kathryn2's 3 favorite reads in 2025

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER •From the author of Empire of Pain—a stunning, intricate narrative about a notorious killing in Northern Ireland and its devastating repercussions

"Masked intruders dragged Jean McConville, a 38-year-old widow and mother of 10, from her Belfast home in 1972. In this meticulously reported book—as finely paced as a novel—Keefe uses McConville's murder as a prism to tell the history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Interviewing people on both sides of the conflict, he transforms the tragic damage and waste of the era into a searing, utterly gripping saga." —New York Times Book Review

Jean McConville's… show more.

This is a BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of M.M. Kaye's epic novel of love and war. M.M. Kaye's masterwork is a vast, rich and vibrant tapestry of love and war that spans over twenty years, moving from the foothills of the Himalayas, to the burning plains, to the besieged British Mission in Kabul. It begins in 1857 when, following the Indian Mutiny, young English orphan Ashton is disguised by his ayah Sita as her Indian son, Ashok. As he forgets his true identity, his destiny is set...A story of divided loyalties and fierce friendship; of true love made impossible… show more.

The superb, bestselling novel of one family, and the devastating changes brought by the First World War.

Thea Tennant, eldest daughter of a wealthy industrialist father and beautiful aristocratic mother, yearns to do more than follow the traditional path laid out for her. When her beautiful but flighty sister Dulcie brings trouble to the family, both Thea and Dulcie are sent to relatives in Austria. But with the onset of War, their lives change beyond recognition.

It isn't just the Tennants whose lives have changed: for their parlourmaid, Primmy, the War brings opportunities she is determined to take.

From the… show more.