The lack of light by Nino Haratischwili

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In the turbulent 1990s in Georgia, four friends grow up together in the same courtyard. The headstrong Dina, the frivolous Nene (niece of a Georgian mafia boss), the intelligent Ira, and Keto, the glue of the group. But the future is bleak when brothers start open conflicts, first loves disappoint and war looms, death starts lurking around the corner. Years later, Keto, Ira, and Nene meet again at an exhibition of Dina’s work in Brussels.

This epic tale of four friends is told entirely from Keto’s perspective. The focus is very much on the experiences of the four women, within the historical context of widespread violence in Georgia. But unlike The Eighth Life (which covers a longer period of time and includes more perspectives), this is much less of a history lesson. The violence the girls suffer is caused by family members and is permitted under the current political climate.

Haratischwili continues to write in a captivating style. Some sentences of The lack of light resonated very strongly with me. However, you have to like it. It’s sometimes very moralistic and the story moves slowly. But each chapter has its function. The book alternates between the present at the vernissage in Brussels, where photos of Dina are on display, and each photo provides a glimpse into the past—not the most original approach, but it works. Keto is a difficult main character, though. She looks back in her own way. As the glue of the group, she was involved in everything, but her actions may have had the least effect on events, which sometimes makes her more of a bystander.

I expected this to be less good than The Eighth Life, but I actually really enjoyed reading it. I wanted to know what would happen next with the four girls and I liked the ending and the many parallels it threw to the beginning. Great book!

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Virgin widow by Anne O’ Brien

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The young Anne Neville, along with her parents, her heavily pregnant sister Isabel, and Isabel’s husband George, Duke of Clarence, must flee England after her father and brother-in-law betray King Edward. Upon arrival in Calais, they are denied entry to the port, which causes a personal drama for Isabel. In France, they are taken in by King Louis, who has his own plans to match the Neville forces to the fugitive French queen Margaret of Anjou and the House of Lancaster. And Anne will become an important pawn in all of this.

Last year, I read O’Brien’s ‘The Queen and the Countess‘ which was about Anne Neville’s mother and Margaret of Anjou. Anne Neville is mentioned in it, and the way she was portrayed, as a queen who resented her mother greatly, intrigued me enough to pick up this book.

Virgin widow is one of O’Brien’s first historical novels and unfortunately the book does not cover her period as Queen of England or her struggle against her mother. O’Brien focuses on her two marriages and ends the book at Anne’s happiest moment – which was before her time as queen.

Not a bad choice in itself. There is much to be said about her father’s betrayal and her marriage to Edward of Lancaster and the aftermath of the battles at Barnet and Tewkesbury. O’Brien also deliberately writes a romance: Anne and Richard are hopelessly in love, and that is the thread running through the story. Not my favorite approach, but there was probably an affection between the two, and Richard’s character is not all positive so this makes for a balanced view.

I also understand that O’Brien stops early so as not to have to cover the death of Clarence, the story of the princess and Richard’s cruel seizure of power after the death of his brother Edward, because that would make it even more difficult to portray Richard as a kind man. The book is obviously very pro-York, but I thought the Lancaster side was well covered. I’m just sometimes bothered by how hard people want to take Richard III out of the Shakespearian context and then portray him in a way that’s far too positive. Richard III did cruel things, no more or less than The Tudors who lay much blame at Richard’s door, but it doesn’t change the cruel things he did (I’m not referring to the princes, as we don’t know, but he set aside the legal heir to the throne, killed his guardians and his brother’s most trusted advisor on the spot and so on…).

I was a little bothered by the fact that Anne and Isabel called their parents The Countess and The Earl, while they addressed their husbands by their first names. At the same time, I thought this book gave a better picture of The Countess and Margaret Of Anjou than the book that came out last year. In this book, Anne is still a supporter of her mother, but that will change.

This isn’t O’Brien’s best book, but it was a real page-turner and really brought the Wars of the Roses to life. So I enjoyed reading it. She sticks fairly closely to the facts, with the occasional interpretation of her own, such as the love between Anne and Richard and the fact that Anne is a ‘virgin widow’, as the title of the book suggests. I was already very familiar with the story of Anne Neville, a forgotten queen. But I am convinced that this is a very accessible book for those who do not know her yet. And better than the Gregory book.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

What’s your favourite O’ Brien book? Do you have a good recommendation on The Wars Of The Roses?

