2020 – Books I read and enjoyed

This is not a beauty contest or a selection. The list below contains just books I’ve read this year because I wanted to. Some made me catch my breath, others made me weep with joy or sorrow and others appalled me. But they all enthralled me.

I’m not mentioning those I read or part-read and didn’t enjoy – that’s not fair to the authors concerned as I’m probably not their ideal reader.

I’m a fussy reader. I use Amazon’s ‘Send a free sample’ service mercilessly especially if it’s an author new to me. But I have discovered some real gems that way.

Oh, and I’ve read a few non-fiction for research – probably of interest for the history nerds. 😉

Fiction in (very) roughly chronological order backwards:
The Death Game, Chris Longmuir
Britannia’s Morass, Antoine Vanner
The Soft Touch of Angels, Anna Belfrage
All Souls’ Day, J J Marsh
House of Spies, Daniel Silva
The Other Woman, Daniel Silva
The Price of Silence, Nikki Coplestone
House of Shadows, Nicola Cornick
Kindred, Octavia E Butler (Re-read)
Criminal Shorts, UKCBK anthology
The Grove of Caesars, Lindsey Davis
The House of Vestals, Steven Saylor
Legionary, Gordon Doherty
Hotel Sacher, Rodica Doehnert & Alison Layland
A Painter in Penang, Clare Flynn
His Castilian Hawk, Anna Belfrage
A Capitol Death, Lindsey Davis
The Island Affair, Helena Halme
Antonius: Son of Rome, Brook Allen
Orfeia, Joanne Harris
The Potential for Love, Catherine Kullmann
Love Lost in Time, Cathie Dunn
The Germanicus Mosaic, Rosemary Rowe
Doorways to the Past, Vanessa Couchman, Sue Barnard, Cathie Dunn, Nancy Jardine, Jennifer C. Wilson
The Secret of the Chateau, Kathleen McGurl
Imperial Governor, George Shipway
Echoes of the Storm, Charlene Newcomb
At the Stroke of 9 o’ Clock, Jane Davis
A Sister’s Song, Molly Green
The Gamekeeper’s Wife, Clare Flynn
Counterpoint: The King’s Cavalier, Elizabeth St.John
Odd Numbers, J J Marsh
The Eagle of the Ninth, Rosemary Sutcliff
The Lantern Bearers, Rosemary Sutcliff
The Silver Branch, Rosemary Sutcliff
Augustine, Vanessa Couchman
The Girl from Oto, Amy Maroney
Fortune’s Child, James Conroyd Martin
Hiding from the Light, Barbara Erskine
Scourge of Rome, Douglas Jackson
Saviour of Rome, Douglas Jackson
The Green Ribbons, Clare Flynn
Notes from Lost, Cathy Hartigan
Echoes of the Runes, Christina Courtenay
The Stationmaster’s Daughter, Kathleen McGurl
The Power, Naomi Alderman
One Sixth of a Gill, Jean Gill
The End of Worlds, T E Shepherd
Secrets at St Brides, Debbie Young
A Sister’s Courage, Molly Green
The Blue, Nancy Bilyeau
The Phoenix of Florence, Philip Kazan
Jennings Goes To School, Anthony Buckeridge
Making History, Stephen Fry
The Other Side of Ordinary, Ines Row
The Passage, Irina Shapiro
A Shape on the Air, Julia Ibbotson
Blossom on the Thorn, Loretta Livingstone

 

Non-fiction
Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West 376-568, Guy Halsall
Roman Mythology: A Traveller’s Guide from Troy to Tivoli, David Stuttard
Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England, Annie Whitehead
Mazzini, Denis Mack Smith
Noricum, Geza Alfoldy
The World of Late Antiquity AD 150-750, Peter Brown
The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilisation, Bryan Ward-Perkins
Romano-Byzantine Armies 4th-9th Centuries, David Nicolle

alisonmortonauthor.com

 

Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers –  INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO,  AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO  and RETALIO,  and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories.  Audiobooks are available for four of the series. Double Identity, a contemporary conspiracy, starts a new series of thrillers.

Find out more about Roma Nova, its origins, stories and heroines and taste world the latest contemporary thriller Double Identity… Download ‘Welcome to Alison Morton’s Thriller Worlds’, a FREE eBook, as a thank you gift when you sign up to Alison’s monthly email newsletter. You’ll also be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.

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