Collage of book covers: All Fours by Miranda July; The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan; Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson; Rock, Paper, Scissors by Alice Feeney; Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney; The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave; The Lost Man by Jane Harper.

6 Degrees of Separation

It’s time for another adventure in Kate’s 6 Degrees of Separation Meme from her blog, Books Are My Favourite and Best. We are given a book to start with, and from there we free associate six books.

This month we start with Kate’s pick for the 2025 Women’s Prize for Fiction, All Fours by Miranda July. 

The most recent novel I’ve read that features a number in its title is The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan.

I’ve recently read a novel by another author named Kate, Kate Atkinson’s Death at the Sign of the Rook.

Atkinson’s book includes a murder investigation that strands several people in an old country house during a snowstorm. Another book in which a snowstorm features prominently is Rock, Paper, Scissors by Alice Feeney.

Alice Feeney’s most recent novel, Beautiful Ugly, is near the top of my “read next” stack. In this book a writer’s wife disappears, leaving her car behind near the edge of a cliff. 

The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave also features a character who apparently fell to his death into the ocean from a cliff.

The word lost also appears in another title, Jane Harper’s The Lost Man. Like The Night We Lost Him, this novel centers on a man who dies under suspicious circumstances.

This month’s 6 Degrees of Separation journey has covered the gamut of human experience: from life (three lives, actually) to death (yikes, five of those, actually). I hope your literary travels this month are more upbeat than mine!

© 2025 by Mary Daniels Brown

7 thoughts on “6 Degrees of Separation”

  1. I’ve read two of the books in your chain, The Lost Man and Death at the Sign of the Rook. I’m tempted by the two Alice Feeney books, too.
    My links were even less upbeat than yours!

  2. I read The Lost Man by Jane Harper last month, did you enjoy it? I thought it was a pretty easy and reliable read. Harper is great for when you want to read something that won’t be hard slog but will keep you interested.

  3. The only one I’ve read from your chain this month is the Kate Atkinson. I was very disappointed in it. But I’m not one for Cosy Crime, so it’s not fair of me to judge, I guess.

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