My ten favourite books of 2025

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Last week I shared my bookish numbers of 2025, this time I share my ten favourites. It’s never easy to make a selection but these books stayed with me for a longer time or were highly enjoyable to read.

The clockwork girl – Anna Mazzola

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A gothic story meets page-turner set near the glittering Versailles, in which a young woman must spy on a clockmaker. This is one of those books that is difficult to summarize briefly, but I enjoyed every page.

Mrs Degas – Arthur Japin

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I didn’t expect to be so drawn into the story of the old painter Edgar Degas, who is blind and is evicted from his house, looking back on his life and his great love Estelle. Beautiful.

There are rivers in the sky – Elif Shafak

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I discovered the poetic stories of Shafak, who effortlessly intertwines the fates of three young people in a different time. A modern fairy tale, which unfortunately does not shy away from the atrocities committed against the Yazidis.

The Sirens – Emilia Hart

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A feminist book about two sets of sisters in a different era, with a touch of magic and an uncomfortable feeling that stayed with me throughout the book. Hart’s books have a unique vibe that I really like.

Clytemnestra – Costanza Casati

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Every year, a Greek myth pops up on this list, and Casati’s first book was a hit for me. There are dozens of books about Clytemnestra, and this is probably the best one. I found Casati’s next book, Babylonia under the Christmas tree.

The Evening and the Morning – Ken Follett

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The last Kingsbridge book I had yet to read (a prequel), and I enjoyed it once again. Especially seeing Deng’s Ferry transform into the Kingsbridge of the other books.

The Smallest Man – Frances Quinn

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Perhaps the most unknown gem on this list. About a little boy with big dreams, which sometimes come true and sometimes don’t in a period of civil war. Heartwarming.

A Marriage of Lions – Elizabeth Chadwick

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One of Chadwick’s better books about Joanna of Swanscombe, who marries William of Valence, half-brother of Henry III, and thereby brings a great deal of trouble upon herself. This is one of those enjoyable historical novels that you can sit down and read in one sitting.

The Cathedral of the Sea – Ildefonso Falcones

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I hesitated to include this one on the list because its female characters are even more problematic than those of Ken Follett, but I really did enjoy this thick medieval epic for days. You walk right along with Arnau through the streets of Barcelona.

The First Man in Rome – Colleen McCollough

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A classic novel from 1990 that describes the beginning of the fall of the Roman Republic and focuses on the rise of Gaius Marius, Caesar’s uncle, and his rival Sulla. Sometimes a bit political and dryly written, but I really enjoyed several books about the Romans this year, and this was definitely the best.

Just missed the list: The Burgundians, No Friend to This House, Hamnet (better than I expected), and Kate Quinn’s Daughters of Rome.

What was your favourite read of 2025?

My bookish year in numbers

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As always I look back on my reading year. And before I share my favourites, I’ll start with my bookish numbers.

General

  • I read 43 books in 2025. That’s three fewer than last year, but exactly the same as in 2023.
  • Those 43 books amounted to 18.481 pages, which is also the same as in 2023.
  • On average, a book was 429 pages long. That average has been consistently in the 400+ pages range for several years now.
  • Medusa was the smallest book at 204 pages, while The First Man in Rome was the thickest at 1,147 pages—and that was also my last book of the year. It took me almost the entire month of December to finish it.
  • I read almost exclusively historical fiction, but I actually started the year with non-fiction and finally read Bart Van Loo’s The Burgundians.
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Format and language

  • I read 11 books in Dutch and 32 in English.
  • I read 13 books from the library, 10 from my own bookshelf, and 20 books on my e-reader, which are a mix of books I bought myself and review copies.
  • Since this year, I have also been keeping track of how many new physical books I bought or received, and that number currently stands at 15. I didn’t keep track of the Kindle books I bought or received.

Setting and era

Every year, I keep track of the centuries in which the stories are set. This year, there was a lot of variation:

  • Before Christ: 6 books
  • 1st century: 4 books
  • 10th century: 4 books
  • 13th century: 1 book
  • 14th century: 4 books
  • 15th century: 2 books
  • 16th century: 6 books
  • 17th century: 3 books
  • 18th century: 5 books
  • 19th century: 3 books
  • 20th century: 6 books
  • 21st century: 4 books

This time there’s no clear winner: 6 books set before Christ, 6 in the 16th century and 6 in the 20th century.

