One frigid Philadelphia morning, Mr. Poe receives an odd parcel. It’s the third such strange box from an unknown sender. Poe calls upon his friend, and ornithologist Father Keane to help him decipher the meaning of the taxidermied birds, feathers, moss and plants. The clues seem to suggest a sort of warning and very quickly their sender is revealed.
The main reason I love writing about books is that I get a sneak preview of what’s coming. Remember when you were a kid and you got the giant catalog from JC Penney or Montgomery Ward and you would go through it and dream about your Christmas presents? Getting a publisher catalog and sifting through titles is a lot like that. And the fall / winter release season is always the biggest time of the year in book publishing. This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is a preview of some of the books I can’t wait to read, coming out in the second half of 2019.
The roadtrip begins with a stop at Bea’s brother’s in Burgundy. Always the schlub of the family, he has been set up as the proprietor of a sagging bed-and-breakfast. In a constant state of (dis)repair, it would seem that Alex has spent more time pretending there have been guests than fixing the place up. The younger generation then prepares for a visit from the parents with dread.
Channelling the likes of Alias Grace and The Unseeing, The Poison Thread tells a terrifying tale of confinement and madness. Dorothea Truelove, a perfectly saccharine name for the Victorian charity do-gooder, is a adherent to the study of phrenology. She visits Ruth Butterham, a teenaged seamstress, in Oakgate Prison and begins to suspect there is more to the girl’s story.
My reading as of late has been a bit haphazard, I will admit. I also have multiple books going and I rotate between them as my mood suits. But the past month or so has been enormously stressful and I’ve found it difficult to concentrate long enough to read a few pages. A fewer major milestones at work have passed so I am working to get back into a rhythm again.