Emma's Bookish Lifestyle

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson My rating: 5 of 5 stars This book follows the life and reincarnations of Ursula Todd. This immensely moving story starts with her unfortunate birth and death by strangulation of the umbilical cord in February 1910 and leads us through the twists and turns of not only her's but her families life through two world wars and a number of reincarnations. Ursula battles both for her own singular existence whilst trying to maintain a strong moral compass, whilst struggling to remain somewhat detached from the overall impact on those surrounding her both family and friends. I would highly recommend this book to all historical and literary fiction lovers, the way that Kate Atkinson has written this book takes you by the hand on a winding path to which you are uncertain where it may lead next, or the fateful cost it may have on Ursula and the Todd Family. There is a loosely fitting sequel to this book "God in Ruins...

The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar My rating: 1 of 5 stars This book is set in 1785 when a merchant Mr Hancock is handed into his possession a shrivelled body of a mermaid in lieu of a ship he was expecting to return. This starts an event of trying to recoup his losses by displaying the oddity to those of interest at a sum. Angelica Neal is a women used to being kept but has fallen on hard times, her previous lover has passed away and she finds herself fighting for survival and recognition to keep herself out of the high paid establishments and prostitution that will be her plight. Instead Angelica seeks a new lover and a higher status than that previously achieved. Despite the high acclaim from my fellow Book Tuber's unfortunately this book did not quite meet my expectation. I found this book to read in a very slow and dry manner which left me unable to connect either with the content of the story or unfortunately the characters....