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|summary=In 2024, Samantha Harvey won the Booker Prize for ''Orbital'', a compact yet profound work that unfolds over a single day in the lives of a group of astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Through a narrative lens that mirrors the astronauts' orbital perspective, Harvey invites readers to see our planet in a wholly new light.
|isbn=1529922933
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|isbn=295967572X
|title=Pale Pieces
|author=G M Stevens
|rating=5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary= Our unnamed narrator is about to begin a train journey with his companion Django. Where they're going and what the purpose of this journey is, is uncertain. Django found the tickets ''on the floor somewhere'' and has persuaded our narrator to accompany him. Why not? Not much else is clear either - but we are probably in the past as the pair travel to the station by coach and the train is a steam locomotive.
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|genre=Crime
|summary=It's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police. Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he's prepared to tell the police where the body of a missing person is buried and who was responsible for her death. This person, he promises, is someone big and it will be worth the police doing what he wants. And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of his sentence and to get an early parole date. Not much to ask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's even prepared to do the other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening.
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|author=Jon Fosse and Damion Searls (translator)
|title=Vaim
|rating=4
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=''All was strange''... This haunting phrase encapsulates the pervading sense of otherworldliness which permeates this story set in Vaim, a fictional fishing village in Norway which paradoxically could not feel more real for Jatgeir and Eline, two of the protagonists caught in its melancholic current.
|isbn=1804271829
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|isbn=1035043092
|title=The Killing Stones (Jimmy Perez)
|author=Ann Cleeves
|rating=5
|genre=Crime
|summary=I can't have been the only person who was sad when Inspector Jimmy Perez [[Wild Fire (Shetland, Book 8) by Ann Cleeves|left Shetland]] to start a new life on Orkney. It's been seven years since we heard from him, but he's now living with Willow Reeves and their young son, James, as well as Cassie, the daughter of his former partner. Willow's also his boss, and she ''should'' be on maternity leave, but when the body of a popular islander, Archie Stout, is found, in the aftermath of a storm, she can't resist getting involved. He'd been battered about the head with a Neolithic stone - one of a pair - which had been stolen from a museum.
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|author=Thea Lenarduzzi
|title=The Tower
|rating=5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary= ''How unctuous are the fats of another's life, how dizzying their sugars in our bloodstream''.
In this compelling novel, Thea Lenarduzzi assumes the identity of T, the protagonist of this tale. Just as T's story is being told, the story of a second protagonist is unveiled: Annie, the daughter of a wealthy family in the 19th century, who died of tuberculosis after being locked in a tower, captures T's imagination. Annie's fate is, above all, an enticing story to T. It is a story which she consumes avariciously, both in a quest for truth and knowledge, and in service of myth, fable and fantasy.
|isbn=1804271799
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|author=Claire-Louise Bennett
|title=Big Kiss, Bye-Bye
|rating=4.5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Everything in this book, however sweet or seemingly innocent, is steeped in anguish and distortion. Even a kiss, usually a symbol of intimacy and closeness, becomes evidence of love lost. When the narrator cries out internally, ''come over here and kiss me,'' it is less an invitation than a desperate attempt to confirm her emotional numbness. The imagined recipient of this plea is Xavier, her ex-partner, a ghost she conjures to test her detachment.
