Elinor Florence, Author

Bestselling Historial Fiction Author

Reading Roundup

To kick off a happy new year of reading, I created this Reading Roundup to include almost every book I have recommended in the past eleven years.

Welcome to Letters From Windermere, where I write about:

  • HISTORY: mostly Western Canada history, plus any other subject that captures my interest.
  • WRITING: updates about Finding Flora, my new historical novel to be released on April 1, 2025.
  • BOOKS: I recommend a good book every month.

A house isn’t a home without books! There are books all over my home, including my office, my husband’s office, and the family room, shown here.

Reading roundup, set of bookshelves with colourful books, a vintage metal sign reading Star Weekly, an old typewriter, and a black desk telephone.

But First, My Writing Life

Thank you so much to everyone who has preordered a copy of my new novel, Finding Flora. If you plan to buy the book, please call or visit your favourite bookstore and order it before April first, which could boost it onto the bestseller list.

I’m currently scheduling book events. My local launch will be held here in Invermere, British Columbia on April first (April Fool’s Day), and my second event will be held at Owl’s Nest Books in Calgary, Alberta on April second.

When additional dates and places and times are nailed down, all events will appear on my website here: Coming Events.

Reading Roundup

People often ask me what I’m reading. I devour an eclectic mix of literary fiction, women’s fiction, chicklit, humour, and mysteries.

Over the years I have recommended almost every book on this list. I have grouped them into categories, beginning with my favourite genre, Historical Fiction. Click on the titles for more information.

Historical Fiction

On Isabella Street, by Genevieve Graham. I began the new year by reading this wonderful new book about a Canadian nurse in Vietnam. Because we are both published by Simon & Schuster, I was lucky enough to receive an Advance Reader Copy. Please preorder Genevieve’s new book , which will be released in April 2025.

On Isabella Street, by Genevieve Graham book cover has silhouette of woman's face against a background of green jungle fronds.

The Englishman’s Boy, by author Guy Vanderhaeghe of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, won the Governor-General’s medal when it was published in 1996. The Last Crossing (my personal favourite of his books) and A Good Man were set in the same time period. In case you thought the Canadian West was a romantic place before 1900, think again — it was also home to some nasty criminals and deadbeats from the Old World.

August Into Winter, the newest novel by the same author, is based on a true crime that took place in Saskatchewan in 1939. It has great characters, a thrilling plot, and fine writing.

News of the World, by American writer Paulette Jiles, was made into a movie with Tom Hanks, but do yourself a favor and READ THE BOOK FIRST. It is a moving account of an older gentleman who agrees to escort a little girl across Texas to find her family, and together they face all kinds of exciting and terrifying adventures.

When the World Fell Silent, by Halifax author Donna Jones Alward, describes the biggest explosion in the world prior to the atomic bombs falling on Japan. It occurred in 1917, when two munitions ships collided in Halifax harbour. The blast killed 2,000 people, blinding and maiming thousands. The novel describes two women whose lives are forever changed by this disaster.

The Four Winds, by bestselling American author Kristin Hannah, takes place in the Dust Bowl of Texas in 1934. You have heard tales about the Dirty Thirties, but this story of one woman’s fight for survival against Mother Nature takes the cake.

Fatal Passage, The Story of John Rae by Canadian author Ken McGoogan tells the story of the Scottish explorer who discovered the fate of the lost Franklin Expedition. Rae was pilloried by the British Press when he revealed that the survivors had resorted to cannibalism!

Reading Roundup: Mystery

The Cost of a Hostage, coming in April, is the twelfth book in this exciting series by writer Iona Whishaw of Vancouver, beginning with A Killer in King’s Cove, which I recommended several years ago. Her protagonist Lane Winslow uses the skills she learned as a spy during the Second World War to solve murders in her tiny mountain community of Nelson, British Columbia. 

The cost of a Hostage by Iona Whishaw book cover has colourful vintage-inspired illustration of a woman pointing at the distant red cliffs of Monument Valley.

Livingsky, by award-winning Anthony Bidulka of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, is the first book in a trilogy featuring sleuth Merry Bell, who lives in a city resembling Saskatoon. Now he has released the second book in the series, From Sweetgrass Bridge.

March Roars is the fourth book in the Paradise Café series by Maureen Jennings of Toronto, justly famous for the Murdoch Mystery books which have been turned into a popular television series. This Master of Crime was also recently named to the Order of Canada!

