From dusk till dawn: "Curfew" by Jane Cowrie

 

Imagine a place where women can stay out as late as they want and not worry about being harassed, followed or attacked. That is the slightly futuristic Britain of Curfew. After there was one crime too many against a woman, a law was enacted that all men, from the time they are 10 years old, must wear an ankle bracelet and have a curfew from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.

Sounds like an ideal world to some women, right? Women still want to date, have boyfriends or even a husband. Those who are married, find that the woman does most of the breadwinning, while the husbands end up doing most of the child care.

Such was the case for the now divorced Sarah. She had reasons for the divorce and her ex is in jail because he broke curfew! A jailable offense! Their daughter, Cass, is a kind of spoiled daddy's girl who resents her mom, big time, for putting her beloved father in jail. That's how she sees it, anyway.

Meanwhile, the all woman police force is following up on the murder of a woman found in a park. Could it have been a man who committed this horrible act? Surely not! Curfew works, doesn't it?  Could a woman have done it? 

And then there's Cass's teacher, a young woman who is going for "couple's counseling" with her boyfriend. A therapist studies and advises potential couples on their compatibility. If they get a positive answer, they will be granted a Cohabitation certificate and can move in together, but only after weeks and weeks of counseling. If not, they can opt for more counseling or move on.

What happens in this intriguing story will keep you reading. or listening, as the Recommender did (thank you Penguin Random House!).

In the Trenches: "The Warm Hands" of Ghosts by Katherine Arden

 

If you want to experience what life was like for soldiers on both sides of the trenches of  WWI, then read, or listen to (as I did), Katherine Arden's brutal, heartbreaking and beautifully told story of  Laura Iven, a brave nurse and her brother, Freddie, and how their lives are irredeemably altered by their enlistment. This is also a book about love. And ghosts. 

When Laura, back in Canada and recovering from injuries she received while nursing in Flanders and from the trauma of the death of her parents when a ship explodes, receives word that her brother has disappeared and was maybe killed.

Deciding to go back to the battle to search for him, she is accompanied by a civilian, a wealthy young woman whose son has also gone missing while serving overseas, and a woman who runs a private hospital and seems to have a lot of connections. 

The story is told from two viewpoints, Laura's and Freddie's, who is trapped in a collapsed pillbox alongside a German, Hans Winter, an enemy soldier. 

Without giving too much away, this book vividly brings the hell of what soldiers, the poor enlisted men on both sides, faced during WWI. Ms. Arden is a writer whose characters seem real, even the ones who aren't quite alive. I am new to Katherine Arden's books and have become a fan of this and her exquisite Winternight Trilogy. Highly recommended!

And thank you to Penguin-Random House for the wonderfully narrated audiobook featuring two amazing narrators: January LaVoy and Michael Crouch!