|isbn=1804271934
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|author=Mary McCarthyAnnie Ernaux and Alison L. Strayer (translator)|title=Memories of a Catholic GirlhoodThe Other Girl
|rating=4
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Mary McCarthy describes herself as an ''amateur architectWe were born from the same body. I'', obsessively digging into the past ve never really wanted to piece together the broken mosaic of her lifethink about this. She attributes her ''burning interest in Ernaux's work is always very candid and her tone transparent, but this raw epistolary text must be one of the past'most intimate accounts I' ve read. Ernaux writes in direct address to her orphanhoodsister, however, as she lacked any second-hand memories from this letter will never reach her parents, who . Why? Because Annie Ernaux's sister died in the 1918 flu epidemic. This memoir chronicles her early of diphtheria at 6 yearsold, beginning with her orphanhood a few months before the vaccine was made compulsory in MinneapolisFrance, Minnesota, where she lived under and 2 years before the author was even born. The large and instant void created by the harsh guardianship jarring concept of her late fatherwriting to an imaginary recipient emphasises Ernaux's Irish Catholic parents and process of reckoning with this giant absence in her abusive Uncle Myers and Aunt Margaret. Laterlife, an absence that she moved to Seattle to live with her maternal grandparents—her grandmother being Jewish and her grandfather Presbyterian—who provided her with a different kind of upbringinghas always felt but often denied.|isbn=18042716591804271845
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|author=Jonathan BuckleyMaxim Gorky and Bryan Karetnyk (translator)|title=One BoatReminiscences of Tolstoy, Chekhov and Andreyev|rating=43.5|genre=Literary FictionBiography|summary= ''One Boat'' is a deeply introspective novella that defies traditional narrative structure, drawing Biographies are often seen as the reader into a contemplative realm form of philosophical musings and fragmented memories flowing from our narrator life-writing which offers less colour; it can be seen as more objective and protagonist, Teresaless personal. Set against the evocative backdrop of a small coastal Greek town, I think that Gorky completely rejects this work masterfully captures the magic of its setting and its power to provoke profound introspection. Teresa herself recognises these qualities as the reason she has visited it after the death of both her parents. Prompted by her mourningperspective, her narrative voice is meditative and deeply self-awareoffers a vibrant, inviting the reader into her labyrinthine cogitations. It is a book that not only requires but inspires depth subjective yet informed portrait of three of thought, since its narrative structure is fragmentary and ironically relies on analepsis for its propulsion.|isbn=1804271764}}{{Frontpage|author=Jen Beagin|title=Big Swiss|rating=4his literary contemporaries.5|genre=Humour |summary=I found In the premise first section of this book totally original and addictive. Greta possesses the power to know the population of Hudson, New York's darkest secrets, their intimate lives, their fetishes and fears. How? Her job is Tolstoy complains to transcribe their sex therapy sessions. Sure, therehis friend Gorky that: 's a confidentiality agreement, as the sex coach who calls himself Om keeps reminding her, but that just makes it more exciting. Like we've all probably wished for at some point in you write not of real life, Greta can exist passively, placidly, as a fly on the wall. That it is, until Greta decides to unglue her fly-feet from the safety but of the wall and buzz far too close what you yourself imagine it to the sunbe. The sun in Whom would it help to know how I see this analogy tower, that sea, or that Tartar - why should it interest anyone? Of what use is the sex coachit?'s newest patient, who Greta dubs 'Big Swiss', and who, like the sun, is bright, blonde and beautiful - and irresistible to Greta. SuddenlyWell, the confidentiality agreementMaxim Gorky shows exactly what can be gained from a subjective account, the ethics of her professional position, her loyalties giving us access to Omhow he saw Tolstoy, fly out Chekhov and Andreyev in such privileged detail that one almost feels unworthy of the window. She's in too deepit.|isbn=05713785791804271977
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|isbn=1399613073B0FK5LHKD9|title=Moral InjuriesThe Colour of Memory|author=Christie WatsonChristopher Bowden|rating=4.5|genre=ThrillersGeneral Fiction|summary=Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of It's been three years since we last reviewed a century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitiousbook by favourite regular Christopher Bowden, which is a bonus when you aim so we were very glad to be see a cardiothoracic surgeonnew novel arrive here at Bookbag Towers. Laura is Like all Bowden's stories, there's a perfectionist and a trauma doctor. Anjali is mystery at the free spirit heart of ''The Colour of the group and she becomes a GP. When we first meet them theyMoney're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it's going to end in tragedy. We donlike this running theme in an author't know who suffered the tragedy or the consequences. Twentys work -five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the three friends. This take a mystery but give it different flavour and atmosphere each time, it's their teenage children who are involved.
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|isbnauthor=0241636604Olga Tokarczuk|title=The Trading Game: A Confession|author=Gary StevensonHouse of Day, House of Night|rating=4.5|genre=AutobiographyLiterary Fiction|summary=If you were to bring up an image ''What's the good of a city banker world that keeps changing like that? How can one go on calmly living in your mindit?'' The title of this spellbinding work, you're unlikely to think 'House of Day, House of Night'', somewhat reflects this notion of someone shifting realities - the small, subtle changes which govern our lives, like Gary Stevensonthe shift from day to night, however quotidian, causing chaos. A hoodie and jeans replaces But, the pin-stripe suit and his background constant in that image is the East Endhouse, where he was familiar with violencestoic against the ancient diurnal cycle which nonetheless controls how it is perceived.|isbn=1804271918}}{{Frontpage|isbn=henleyA|title=Ultimate Obsession|author=Dai Henley|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=Ex-DCI Andy Flood has been a Private Investigator for some time now, poverty and injusticehe should be doing quite well financially. There was no posh public school on Unfortunately, his daughter's defence against a murder charge drained his CV - but he had savings. His wife, Laura, has been trying to the London School of Economicspersuade him to retire - ''maybe go travelling or go on cruises. Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he has a facility with numbers which most That's what 'ordinary people do','' He's not been entirely up front about the state of us can only envytheir savings. He also realised that most rich people expect poor people When Jack Durban tries to persuade him to be stupid. It was take his ability at what wascase, essentially, a card game which got it's the thought of the money he could make that convinces him an internship with Citibank. Eventually, that this turned into permanent employment as is a tradermiscarriage of justice that he really should put right.