Reading Roundup: Fantasy

Station Eleven by Canadian author Emily St. John Mandel is an award-winning dystopian novel that takes place after a global pandemic wipes out most of humanity. This was a gripping yarn and happily, not as dark as it sounds.

Station Eleven Book Cover has dark background, with several lighted yellow camping tents across the bottom, with title and author's name in white text.

Secret Sky, by Jo-Anne McLean of Denman Island, British Columbia, launched her seven-book series with this yarn about a woman with a superpower — she can fly! Emelynn Taylor discovers her incredible gift as an adult, joins a secret society of flyers, and has many wild adventures (including some steamy sex, so be forewarned).

Reading Roundup: Romance

Vegan Recipes for New Age Men is a delightful love story between a strait-laced proofreader and the amiable hippie who steals her heart, set in the Scottish Highlands.

Scottish author Liz Treacher also wrote a lovely story titled The Wrong Envelope, a romantic romp based on the case of a letter written to a single woman that fell into the wrong hands.

Reading Roundup: Vegan Recipes for New Age Men by Liz Treacher, cover has illustration of woman's back with red hair blowing in the wind against a bold red and green background.

Reading Roundup: Retro

I love older books but they are sometimes hard to find. You may have to order these oldies but goodies through your public library.

The Jalna Saga consists of sixteen books written from 1927 to 1960 by Canadian author Mazo de la Roche. They follow the fictional fortunes of a British family who came to Ontario in the early days and built their stately home named Jalna. Although well-meaning, the Whiteoaks were colonials — so not all their views are acceptable to the modern reader.

Jalna, by Mazo de la Roche, book cover illustration of stately brick home and two riders on horseback.

Geordie, written by Canadian author David Walker in 1950, tells the story of a shy Scottish lad who is chosen to participate in the Olympic Games. It was published by Reader’s Digest Condensed Books (remember those?) I also wrote about David’s wife Willa Walker, who was head of the Royal Canadian Women’s Division during the Second World War while David suffered in a German prison camp.

Jane of Lantern Hill, published in 1937, was the book that made me fall in love with reading. I found it in my mother’s bookcase at our farmhouse outside North Battleford, Saskatchewan, when I was eleven years old. I hadn’t even heard of her more famous Anne of Green Gables then, but I adored this novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery.

The Enchanted April, written in 1922 by British author Elizabeth von Arnim, is the story of four unhappy women who rent a villa in Italy to escape the English winter, and discover new purpose in their lives.

Reading Roundup: Humour

Mrs. Queen Takes the Train, by witty American author Bill Kuhn, is my kind of book — charming, humorous, and tongue in cheek. Queen Elizabeth herself, feeling a little down in the dumps, decides to play hooky from the rigid confines of her dutiful life and take the train to Scotland in disguise, in order to visit her beloved yacht Britannia.

Mrs. Queen Takes the Train, by William Kuhn, book cover illustration is Queen Elizabeth's cameo on a teal background.

I listed TEN MORE funny books here:

Ten Laugh Out Loud Books

Reading Roundup: Horror

Bag of Bones. If you would like to dip your toes into horror, you can’t go wrong with the master of horror himself, Stephen King. He’s often dismissed by the experts, but the guy can really crank out a wonderful, well-constructed book.

Bag of Bones by Stephen King book cover has a spooky illustration of tiny figure at the end of a long pier extending into a lake.

Reading Roundup: Memoir

Grass Beyond the MountainsNothing Too Good for a Cowboy, and The Rancher Takes a Wife is a trilogy written by gifted raconteur Richmond Hobson, who founded a huge cattle ranch in the Chilcotin area of British Columbia in 1934 along with his buddy Pan Phillips. He writes so entertainingly about his life-threatening exploits that you can hardly believe this isn’t fiction!

Grass Beyond the Mountains, by Rich Hobson, book cover image is silhouette of men on horseback against a flaming orange background.

That is Not Me. Linda Nelson’s father farmed next to mine, outside North Battleford, Saskatchewan. Linda wrote and self-published this memoir after her retirement from teaching, and it describes her life a Little Person, resulting from a condition called Achondroplasia. It’s a very moving account.

The Homemade Brass Plate by Dr. Mary Percy Jackson, who came to northern Alberta from England in 1929 to serve as the local doctor for a population of settlers scattered across the wilderness, is her autobiography. Her story about performing surgery on a dying baby on top of her Singer sewing machine cabinet is staggering.

