Sleep Walking

'Walking Away' by Simon Armitage (Faber & Faber, 2015)

Being stuck inside, I thought that the logical thing to do was read something that took me to the great outdoors.  So I picked up 'Walking Away' by Simon Armitage, hiker, Yorkshireman and Poet Laureate.

'Walking Away' is the follow up to 'Walking Home', the story of Armitage's 2010 hike along the Pennine Way as an itinerant poet, performing recitals for bed, board and whatever audiences were willing to donate.  In late summer 2013, he repeated the exercise along the northern section of the South West Coast Path, starting at Butlins in Minehead and aiming for the Scilly Isles off the toe tip of Cornwall.  Along the way, he suffers the extremes of British weather, traverses tourist hotspots and rural idylls, and rhymes for his supper every step of the way.

Caught in the Cultural Crossfire

'Kill the Black One First' AKA 'A Search for Belonging' by Michael Fuller (535, 2019)

I've discovered the library's audiobook app.  Talk about a kid in a sweet shop!  There's so much to choose from, but I stopped short when I saw 'Kill the Black One First' by Michael Fuller listed.  With a shocking title like that, I had to take a closer look.

Hell Hath No Fury

'The Devil's Blade' by Mark Adler (Gollancz, 2020)

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" goes the old saying, and there is no fury like Julie D'Aubigny's in 'The Devil's Blade' by Mark Alder.

17th Century France: When wannabe diva Julie D'Aubigny is summoned to perform in a forest near Paris, she believes it's the opportunity to find a great patron and finally realise her dream of joining the city's Opera.  Instead, she finds herself cornered by a secret society of aristocratic satanists, who sacrifice her beautiful voice at the point of a sword.  Wronged and refusing to be silenced, Julie makes her own pact with the Devil and begins to hunt down and slaughter the men who stole her future.  But can she find them before the year is out?  Will the Devil keep to their bargain?  Can she save her own soul from the fires of Hell?