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|authorisbn=Leanne Egan1836284683|title=Lover BirdsThe Big Happy|author=David Chadwick
|rating=4.5
|genre=TeensDystopian Fiction|summary=When new girl, Isabel, moves to Lou's hometown of Liverpool from London Lou immediately feels Isabel's disdain for everything around her. A misunderstanding between them leaves them hating each other, but Lou feels her pulse racing every time she looks at Isabel or speaks with her, and that's definitely because Isabel makes her feel so cross, isn't it? Because Lou Well! This is straight, isn't she? Even though none of her relationships with boys have gone very well so far, and she's never had a good kiss with murder mystery unlike any of them? So she just finds herself watching Isabel, and wanting to hang out with her because fighting with her is fun, and she definitely just hates Isabel, doesn't she?|isbn=000862657X}}{{Frontpage|author=Jacqueline Rose|title=Women in Dark Times|rating=4|genre=Biography|summary=''The world of the unconscious is not the antagonist of political life, but its steadfast companion, the hidden place or backdrop where any true revolution must begin…''other!
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|summary=Sally Rooney has studied the chessboard of life and is something of a grandmaster at putting it into words. Her dialogue is gripping and so brilliantly frustrating, as her characters never quite say exactly what they feel. Among the many relationships woven into this story, the central one for readers to unravel is the fraternal connection—or lack thereof—between Ivan and Peter Koubek. Ivan, a socially awkward chess prodigy, contrasts sharply with his older brother Peter, a successful lawyer living in Dublin. Following their father's passing after a long battle with cancer, the brothers' already strained relationship faces new trials.
|isbn=0571365469
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|isbn=1036916375
|title=Just a Liverpool Lad
|author=Peter McArdle
|rating=4
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=''Just a Liverpool Lad '' is a collection of memories and reflections from the years Peter McArdle spent growing up in and around Liverpool. Some are factual, such as the family history of a sea-going family, with the docks dominating lives. Other stories blend seamlessly into the what-might-have-been. It's a book to settle into and allow your mind to roam across your childhood memories, to think of simpler times when life seemed less constrained, despite the blitz that was a constant factor in McArdle's early years. I'd never heard of parachute mines before - but they were almost soundless and could appear after the all-clear was sounded.
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|isbn= 1836285493
|title=The Double Life of a Wheelchair User
|author=Rob Keeley
|rating=5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary= Will is a keen player of video games, a conscientious student, a slightly annoying brother and a supportive friend. But most of all, he is an aspiring writer. English is his favourite lesson at his school, Marlowe Park, and one at which he excels. This hasn't gone unnoticed by his headteacher, Mrs Howarth, and she has suggested to Will and his mum that he spends a couple of afternoons a week at a different school, Station Road, where his ability might be better extended.
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|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=Sometimes it's simpler to explain a book by describing what it ''isn't'' and that applies to ''The Conservative Effect: 2010-2024 - 14 Wasted Years?''. If you're looking for an easy read which will deliver the inside story about what ''really'' happened on certain occasions, then this isn't the book for you. If that's what you're looking for, I don't think Anthony Seldon's book, {{amazonurl|isbn=B0BH7SKG2S|title=Johnson at 10}}, can be bettered for those tumultuous years. It's a compelling read and should be compulsory for anyone who thinks Johnson should return to politics. ''The Conservative Effect'' is an entirely different beast. It's the seventh book in a series which looks at the impact a government has made and co-editor Sir Anthony Seldon regards this as the most important. This book follows the well-established format: a series of experts from various fields review the state of the nation when the coalition took over in 2010, the changes that occurred and the situation in 2024.
