"In London, 1321, at a time of political upheaval, three people are drawn together in a small shop in Paternoster Row around the creation of a magnificent book, an illuminated manuscript of prayers. The book has been commissioned by Lady Mathidla Fitzjohn, as a status symbol to showcase her family's improving station. John Dancaster begins work on the manuscript along with his wife Gemma, a talented illuminator in her own right, although she must hide her skill as the guild forbids women. Into their lives walks the mysterious Will Asshe, a gifted artist, but a man hiding a shadowy past. As the baronial revolt increases tensions within London and Lady Mathilda has to grapple with her changing fortunes once her husband rides off to war, completing the book becomes a fraught task. Even though the commission has seemed to answer the aspirations of each of these people, their own desires and ambitions threaten its completion."
"When Esther Thorel, wife of a master silk weaver, rescues Sara Kemp from a brothel, she thinks she is doing God's will, but her good deed is not returned. Sara quickly realizes that the Thorel household is built on hypocrisy and lies and soon tires of the drudgery of life as Esther's new lady's maid. As the two women's relationship becomes increasingly fractious, Sara resolves to find out what it is that so preoccupies her mistress...
Esther has long yearned to be a silk designer. When her early watercolors are dismissed by her husband, Elias, as the daubs of a foolish girl, she continues her attempts in secret. It may have been that none of them would ever have become actual silks, were it not for the presence of the extraordinarily talented Bisby Lambert in the Thorel household. Brought in by Elias to weave his masterpiece on the Thorel's loom in the attic of their house in Spitalfields, the strange cadence of the loom as Bisby works is like a siren call to Esther. The minute she first sets foot in the garret and sees Bisby Lambert at his loom marks the beginning of Blackberry and Wild Rose, the most exquisite silk design Spitalfields has ever seen, and the end of the Thorel household's veneer of perfection."
"Renowned healer, Lisbeth Vos, concots a cunning revenge against her childhood friend, Hannah Brouwer, for a wrong committed decades ago. The audacious scheme requires a marriage between Lisbeth's granddaughter and Hannah's widowed son. Desperate for her grandmother's attention and approval, Mila agrees to wed a man she doesn't know. She begins entertaining doubts when Hannah proves to be a loving mother-in-law instead of the monster her grandmother described. Mila is thinking and acting independently for the first time, going as far as initiating an illicit affair. Her refusal to commit a heinous act at Lisbeth's insistence results in shocking consequences. With danger looming on the horizon, Mila discovers powers that have lain dormant beneath her grandmother's oppressive shadow. Now, she must learn to use her gift and salvage her only chance at happiness."
"When Beth, Megan and Joanne meet at university, they become inseparable friends who'd do anything for one another - even agreeing to keeping what happens on one shocking night a secret. Now in their forties and outwardly successful, each of the three has dealt with what happened in their own way. But secrets and lies leave their mark. When Megan decides to tell her fiancé the truth about that night, it threatens to ruin the lives of everyone around her. And someone is prepared to do anything to stop that happening."
"After a gunshot leaves her paralyzed below the waist, Barbara Gordon must undergo physical and mental rehabilitation at Arkham Center for Independence. She must adapt to a new normal, but she cannot shake the feeling that something is dangerously amiss. Strange sounds escape at night while patients start to go missing. Is the suspicion simply a result of her trauma? Or does Barbara actually hear voices coming from the center's labyrinthine hallways? It's up to Barbara to put the pieces together to solve the mysteries behind the walls. In The Oracle Code, universal truths cannot be escaped, and Barbara Gordon must battle the phantoms of her past before they consume her future."
The Cup was an enjoyable read once the discomfort of the first chapter passed. I have some questions for the author about why the story was written with an initial focus on slavery. There are the scenes with Hela interacting with her father's slaves. One of them gives her the cup but no information is given in the story as to why this particular female slave gave Hela her cup. There are no other scenes with this slave. While I was reading I thought that this slave would be mentioned later in the story. She wasn't. Neither was Hela's slave-trading father's business. The theme of the story is obviously slavery as Hela later gives up having her own life to staying with and making another woman feel safe. However, there is no connection between the opening and the rest of the plot. With that said, the book was splendid reading. It's just that as I was reading, I was expecting the people in the first chapter to be somehow connected to the rest of the story."Hela has powers too strong for a child - both to feel the pain of those around her and to heal them. But when she is given a mysterious cup by a slave woman, its powers overtake her life, forcing her into a vow she cannot hope to keep. Trapped by her vow, Hela loses one chance after another to love and be loved. Meanwhile, in her household a child is growing into a woman who will become famous throughout the Muslim world."
