|summary=Back in August 1985 at the time of the Edinburgh Festival a group of people met in what could have been difficult circumstances. They were arrested for causing a disturbance despite the fact that they weren't really involved in the fracas and it was all a misunderstanding. Little did they know that in the following decade they would all be involved - one way and another - in producing drama for the BBC as it went through one of the toughest periods in its history. The tale is told - mainly - by Rhiannon, but we hear the stories of Nicky, Maggie, Jill, Jonathan and Chris. Names will change, but they'll all wander the circular corridors of power in Langford Place.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908248130</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Damian McNicholl
|title=Twisted Agendas
|rating=3
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Writing about Ireland and the Irish, especially the dimension of the Troubles and the IRA, from a third hand American perspective is a recipe for cliché and stereotype. Balancing and interweaving the story of American journalist Piper with that of Irishman Danny's search for independence in London does enable McNicholl in some part to achieve a wry and knowing stance, making us hope for a clever twist away from the predictably which always seems so close.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908248025</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Kevin Barry
|title=City of Bohane
|rating=5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Bohane is a thoroughly lawless town, set in what would appear to be some kind of parallel universe. We are told it is set in 2053, but it's a town without any technology or modern luxuries. It's a violent place fuelled by alcohol, drugs and lust with a patois style language that takes a little work to get into. Novels with this kind of premise have to be beyond good if they are to interest the annual literary prize judges; this is one such book and ''City of Bohane'' is nominated for this year's Costa First Novel prize. It is stunningly good.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224090577</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Kerry Young
|title=Pao
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=In her Costa Prize short-listed first novel, Kerry Young brings together a huge number of elements that make up a good story. Set in Jamaica, the time period covers 1938 to almost present day, it is the political backdrop of independence and control over Jamaica's assets that informs much of the story. But while the politics of Jamaica resound throughout the book, it's also a very personal story about the life of the eponymous Yang Pao. Issues of race, class, love, family, ambition and business philosophy - Pao's guiding light is Sun Tzu's ''The Art of War'' - are skilfully woven into the mix to make this a great book to curl up with on a cold winter's night.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>140881207X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Gavin James Bower
|title=Made in Britain
|rating=2
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=The settings of the intertwined tales of Russell, the working class swot trapped by his conditions, Charlie, the heroic 'lad' who gets caught in the drugs scene and Hayley the naïve wannabee with a single parent father are the school rooms and backstreets, flats, pubs and clubs of Every Town, the vision of twenty-first century deprivation that Bower conjures. Or rather fails to conjure, for the device of making the 16 year olds tell the story from their own first person narrative deprives the reader of a genuine sense of the physical reality in which this story unfolds.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0704372290</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Laura Wilkinson
|title=Bloodmining
|rating=3.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=
Although Wilkinson has placed her story in the near future, for the most part, you wouldn't necessarily be aware of that fact. Personally, I was delighted as I'm not a fan of futuristic fiction.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907335145</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Kerry Jamieson
|title=The Forgotten Lies
|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=In the mid-thirties, the golden age of Hollywood, three aspiring starlets shared a studio house on Lantana Drive as they waited to hear if they were going to have a career in the movies – or not. Charlotte (soon to be Carlie for acting purposes), Verbena, known to her friends (and ''only'' her friends) as Bee and Ivy were desperate for the role of a lifetime, which would put their name in lights. There was an added appeal. Whoever won would star opposite Liam Malone – good looking, charismatic and ''very'' married with six children. It wasn't just a case of being able to act. Their lives would be under intense scrutiny.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141026049</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Conny Braam
|title=The Cocaine Salesman
|rating=4.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Picture a world of hellish exclusion, nightmarish noise and images, and horrid violence. Picture one person trying to live through the sleepless nights, the isolation among his peers, the permanent sense of dreadful threat. Picture him needing drugs. His best friend might even be called Charlie. But don't picture an inner city slum, 2012, but a man on the front in World War One.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907822054</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Rachel Connor
|title=Sisterwives
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=When I first read the title (I hadn't yet read the back cover blurb) I glibly thought that it was about two sisters and their marriages. Wrong. This debut novel by Connor is about two very different women (one is no more than a girl really) who just happen to 'marry' the same man. I use the word marry very loosely indeed. Their community, their rules, their descriptions etc can be rather quirky. Marriages are normally called 'sealings'.'
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0946745587</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Neil Forsyth
|title=Why Me? The Very Important Emails of Bob Servant
|rating=3.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Catchy title and catchy front cover graphics. What's not to like? It takes a lot to make me laugh generally, but as I had an initial flick through this book, things looked promising. And I was also thinking that it's a pleasant change to see another location (other than perhaps the predictable Glasgow and Edinburgh) get an airing.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780270097</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=D. J. Connell
|title=Sherry Cracker Gets Normal
|rating=5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=
Whilst it's wrong to judge a book by its cover, a mere sight of D. J. Connell's second novel 'Sherry Cracker Gets Normal' is enough to make me smile. The title is amusing; the colourful design enticing and the effusive praise for Connell's debut 'Julian Corkle is a Filthy Liar' encouraging.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>000733219X</amazonuk>
}}