In terms of countries, my reading was slightly less geographically diverse. I stranded at 13 different countries, compared to 16 last year. The United Kingdom remains by far the most popular setting with 21 books, followed by France, Italy, and Greece with 5 books each.

  • United kingdom: 21 books
  • France: 5 books
  • Italy: 5 books
  • Greece: 5 books
  • United States: 3 books
  • Iraque: 1 book
  • Australia: 1 book
  • Vietnam: 1 book
  • Austria: 1 book
  • Egypt: 1 book
  • South-American Isles: 1 book
  • Portugal: 1 book
  • Spain: 1 book

These are a few examples of books set in different countries than my most popular settings:

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People

I always like historical novels who deal with the lives of real historical people. This are a few new people I’ve read about:

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I’m quite happy with my reading year as I read tons of good books and in the next blogpost, I’ll share my favorite reads of the year.

How was your reading year? Which statistics do you keep?

The first man in Rome by Colleen McCollough

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Gaius Marius is a wealthy new man who therefore has no political significance. But his marriage to Julia, the daughter of Gaius Julius Caesar, changes all that: political life is now open to him. Lucius Cornelius Sulla follows the opposite path: he has the right blood, but comes from an impoverished branch of his family and lives by the grace of his stepmother, until he too marries a Julia. The two men will join forces in the Numidian War in Africa and against the Germanic tribes.

The First Man in Rome is a classic historical novel about Marius and Sulla in ancient Rome. It is a huge book with a two-hour glossary, which meant that on my e-reader I didn’t realize the end was coming. It is also the first book of seven in the Masters of Rome series. And you sense that thé Caesar will be the main subject. But we start first with his uncle by marriage, Gaius Marius, and his later archrival, Sulla: two men who will change the republic so much that the way will be paved for Pompey, Caesar, and ultimately Augustus.

The novel is thick and detailed and written in a highly political style. There are many characters, often with the same names. It deals with the elections, the discussions in the Senate, and the wars in Numidia and against the Germanic tribes. This first book focuses mainly on Marius and his laws in favor of the army. It ends with an internal struggle in the Senate. A large part of Marius’ story is also told in letters from the orator Publius Rutilius Rufus who stays behind in Rome. I found those letters often long and difficult to read, although they were well written and humorous. It made it difficult for me to get a connection with Gaius Marius.

I didn’t expect it beforehand, but that’s precisely why I found the chapters from Sulla’s perspective more interesting: he experiences more exciting things and has his own view of things. So I am curious about the second book ‘The grass crown’, in which Sulla will take the lead role—because his dictatorship and its impact are often forgotten.

Aurelia was my other favorite character, and I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more of her in the next books.

This book is a tour de force, and you can feel the atmosphere of Ancient Rome bursting from the pages. It’s definitely worth reading, but I’ve read even better books of this length that made me empathize with the characters a little more, so that’s why I’m not giving it five stars.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Have you read the masters of Rome series? What is your favourite novel on the Romans?

Books I can’t wait to read in 2026

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As always, I list the new releases of 2026 I’m anxiously awaiting. This year the list seems to go on and on. I’ve found quite a big bunch of authors that I want to read their next book from and I was also intrigued by a few debut novel. As launch dates tend to change and depend on UK/US/rest of Europe timelines, I don’t mention them here.

There seem to be quite some trends in the themes of the books, so that’s my approach for the list:

Greek myth

Yes still a hype I fall for, it seems :).

Sweetbitter song – Rosie Hewlett

I adored her Medea and enjoyed her Medusa, so I’ll read any myth book Hewlett’s publishes. This time she chooses Penelope and her friend Melantho as the main characters. I’m not the biggest fan of Penelope, but I’m curious to read this as it seems Hewlett took a new approach to the story.

Wandering queen – Claire Heywood

Heywood’s books are not so well-known, but I enjoyed them all. And now she takes on Dido’s story, which is a new character for me so this will be good I hope.

This immortal heart – Jennifer Saint

It’s been awhile since we got a new Saint book, but this one center stages the goddess Aphrodite. I still think Ariadne was her best one, but I’ll definitely try this one.

Andromeda – M.C. MacLeod

A new-to-me author who comes with a retelling about Andromeda and I’m curious to get to it.

Renewed attention to Anne Boleyn and The Tudors

Have the Tudors ever been out of fashion?

The house of Boleyn – Tracey Borman

Borman moves away from the Stuarts to the Tudor court with a focus on the Boleyn family. I’m a bit wary for this one as novels center staging Anne and her family usually portray them very bad, but I’ll try it.

