This month’s six degrees takes me on a full-circle journey—from the starter book, Emily Maguire’s Rapture, and back to it again.

Rapture – As You Like It – Comedy of Errors – Mirror to Mirror – Three Things I Know Are True – One Italian Summer: A Novel – Conclave – Rapture

Rapture – As You Like It

The link: disguises

As per the norm, I have not read the starter book – in this case, Emily Maguire’s Rapture. But it intrigues me: the title, the stunning cover, the storyline, the setting, the characters—all of it!

Born to an English priest in 9th-century Mainz, motherless Agnes is a brilliant, God-loving girl who defies her expected path by disguising herself as a man to join the Fulda monastery. As “John,” she rises from scribe to scholar, heretic, and revered teacher in Rome, dazzling the Church with her knowledge and navigating dangerous intrigue. But when someone from her past arrives, she risks everything for the chance to be truly seen—and loved.

I’m linking Rapture to Shakespeare’s As You Like It , home of the “All the world’s a stage” speech, because like Agnes, Rosalind also dons a male disguise. Though her reasons differ, her journey in disguise—as Ganymede—is filled with wit, charm, and unexpected encounters with love. Yes, rom-coms were a thing even back then!

As You Like It – Comedy of Errors

The link: Shakespeare + disguises, mistaken identity, and sibling relationships.

The Bard did love his disguises and mistaken identities! In Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors, the theme of duality gets dialed up, literally. Think: two sets of identical twins, separated at birth, landing unknowingly in the same city (Ephesus!). Mayhem and hilarity ensue—making this one of the first and finest “comedies of errors.”

Comedy of Errors – Mirror to Mirror

The link: Where twin dynamics take center stage!

From a Shakespearean farce about identical twins separated and confused, we move to a contemporary, emotional story of identical twins struggling with internal identity and reconnection.

Rajani LaRocca’s Mirror to Mirror reflects the deep emotional bond between twin sisters, struggling with anxiety, pressure, and the fight to stay connected. It’s a poignant, lyrical novel about identity, truth, and sisterhood.

Mirror to Mirror – Three Things I Know Are True

The link: Both novels-in-verse center on teen girls coping with trauma in family relationships.

Betty Culley’s Three Things I Know Are True tugged at my heartstrings throughout! Both books (linked here) share a verse format and a powerful emotional pulse. In Three Things, we witness a teen girl dealing with tragedy and looking for strength in the small certainties of life, in love, and in hope.

Three Things I Know Are True – One Italian Summer

The link: There is a number in the title! But looking deeper, the emotional thread is grief and the fantastical hope of healing, as well as how tragedy informs identity.

From the aftermath of a tragedy to a summer of magical realism and healing, we come to One Italian Summer.

One Italian Summer   – Conclave

The link: Italy and spirituality(kind of, since both have elements of faith). From personal healing to the sacred rituals of papal succession…, both stories wrestle with belief, decision-making, and the unseen forces that guide us.

I have only seen the movie Conclave so far, but it was gripping enough to push the book – Conclave – up my TBR.

Conclave – Rapture

The link: The church and power

We’re back where we started. From the Vatican’s hidden corridors to those of medieval Rome, both Conclave and Rapture deal with power, and the price of belief.

And Now, the End of This Post

Dear reader, as always with the six degrees post, what would I find in your chain of books starting from Rapture? And have you read any of the books in my chain here? If yes, your thoughts on them? If not, which ones would you pick to read first?