This is a monthly link-up hosted by KateW at Books Are My Favourite and Best. Each month a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to form a chain. A book doesn’t need to be connected to all the other books on the list, only to the one next to it in the chain. The rules are:

• Link the books together in any way you like.
• Provide a link in your post to the meme at Books Are My Favourite and Best.
• Share these rules in your post.
• Paste the link to your post in the comments on Kate’s post and/or the Linky Tool on that post.
• Invite your blog readers to join in and paste their links in the comments and/or the Linky Tool.
• Share your post on Twitter using the #6Degrees hashtag.
• Be nice! Visit and comment on other posts and/or retweet other #6Degrees posts

February’s starting book is Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos

Now, I haven’t read this but have seen a couple of movie adaptations many years ago and really enjoyed them, maybe one day I’ll read the book.

Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos is set in 1782, Dangerous Liaisons is a novel that explores themes of power, love, and disappointment. It tells the story of the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont, two aristocrats who play a dangerous game of seduction and revenge. The book is considered one of the earliest examples of the psychological novel. 

I wasn’t sure where to go with this so started scouring my bookshelves and found The Orange Grove by Kate Murdoch which is also set in France in the 1700s and is full of intrigue and rivalry.

Blois, 1705. The château of Duc Hugo d’Amboise simmers with rivalry and intrigue. Henriette d’Augustin, one of five mistresses of the duc, lives at the chateau with her daughter. When the duc’s wife, Duchesse Charlotte, maliciously undermines a new mistress, Letitia, Henriette is forced to choose between position and morality. She fights to maintain her status whilst targeted by the duchesse who will do anything to harm her enemies. The arrival of charismatic tarot reader, Romain de Villiers, further escalates tensions as rivals in love and domestic politics strive for supremacy.
In a society where status is a matter of life and death, Henriette must stay true to herself, her daughter, and her heart, all the while hiding a painful secret of her own.

The next book on my bookshelves I came across was Le Chateau by Sarah Ridout which I haven’t yet read but reading through some of the reviews by my Aussie peers I might have to remedy that this year. I’ve linked this because it is set in France and sounds like there is some intrigue to be found.

What really happened at the chateau? When Charlotte regains consciousness after an accident, she finds herself living a stranger’s life. The previous five years are a blank, and her husband, Henri, and daughter, Ada, are strangers. Arriving at their family chateau in southern France, she hopes to regain her memories. Instead she feels isolated and unsettled. Strange events hint at underlying darkness and menace. Charlotte doesn’t know who to trust. Did she really have an affair with their charming Irish neighbour, as her enigmatic mother-in-law suggests? And what of Henri? He seems loving and kind, a good parent, but Charlotte is wary. Then there is Ada, a little girl who just wants her mother back. With the help of her friend and fellow Australian Susannah, Charlotte starts to piece together events, but her newfound confidence is shaken with news that puts a deadline on her quest… Le Chateau is a suspenseful gothic tale that will appeal to readers of Daphne du Maurier and Kate Morton.

I couldn’t decide whether to try and go historical but the next book I picked up was set way back in the 1400s so I went with set in France. The French Gift by Kirsty Manning, We skip a few years here, well, 200 years as this one is set in 1940. This is another novel I have on my bookshelf as yet unread, I will move this up the pile too.

A World War II story of female friendship, longing and sacrifice through war and loss, bringing together the present and the past. A forgotten manuscript that threatens to unravel the past… Fresne Prison, 1940: A former maid at a luxury villa on the Riviera, Margot Bisset finds herself in a prison cell with writer and French Resistance fighter Joséphine Murant. Together, they are transferred to a work camp in Germany for four years, where the secrets they share will bind them for generations to come. Paris, around about now: Evie Black lives in Paris with her teenage son, Hugo, above her botanical bookshop, La Maison Rustique. Life would be so sweet if only Evie were not mourning the great love of her life. When a letter arrives regarding the legacy of her husband’s great-aunt, Joséphine Murant, Evie clutches at an opportunity to spend one last magical summer with her son. They travel together to Joséphine’s house, now theirs, on the Côte d’Azur. Here, Evie unravels the official story of this famous novelist, and the truth of a murder a lifetime ago. Along the way, she will discover the little-known true story of the women who were enslaved by German forces in WWII. Bringing together the present and the past, The French Gift is a tender and heartbreaking story of female friendship, sacrifice and loss, and the promise of new love.