Wolf Willow. American author Wallace Stegner spent his formative childhood years in Eastend, Saskatchewan, and went on to win the Pulitzer Prize. This memoir describes early hardships on the prairies, including the Great Blizzard of 1906.

Reading Roundup: Book Clubs

Greenwood, by Canadian author Michael Christie, is a gripping saga about a British Columbia logging family that spans one hundred years, from 1934 until 2034. Our book club members (who are a tough crowd) rated it an average nine out of ten.

Greenwood by Michael Christie book cover shows photograph of dense green old growth forest

Defending Jacob by William Landay also got rave reviews from my book club. A courtroom drama/thriller/mystery rolled into one, it tells the story of how a father reacts when his fourteen-year-old son is accused of murder.

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys is a wartime novel about the worst maritime disaster in history. In 1945, a Russian submarine in the Baltic Sea torpedoed a German ship full of refugees fleeing from the advancing Red Army, and more than 9,000 people died. (By comparison, the sinking of The Titanic lost 1,500 people). My book club rated it nine out of ten.

Miss Benson’s Beetle is a real gem, about two ill-matched, unappreciated women who travel to a remote island in 1950, searching for a beetle that may or may not exist. The book by best-selling author Rachel Joyce is beautifully written.

Two Old Women. Based on a true story, author Velma Wallis writes about two old Indigenous ladies, members of a famine-stricken tribe in what is now Alaska, who are abandoned to their fate. Rather than lie down in the snow and die, they decide to fight back.

My club recommended ten more books:

My Book Club Recommends

Reading Roundup: Comfort

During covid, I made a list of my favourite books that I thought my subscribers might enjoy while confined to their homes!

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by British author Helen Simonson is beloved by book clubs everywhere. This is the tale of a crusty retired British major who is having trouble accommodating himself to the modern world. He manages it with great dignity, and the book features a charming middle-aged romance.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, by Helen Simonson, book cover illustration of couple embracing, their faces hidden

I listed more of my favourites here:

Comfort Reading in a Crisis

Reading Roundup: Bookstores

Three years ago, I polled ten independent bookstores for their reading recommendations. Grant Hofer, who owns Four Points Books in Invermere, British Columbia, went straight to one of the classics, published in 1952.

He says: “My favourite book is East of Eden, by John Steinbeck. A sprawling tale about families and relationships, it’s a wonderfully readable classic full of plot, beauty, revenge, and love.”

Ten Top Bookstores, Grant Hofer, owner of Four Points Books in Invermere, BC

Read the other bookstore suggestions here:

Ten Top Bookstores

Reading Roundup: Wartime

For the first five years of this blog, I wrote true wartime stories. You can find them listed in the index under the heading Lest We Forget.

Escape, Evasion and Revenge is one of the most astonishing wartime stories, written by Canadian author Marc H. Stevens of Toronto. His father, a decorated Royal Air Force pilot, hid his identity as a German Jew all his life, even from his own family.

Escape, Evasion and Revenge by Marc H. Stevens cover has photograph of man in air force uniform, a Lancaster bomber and a Star of David.

Read my list of wartime fiction here:

Best Wartime Fiction

I hope you will enjoy some of my suggestions. You can find this list on my website any time by searching for Reading Roundup. Please share this list with your fellow readers!

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Dear Friends: Next month I will return to my favourite subject, history. You can expect my Letter From Windermere to land in your inbox on the third Wednesday of the month, February 19, 2025.

My very heartfelt wishes for a happy new year filled with good health and good books.

All the best, Elinor

About Elinor Florence<br>

Letters From Windermere

I’m a lover of history and all things vintage. My passion for the past is reflected in my novels, my collections, my travels, my home on Lake Windermere, and the monthly letter that I have been sending to my dear followers for the past eleven years. You are warmly invited to join my list. I don’t ask for anything but your email address. However, you are welcome to tell me something about yourself because I love hearing from my readers.
Sending since 2013.
Subscribers: 1,600.
Expect your letter the third Wednesday of every month.

Lest We Forget

While researching my wartime novel Bird’s Eye View, I interviewed people who lived through the greatest conflict the world has ever known, both on the home front and overseas.
I uncovered some truly inspirational stories, indexed here by subject.
Please feel free to read, reflect, and share.
Please Note: All stories and photos are copyrighted to Elinor Florence unless otherwise indicated. You are welcome to copy and share them as long as you give me proper credit.

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