Autumn 2023

LITERATURE
Recommended Reading
Read all the
recommended
best-sellers? What
a change of genre?
Looking for a new
author for a totally
different sort of
read? Try these
recommendations
from The Cake’s own
literary guru Christine
Newman
You can take your
pick from thriller,
historical fiction,
romance and real-life
drama. If you like
what you read, you can book
tickets to hear the authors speak
at the Cranbrook Literature
Festival on 13 and 14 October
(www.cranbrookliteraturefestival.
com).
Two Women in Rome
by Elizabeth Buchan
This is a beautifully atmospheric
new tale from the prizewinning,
best-selling novelist Elizabeth
Buchan. Lottie Archer arrives in
Rome newly married, excited and
ready for change as she takes up
a job as an archivist. When she
discovers a valuable 15th-century
painting, she is drawn to find out
more about the woman who left it
behind and, in doing so, unravels
a tragic love story beset by the
political turmoil of post-war Italy.
The Beekeeper of Aleppo and
Songbirds by Christy Lefteri
In The Beekeeper of Aleppo,
beekeeper Nuri and his wife,
Afra – an artist – live a simple
life, rich in family and friends,
in the beautiful Syrian city of
Aleppo – until the unthinkable
happens. When all they care for
is destroyed by war, they are
forced to escape. Songbirds is set
in the author’s native Cyprus,
and Christy Lefteri has crafted
a triumphant follow-up to The
Beekeeper of Aleppo, which
illuminates the power of the
human spirit and the enduring
love of a mother for her child.
The Trawlerman by
William Shaw
This thriller is pacy, intense and
riddled with surprising twists,
and The Trawlerman shows
that deceit can be found in
the most unlikely places. The
brooding waters of the Kent
coastline offer an ominous
backdrop for this lively thriller
of corruption, mental health
and the complexities of human
connection.
The Favour by Nicci French
When Liam unexpectedly turns
up in Jude’s life after ten years
of no contact, asking her for a
favour, she just can’t say no.
He was her first love, and even
though she is now a successful
doctor and about to get married,
he will always be someone
special to her. But after she does
the favour, she is contacted by
the police, informing her that
Liam has been found dead, and
suddenly she is caught up in a
murder investigation.
Winchelsea by Alex Preston
The year is 1742. Goody Brown,
saved from drowning and
adopted when just a babe,
has grown up happily in the
smuggling town of Winchelsea.
But when she turns 16, her
father is murdered by men he
thought were friends. In a town
where lawlessness prevails,
Goody and her brother Francis
must enter the cut-throat world
of her father's killers in order
to find justice. Facing high
seas and desperate villains,
she discovers what life can
be like without constraints or
expectations, developing a taste
for danger that makes her blood
run fast.
26 The Cake • Autumn 2023