Staying with books set in France I picked up The French Photographer by Natasha Lester, this is a dual timeline novel set in 1942 & 2005 and I hate to say it, still unread but has moved up the pile.

Inspired by the incredible true story of Lee Miller, Vogue model turned one of the first female war photojournalists, the new novel by the bestselling author of The Paris Seamstress.
Manhattan, Paris, 1942: When Jessica May’s successful modelling career is abruptly cut short, she is assigned to the war in Europe as a photojournalist for Vogue. But when she arrives the army men make her life as difficult as possible. Three friendships change that: journalist Martha Gellhorn encourages Jess to bend the rules, paratrooper Dan Hallworth takes her to places to shoot pictures and write stories that matter, and a little girl, Victorine, who has grown up in a field hospital, shows her love. But success comes at a price. France, 2005: Australian curator D’Arcy Hallworth arrives at a beautiful chateau to manage a famous collection of photographs. What begins as just another job becomes far more disquieting as D’Arcy uncovers the true identity of the mysterious photographer — and realises that she is connected to D’Arcy’s own mother, Victorine. Crossing a war-torn Europe from Italy to France, The French Photographer is a story of courage, family and forgiveness, by the bestselling author of The Paris Seamstress and A Kiss from Mr Fitzgerald.

Staying in France because I found 2 more books on my shelf that worked for this, my next book is Beneath the Parisian Skies by Alli Sinclair (yes, another one I still have to read). This is set in both 1917 and the present day.

Lily Johansson returns to Paris, the city that broke her heart and destroyed her ballet career, hoping to ease the guilt over her fiance’s death and to make amends with her estranged sister Natalie, a ballerina with the Boheme Ballet. Terrified of loving again, Lily nevertheless finds herself becoming entangled with the driven composer Yves Rousseau. Lily has many reasons for keeping Yves at arm’s length but as he recounts the colour, drama and intensity of the Ballets Russes in 1917, the magic of this Bohemian era ignites a spark within her. Meanwhile, cast in the role of honouring Ballet Russes dancer Viktoriya Budian, Lily’s sister Natalie develops an unhealthy obsession. Natalie’s behaviour becomes increasingly erratic as elements of Viktoriya’s tragic life resonate in her own. Lily fears for her sister’s safety and sanity so when Natalie goes missing, she and Yves set out on a desperate quest across France to find her and, along the way, battle their own demons. Could the search for her sister, lead Lily to realise that ballet — like love and life — should not be abandoned so easily?

Lastly we have The Paris Wedding by Charlotte Nash (still unread, shakes head at self). This one is a present day romance.

Ten years ago, Rachael West chose not to move to Sydney with high-school sweetheart Matthew. Instead she stayed on the family wheat farm, caring for her seriously ill mother and letting go of her dreams. Now, Matthew is marrying someone else. And Rachael is invited to the wedding, a lavish affair in Paris, courtesy of the flamboyant family of Matthew’s fiancée – a once-in-a-lifetime celebration at someone else’s expense in Europe’s most romantic city. She is utterly unprepared for what the week brings. Friendships will be upended, secrets will be revealed – and on the eve of the wedding, Rachael is faced with an impossible dilemma: should she give up on the promise of love, or destroy another woman’s life for a chance at happiness? You’ll fall in love with this deliciously poignant story about family and friends, and love lost and found.

So, there you have it from the 1700s France through to the present day. Interestingly all of these novels, excepting the starting book are written by Australian authors.

The book for March is the 2023 Booker Prize winner, Prophet Song by Paul Lynch. I am not sure I’ll read this before then, or ever, this is a heavy read and my heart is already heavy with what is going on in the world.

I hope you enjoyed my chain. Until next time, happy reading.