The Boleyn secret – Alison Weir

Weir has off course always been writing on The Tudors and now tackles the life of Catherine Carey who must tread very carefully at the court of Elizabeth I.

The queen’s sister – Carol McGrath

McGrath has already written some great books about forgotten queens, but now she focuses on the Tudor court. And she even managed to choose a main character that’s not overdone yet. Her choice fell on Elizabeth Seymour, sister to a queen, wife to a Cromwell. I must admit, I’m very curious to read this one.

Witches

There are so many new books about witches, this is only a small selection

A time of witches – Madeline Martin

Martin used to write books about books during WOII, but now she comes with something totally different about witches.

They can’t burn us all – Catheryn Kemp

I don’t know this author, but this premise set in Iceland sounds interesting.

The winter witch – Jennifer Chevalier

Also a debut novel, set in Canada.

The wise witch of Orkney

A pregnant woman joins the court of James I to serve queen Anna Of Denmark. It sounds a bit like the story of Kate Foster’s The king’s witches.

Other themes

Agrippa – Robert Harris

This is probably my most anticipated release. I adored Harris’ Cicero series and the standalone Pompei. He does ancient Rome really well and now he returns to this setting with a book about Augustus right-hand-man Agrippa.

The repentants – Kate Foster

I enjoyed Kate Foster her previous books and she always takes on a original true story. This time about two women in Iceland who try to flee a prison.

Cleopatra – Saari-Al-Arifi

Cleopatra is once again a popular topic, I still need to read Natasha Solomons’ novel on her. This is a new-to-me author, but I’m intrigued by the premise and the beautiful cover drew me in.

The crownless queen – Elizabeth Chadwick

As always, I’m behind with Chadwick’s books and this is the second book that retells the life of Joan Of Kent. I’ll get to it one day, preferably after I’ve read ‘The royal rebel’ first ;).

The scandalous ladies football club – Frances Quinn

A new Frances Quinn book! Hooray but alas it’s about football. I’ll read it nonetheless because if someone can make this interesting, it’s Frances Quinn. But I was a bit disappointed to learn the premise, I must admit that :).

Shadow of madness – D.V. Bishop

A new Cesare Aldo mystery is always something to look out for. It’s already book six in this series.

There will probably be a lot more new books that I’ll find interesting, but this is what I could list so far :). Which new releases are on your TBR?

The voyage home by Pat Barker

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Ritsa bids farewell to Troy, or what remains of it, when she accompanies Cassandra to Mycenae. In Mycenae, Clytemnestra has been waiting for 10 years for the return of her husband, King Agamemnon, who murdered their daughter Iphigenia to get a fair wind. Cassandra knows that this will be her death.

In this third and final book, we leave Briseis behind and follow her friend Ritsa, who is Cassandra’s slave, who in turn is Agamemnon’s concubine. We also follow a few chapters from Clytemnestra’s perspective. The plot covers only a few days from the homecoming to the murder. Once in Mycenae, Ritsa and Cassandra end up in a doomed palace where the voices of children seem to haunt the staircases and footsteps appear from nowhere.

Barker’s books are raw and well written, and Cassandra deserves her own book, but The voyage home is not her best work. Whereas Silence of the Girls has a unique voice, you find that less here. The doomed house of Atreus has been covered so many times… Once again, I find an Electra and an Orestes that I don’t understand. But also a surprising Agamemnon who is plagued by guilt.

I also find another Clytemnestra here. No other character appears so often and in so many different guises. Here she is vengeful, sad, with a painful knee that makes her hesitate and a guilt about her daughter’s death that haunts her. She did feel lifelike, and I liked her conversation with Cassandra about what she is going to do.

It’s therefore a worthy retelling of Greek mythology, and I am curious to see whether Barker will now leave this subject behind completely or not. But still I believe, Cassandra deserves a novel from her own voice.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

The voyage home is a Greek myth retelling, I’ve listed all retellings that I’ve read here.

Prophecy by S.J. Parris

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Meanwhile, Giordano Bruno is undercover in London on Walsingham’s orders, working for the French ambassador and his wife, who, together with Henry Howard, hope to put the Catholic Mary Stuart on the throne instead of Elizabeth I. At the same time, Bruno continues to search for the missing book of Trismegistos together with his friend Dr. John Dee, the astronomer. But Dee comes under suspicion when one of Elizabeth’s ladies-in-waiting is brutally murdered with an astronomical sign on her body and the end of the world is announced in the streets of London.