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|summary=Elk and Mab are best friends, or more than that even, their friendship is a once in a lifetime connection. They meet as children one day on a trip out but unfortunately they don't get each other's contact details at the time. But then chance brings them back together, and they are inseparable. Something has happened though, something terrible and tragic, and now they must work through their grief, and their friendship, together.
|isbn=1471196585
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|isbn=1529934753|title=The Protest|author=Onyi NwabineliRob Rinder|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=For a little while, it looked as though Sir Max Bruce, the country's most famous living artist, was not going to show up for the opening of his retrospective at the Royal Academy. Still, he arrived in the nick of time, complete with his two wives and six children, one of whom filmed what happened. Being an influencer, you tend to do things like that, but it was fortunate that there was a record of the protest. Lexi Williams, an intern at the RA, grabbed a spray can of blue paint from under a chair and proceeded to spray Bruce in the face, whilst shouting ''Stop the War''. It seemed to be part of an ongoing series of 'blue-face' attacks, but this was different. The can had been laced with cyanide, and Sir Max Bruce was dead.}}{{Frontpage|author=Ariel Saramandi|title=Allow Me to Introduce MyselfPortrait of an Island on Fire
|rating=4.5
|genre=General FictionPolitics and Society|summary=Anuri spent her childhood on display In this powerful collection of essays, Saramandi seeks to intradermally dissect the worldsociopolitical fabric of Mauritius, thanks tunneling deep into the wounds left by colonialism and slavery to her step-mother Opheliaexpose how these legacies still shape modern life. Saramandi describes the country at one stage as ''rotting''s increasingly popular presence on social media, where she posted every step a blunt yet apt metaphor for the systemic decay brought about by the malignant forces of Anuri's childhood for sponsorships and influencer deals andracism, basicallypatriarchy, monetary gainenvironmental degradation and governmental dysfunction. Now Anuri is Each essay in her twenties this collection serves as a kind of diagnostic, charting the various diseases afflicting the island state.|isbn=1804271616}}{{Frontpage|author=Pekka Harju-Autti|title=LoveVortex and the Drakor's Curse|rating=4|genre=Fantasy|summary=It's the eighteenth century, a time of discovery and she Britain is slowly trying to regain her confidence and to get her life backexpanding its foreign trade. Captain Julius Hawthorne, an experienced Scottish sea captain, suing her step-mother is sent to take down the content about herAndaman Islands in his endeavour. Anuri is battling alcoholismAlong with his son, failing to start her PhDPeter, undergoing therapy and secretly abusing people online and receiving money from them for doing so. Most importantlytheir cat, she is desperately worried about her little sisterMichi, who is the new focus of Ophelia's online empirethey set off on a perilous voyage to these faraway lands. Can she save her sister, The islands are beautiful and perhaps herself stunning in their scenery and her relationship with her father at the same time?islanders' leader, Aarav, is keen to establish good relations.|isbn=0861546873B0DS1VGHH3
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|author=David ChadwickHelene Bessette and Kate Briggs (translator)|title=Headload of NapalmLili is Crying
|rating=4.5
|genre=ThrillersLiterary Fiction|summary= It's September 1973 First published in Hicks1953 in French, California. Hicks this novel is a Mojave desert town timeless text which wrenches the hearts of a few thousand people with its nearest neighbours of LA readers just as Bessette wrenches words and sentences from their proper position on the page and Las Vegas both a significant drive awaypositions them elsewhere, disjointed, truncated. Not much happens in Hicks. A silver mine and a defence contractor are Like the main local employers but otherwise, there's not much lives of note other than dive bars and Joshua trees. Life is quiether characters, until...they are often left tragically incomplete.|isbn= B0D321VJ761804271675
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|genre=Crime
|summary=Builders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the site was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the bones of a child beneath a doorway. There was no skull. Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. It's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn't, that she is pregnant with his child as a result of the one night they spent together some three months ago. Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of sickness.
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|author=Guadalupe Nettel and Rosalind Harvey (Translator)
|title=The Accidentals
|rating=4.5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=This collection was truly enchanting in all senses of the word: spellbinding with its fantastical, magical elements and charming in its gentle portrayal of nature and human relationships. Guadalupe Nettel writes intelligently and precisely, her stories structured by a wisdom that appears to want to teach us something about the world.
|isbn=1804271470
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|isbn=0008551375
|title=When Shadows Fall (D S Max Craigie)
|author=Neil Lancaster
|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=Leanne Wilson's body was found at the bottom of a Scottish mountain, seemingly the result of a tragic accident. She'd looked so happy, too, when she posted her intentions on Facebook. Her friends were relieved as she was just out of an unpleasant relationship, but it looked like she was living her best life now. Then it emerged that five other women had died in similar circumstances in the last year. All were experienced climbers, properly equipped for what they were doing and sensible people. None of the 'what a stupid thing to do' explanations applied. They were all alone when they died: DS Max Craigie is certain there's a killer on the loose.
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