Books I've read in 2022

As in 2021, reading books has given me enormous pleasure. This year, I published a historical fiction story, JULIA PRIMA, set in AD 370, the first foundation story to my Roma Nova thriller series, but in this post I’m writing as a reader.

This is not a beauty contest or a selection. The list below contains just books I’ve read this year and enjoyed. 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 and ‘professional development’

Fiction
Desperate Undertaking (Flavia Albia), Lindsey Davis
How to Find Love in the Little Things, Virginie Grimaldi
Pearl Moon, JJ Marsh
The Legacy of Halesham Hall, Jenni Keer
The Secrets of Saffron Hall, Clare Marchant
Legionary: Dark Eagle (Legionary 8), Gordon Doherty
Killashandra, Anne McCaffrey (re-read)
The Anomaly, Hervé Le Tellier, Adriana Hunter
Lady Helena Investigates, Jane Steen
Her Castilian Heart, Anna Belfrage
Gallows Wake, Helen Hollick
And By Fire, Evie Hawtrey
Beyond a Broken Sky, Suzanne Fortin
Men Like Gods, H. G. Wells
Hidden in the Mists, Christina Courtenay
The Berlin Exchange, Joseph Kanon
Ariadne, Jennifer Saint
The Apothecary’s House, Adrian Mathews
A Roman Shadow, H L Marsay
Pandora, Susan Stokes-Chapman
Gold Dragon, JJ Marsh
The Fugitive Colours, Nancy Bilyeau
A Pinch of Pure Cunning: Six Mysteries from Ancient Rome, Jane Finnis
Ascent (House of Normandy Book 1), Cathie Dunn
JUDAS 62, Charles Cumming
From the Ashes, Marion Kummerow
The Khan, Saima Mir
The Wolf Den, Elodie Harper
The Thread, Victoria Hislop
Time and Time Again, Ben Elton
A Bitter Chill, Jane Finnis
Summer Secrets at Bletchley Park, Molly Green
The One, John Marrs
Anachronist, Andrew Hastie
Too Soon the Night (Theodora Book 2), James Conroyd Martin
The Helsingør Sewing Club, Ella Gyland
An Instance of the Fingerpost, Iain Pears
Miss Graham’s War, Celia Rees
The Blood of the Iutes: The Song of Octa Book 1, James Calbraith
Find You First, Linwood Barclay
The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (Poirot), Agatha Christie
The Ringbreaker, Jean Gill
Siege, Alistair Tosh
Bloody Dominions: The Conquest, Nick Macklin

Non-fiction
Christendom: The Triumph of a Religion, Peter Heather
Rome and Italy: The History of Rome from its Foundation, Livy, R.M. Ogilvie, Betty Radice (Re-read)
Julia Velva, A Roman Lady from York: Her Life and Times Revealed, Patrick Ottaway
The Long War for Britannia 367–664: Arthur and the History of Post-Roman Britain, Edwin Pace
Sex and Sexuality in Ancient Rome, L J Trafford

 

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. JULIA PRIMA, a new Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, is now out.

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 update. You’ll also be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.

5 comments to Books I’ve read in 2022

  • Sounds like the good use of a year. Gratulantur, Alison!

    • Alison Morton

      Thank you, Dale. A very varied one, as usual. 🙂
      How are you? Are you writing more books?

      • I’m well, thank you! Also taking an operational pause at the moment. After fifteen novels, I’ve possibly gotten my characters where they needed to go. If not, I’m sure they’ll start nagging again, right?

        • Alison Morton

          I felt exactly like that after I’d written six full-length Roma Nova novels plus two accompanying novellas, then I responded to a challenge by a fellow writer and realised a dream about writing a modern heroine set in France who is a Franco-British dual national. Double Identity and Double Pursuit were the result. (There will be a third…)

          Then readers kept up the pressure of urging me to write the Foundation stories of Roma Nova. JULIA PRIMA is the result. But it’s only part of the story. The next one is 20K words in draft.
          Have your readers given you ideas or wishes for future writing?

          • Oh, yes. These imaginary people connect with readers, and they want to see the story go on. Each of the novels was built around a different element of character, though, and after a while they had said what I wanted to say. I wrote the archetypes that came through in the process, and after a while I realized I didn’t want to produce another iteration of the same protagonist, or repeat a precept in different words. I’ve finished for a time, and it feels good, really.

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