It took me a long time to pick up this second book in the series again, as I had other series to finish first. So I didn’t remember much about Heresy, but it all came back to me as I read. In Prophecy, Bruno is in the heart of London, and the murder he’s trying to solve takes place at court. This immediately brings him into contact with many historical figures and makes the plot more fascinating and complex. I found this to be a promising sequel, even though magic and astronomy are not exactly my favorite themes.

The comparison with C.J. Sansom’s Shardlake series is never far away, and Parris doesn’t have the same mastery, nevertheless it’s an entertaining series. Bruno gets himself into a lot of trouble and luckily has some powerful friends. I guessed the murderer halfway through, but it was still fascinating to find out how it all fit together. I think this is one of those series that gets better with each book because you get to know the characters and their relationships better. A bit like Andrew Taylor’s Marwood and Lovett series.

I need to read the next book in this series way sooner now.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Can you recommend any other historical mystery series?

Cathedral of the sea by Ildefonso Falcones

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Bernat Estanyol flees with his young son Arnau from his nobleman’s estate to Barcelona, where they find a home with his sister and her husband Grau Puig and hope to be free one day. Grau has become a real businessman and doesn’t like the idea of the escaped slaves living with them. Arnau quickly finds a friend in Joan in the streets of Barcelona and becomes intrigued by the construction of the new cathedral: Santa Maria del Mar. The boys will have to be strong enough to survive hunger, war, and the plague.

I didn’t know what to read, so I scrolled all the way to the bottom of my to-read list and came across Cathedral of the sea. It’s the Spanish version of Pillars of the Earth, and since I had finished Follett’s Kingsbridge series, it seemed like the perfect moment. The original novel has been written in Spanish and there’s also a Spanish miniseries on Netflix about it.

I didn’t expect to find so many similarities with Ken Follett: Falcones paints a broad picture of the Spanish Middle Ages, the construction of the cathedral Santa Maria del Mar is a constant backdrop to the plot, the characters are rather one-dimensional (either very good or very bad, especially the women), and it’s a really plot-driven book—every character or chapter plays its part. You may find this too contrived, but this is part of this type of book I guess.

But Falcones doesn’t offer a copy of Follett: I really walked around the streets of Barcelona, smelled the sea, and learned a lot about the customs and laws of the 14th century in Spain. All the major upheavals are covered: peasants vs. nobles, the plague, religion, domestic and foreign war. This book is full of the ugly parts of the middle ages, rape and other cruelties that women did suffer are not shunned.

The stories about war and kings were sometimes a bit difficult to follow as I’m not familiar with the history, but they did provide some context in the background of the plot. I didn’t know that Barcelona and Catalonia had such a unique position in Spanish politics.

I might have preferred a little more nuance in some of the characters. Especially Joan becomes quite somebody else. But otherwise, I found this a really entertaining journey and, in the absence of a new Follett, I’m going to check out his other books (there seems to be a follow-up novel about Arnau’s son). And maybe watch the series on Netflix.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Have you read his books yet?

The devil’s slave by Tracy Borman

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After the Gunpowder Plot, the pregnant Frances Gorges retires to her beloved Longford, but her brother Edward’s ambition gets in the way. She marries Thomas Tyringham, a former friend of Tom Wintour, who has since gained prestige at the court of James I. A letter from Tom’s sister prompts her to return to court herself as a lady-in-waiting to Princess Elizabeth to support the catholic cause once again.

The devil’s slave starts where the first book, The king’s witch ended (I’m not going to spoil things here ;)). Borman takes us back to the Stuart court of James I and the many plots that unfold there. Frances is still a naive, impulsive main character and she once again gets herself into serious trouble. Frances sometimes makes me want to shake her up to make her see sense, but well :).

A whole cast of historical figures make an appearance, and the Stuart court, with all its tensions within the royal family, between Protestants and Catholics, and the witch hunt, is portrayed realistically. I find Princess Elizabeth a particularly interesting character, as is her brother Henry.

Is everything Frances gets involved in very realistic? No, but we only have to think of the Arabella Stuart plot to know that there were many desperate actions by Catholics in the aftermath of The Gunpowder Plot.

I will definitely pick up the third and final book ‘The fallen angel’ because this series is entertaining.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Have you read anything good on the Stuarts recently?