In My Mailbox: 10/4/11

In My Mailbox is a meme held by the lovely Kristi from The Story Siren, where bloggers share all the new books that have made it into their house each week.

What I got this week:

Montacute House by Lucy Jago (thank you Bloomsbury UK)

At first a boy’s body is discovered, then John, Cess’s best friend, disappears . . . What is the mystery behind these sinister events?

Cess works caring for the chickens at Montacute House but on her thirteenth birthday everything changes. She finds a precious locket hidden in the chicken coop and is convinced someone has placed it there for her to find. But the day is overshadowed by fear as a boy’s body is found by the river, and then John disappears. Cess is determined to find him but is soon embroiled in a plot that threatens 0her world and forces her to draw on powers she never knew she possessed, powers that will place her life in danger if they are discovered by the villagers. Witchcraft, politics and religious ambition combine in this gripping and wonderfully realised novel set in the Somerset of the 1500s.

I was really excited to have this arrive as a surprise through my letterbox from Bloomsbury and heard a lot of good things about it from bloggers when it came out in the US so I'm looking forward to reading it. 

The Prisoner of the Inquisition by Theresa Breslin (library)

 is used to basking in the pampered lifestyle being the only daughter of the town magistrate affords; she is free to roam the town as she likes, consort with the son of a nobleman and spend her days studying the arts. Saulo's family have fallen on hard times, and when his father is hanged for an assault on Zarita he did not commit and Saulo is hauled off to be a slave at sea, Saulo swears revenge. But when Zarita's mother dies in childbirth, and the formidable and frightening Inquisition arrives in the area, a curtain of suspicion and brutality comes down on her old life for good. Saulo may believe that Zarita is his sworn enemy, but in a time when the whole of Spain is in turmoil, are him and Zarita each other's only hope of survival?

I've had this on my TBR list for a while as I've read and liked several other Theresa Breslin novels but it's been shortlisted for the 2011 Carnegie Medal Award (click on the link to visit  my post about it), which my school book club  followso I finally got round to taking a copy out the library. The paperback has just been released and it's so much prettier than the hardback on the right, which probably has something to do with why I put off reading it for so long. (I know, I know- don't judge a book by its cover!)

Chocolate Cake With Hitler by Emma Craigie (library)

A fictionalised account of the life of Helga, twelve year old daughter of Jospeh Goebbels, the Nazi Party's Head of Propoganda. Helg's childhood as the eldest of five children in Germnay's First Family has been a gilded one, accompanying her parents to and rallies, moving between the city and their idyllic country estate. But the war has changed everything. And now, as defeat closes in on the Germans, Helga must move into a bunker at the heart of Berlin with her family and key members of the crumbling Nazi leadership- to e with her beloved Hitler.

My mum read this and really enjoyed and I love WW2/ Hitler books so it sounds like it should be a good read. It was also longlisted for the Carnegie Medal.

The Bride's Farewell by Meg Rosoff (library)



On the morning of her wedding, Pell Ridley creeps out of bed in the dark, kisses her sisters goodbye and flees — determined to escape a future that offers nothing but hard work and sorrow. She takes the only thing that truly belongs to her: Jack, a white horse, and small mute Bean who refuses to be left behind.

The road ahead is rich with longing, silence and secrets, and each encounter leads her closer to the untold story of her past. Then Pell meets a hunter, infuriating, mysterious and cold. Will he help her to find what she seeks?

With all the hallmarks of Meg Rosoff’s extraordinary writing, The Bride’s Farewell also breaks new ground for this author, in a nineteenth-century, Hardyesque setting. This is a moving story of love and lost things, with a core of deep, beautiful romance.

This is also another one shortlisted on the Carnegie and I've already read it so a review should be up soon. I can tell you it wasn't as good as I was expecting. I'm not too sure what to think of the new paperback cover above because the pastel covers are fairly pretty but it doesn't tell you as much about the book as in the hardback cover and is less original.

What did you get in your mailbox this week?