GIRL Maren Morris Mary Jo Dowsett
Maren Morris may be relatively new to your radio, but the American country singer released her debut album, All That It Takes, over a decade ago. Since then, Morris has evolved her sound and stepped onto the music scene with far more confidence than ever before, having just released her second major studio album, GIRL. Not steering too far from her embedded country roots, GIRL is an album that pulls on the heart strings whilst still delivering upbeat and feel-good anthems. The title track, ‘GIRL’, is the first song off the album and really sets the tone, with Morris incorporating heavy guitar riffs and powerful basslines to go with the uplifting and empowering lyrics throughout. If you are looking for a new soundtrack to accompany your road trips, ‘GIRL’ will most definitely do the trick.
Tombland C.J. Sansom
Following the death of Henry VIII, England was thrown into a period of political turmoil as Protestant and Catholic factions vied for power and the peasantry began to rebel against oppressive landowners. Set during this tumultuous period, Tombland is an historical who-dunnit that combines murder, mystery and intriguing politics. Tombland is the seventh of C.J. Sansom’s Shardlake series, featuring Matthew Shardlake, a London lawyer with a strong sense of social justice and a habit of getting drawn into the dangerous world of royal politics. Having made many enemies while Henry VIII was alive, Shardlake is now engaged by the Princess Elizabeth to discretely investigate the gruesome and public murder of a Boleyn relative. Sent to Norwich to find out more about the scandalous killing, Shardlake and his companions find themselves caught up in a peasant revolt when a vast rebel camp is set up outside the city walls.
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GIRL showcases Maren’s vocals perfectly with an appropriate balance of slow and fast-paced songs. ‘Common’ featuring Brandi Carlile is one of the most delicate tracks on the album, as Morris’ and Carlile’s vocals fall effortlessly together, complimenting each other as they go. Despite Morris fearlessly entering the world of pop, ‘All My Favourite People’ featuring Brothers Osbourne oozes nothing but country and will definitely take you back to her earlier albums. Morris ventures deep into a world of pop whilst keeping a firm grip on her country roots, something which she executes seamlessly. If crossover genres are your new genre of choice, then GIRL is the one for you.
The series is a must-read for lovers of historical fiction whose interest in Tudor politics runs deeper than the flimsy bodice-rippers of writers such as Philippa Gregory. Sansom’s novels are well researched, rich in detail and told from a perspective outside of the immediate royal circle (swooning princesses and courtly love are replaced with a serious middle-aged lawyer with passion for administrative justice). Like the earlier novels in the series Tombland is built around a central mystery, that Shardlake needs to unravel, whilst showcasing real and significant political movements from the Tudor era. Sansom creates characters who are flawed and is brave enough to create a protagonist who, despite his noble ideals, is not always completely likable. At 801 pages, a significant jump on its predecessors, Tombland is too long by a couple of hundred pages but for the most part the reader is able to enjoy their time spent in this detailed and richly drawn world.