY, was published by Touchstone in 2015. Her fourth novel, THE BLUE, will be publishing on 3^rd December.

Nancy lives in New York City with her husband and two children.

Website: http://nancybilyeau.com/

Twitter: @tudorscribe

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