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'''Read [[:Category:New Reviews|new reviews by category]]. '''<br>
 
'''Read [[:Category:New Reviews|new reviews by category]]. '''<br>
 
'''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].'''<!-- Remove -->
 
'''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].'''<!-- Remove -->
{{newreview <!-- remove 21/5 -->
 
|author=Lizzy Mumfrey
 
|title=Fall Out
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|summary=Charlton's the sort of village where people aspire to live, despite its apparent ordinariness.  There's the usual mix of commuters (it's not ''too'' far from London) and those who make their lives in the village.  Richard Hughes is a commuter, but his wife Jessica works at the local academy, where both their children - Alfie and Hannah - are pupils.  Pete Cole is a newly-promoted police superintendent and clearly still fond of his voluptuous wife, Susie.  Actually, some of that voluptuousness might be better described as fat - Pete suspects that he might need longer arms to hug her before long.  Less popular is Gary Webber.  He's the sort of man who causes people to heave a sigh of relief when he joins someone else for a drink at the golf club.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1911079840</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
{{newreview
 
{{newreview
|author= Cath Staincliffe
+
|author= Thomas Dolby
|title= The Silence Between Breaths
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|title= The Speed of Sound
|rating= 5
+
|rating= 4.5
|genre= Crime
+
|genre=Entertainment
|summary= I'm always wary of author endorsements, even those from people I rate as writers, but the ''harrowing and humane'' quote from Ian Rankin on the front cover of ''The Silence Between Breaths'' does not overstate the case. This is an extremely powerful book.
+
|summary= From struggling post-punk musician to pop star, from Silicon Valley innovator to university professor, Thomas Dolby has had a remarkable if not unique career, often reinventing himself on the way. This memoir is based on his extensive notes and journals.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472118014</amazonuk>
+
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785781952</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
{{newreview
|author=Jill Armitage
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|author= Ron Butlin
|title= Arbella Stuart: The Uncrowned Queen
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|title= Steve and Frandan Take on the World
 
|rating= 4.5
 
|rating= 4.5
|genre= Biography
+
|genre= Teens
|summary= Lady Arbella Stuart, cousin to both Elizabeth I of England and James VI of Scotland, was one of the unfortunate figures of English history who might have been Queen and who, like the even more tragic Lady Jane Grey, might have paid the ultimate price. This is a sad but engrossing story of one whose only crime was to have royal blood coursing through her veins.
+
|summary= Like many books for confident readers and teens, our heroes are the victims of cruel bullies to be precise, as we are well into the twenty-first century here, of the cyber kind. But this isn't some worthy self-help, tell-an-adult book, nor is it a gloomy book about young people who can't see the point of going on. Nope – these guys take the unusual (and, in the light of later events, utterly daft) decision to simply sail away into the sunset, to take a break from civilisation, online Thor and his idiot Viking horde, and the insanities in general of all adults. In their defence, it seems a sensible move at the time...  
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1445650193</amazonuk>
+
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780274394</amazonuk>
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Stephan Talty
 
|title= The Black Hand
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=True Crime
 
|summary=History is a fascinating subject to study as there is so much of it, so why do we keep going back to the same places?  I feel like I have walked the steps of Julius Caesar and married at least two of Henry VIII's wives, so often I have read about them.  There are countless other tales out there to learn about that may be more obscure, but are just as exciting. I don't know much about New York around 1900, but after reading ''The Black Hand'' by Stephan Talty I now know it was a violent place to live, but an interesting one to learn about.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785037129</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
{{newreview
|author= A P McGrath
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|author= Elaine Everest
|title= A Burning in the Darkness
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|title= The Butlins Girls
 
|rating= 4
 
|rating= 4
|genre= Crime
+
|genre= Historical Fiction
|summary= At a busy airport, Michael Kieh is a full time faith representative serving the needs of some of the 80 million passengers, but circumstance and evidence point to his guilt in a terrible crime. His struggle to prove his innocence leads him on a charged journey that pitches love against revenge. When a mysterious woman confides a dark secret, he is motivated to redress a heart-breaking injustice. Together they must battle against powerful forces as they edge dangerously close to unmasking a past crime. But Michael faces defeat when he chooses to protect a young witness, sparking memories of Michael's past in Liberia. As he fights to prove his innocence, Michael has to risk anything for the sake of love and truth.
+
|summary=Fresh-faced Molly Missons has just arrived in Skegness to start her new job as a Butlins auntie. Behind the smiles and confident appearance, she hides a secret; she has taken the job to escape escalating problems at home. She soon finds good friends in her chalet-mates Bunty and Plum, and it turns out that they each have their own reasons for wanting a fresh start. Meanwhile, Molly is shocked to discover that her movie-star crush Johnny Johnson is working as an entertainment adviser at the camp. Is he really as suave as his on-screen persona? And why is he working at the camp anyway? As hidden secrets become discovered, Molly and her new friends face new threats and dangers that may threaten their new-found freedom.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B06ZYXJ1KL</amazonuk>
+
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1447295536</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
{{newreview
|author=Nosy Crow
+
|author= Benjamin Ludwig
|title=British Museum: ABC
+
|title= The Original Ginny Moon
|rating=4
+
|rating= 5
|genre=For Sharing
+
|genre= General Fiction
|summary=Learning your ABCs is also seemingly learning the same items appearing over and over again. A is not only A – it is also Apple. B is Ball, C is Car. It is almost as if there are only 26 objects in the world and they happen to start with different letters of the alphabet.  In fact, apart from Xylophone and X-Ray, there are loads of things that you could choose to put in an ABC book, if only you had a vast repository of objects and art that you could choose from …
+
|summary= To Ginny, a child with autism, the word Forever means until the police come. Five years ago the police forcibly removed her from the home of her abusive birth mother, Gloria. Now fourteen, and in her fourth Forever Home, Ginny remains hell-bent on finding her way back to Gloria's apartment. She has no illusions about her mother's addictions or lack of parenting skills. She knows that it might be dangerous that it might even kill her. Still she plots, obsessed with returning to Gloria's to find something she insists she left behind, something she hid under her bed. Her teachers, therapist, and new Forever Parents are in turn frustrated, infuriated, and perplexed. As Gloria returns to her life, the reader follows Ginny on a journey filled with danger and discovery, in her quest to find a place she can truly call her Forever Home.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857638165</amazonuk>
+
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848456611</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
{{newreview
|author=Liz Pichon
+
|author=Holly Webb
|title=Family, Friends and Furry Creatures (Tom Gates)
+
|title=The Homeless Kitten
|rating=4
+
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
+
|genre=Emerging Readers
|summary=Tom Gates has got a problem: his shoes are making a noise. They sort of rasp when he walks, only he can't recreate the sound at home. At school it's a different matter: not only is the noise very loud, there are those of his classmates who suggest that it has originated from somewhere a little more, well, ''intimate''. All in all it's not a good start to the day for Tom, particularly when he realises that he's also forgotten his baby photo for the latest school project. Class 5F are building their family trees and they've got to interview family members to get stories of their lives for the project.
+
|summary= Lily loves their rescue dog, Hugo. However, Lily also really wants a cat – or better still a kitten. She, therefore, can't believe her luck when Hugo sniffs out three abandoned kittens while out of his walk with Lily and her dad. Better still (from Lily's point of view at least) the animal shelter is full so Lily's mum and dad reluctantly offer to hand-rear the tiny kittens until they're old enough to be rehomed. Lily's in heaven looking after the kittens, especially the little fluffy white one whom she names Stanley. There is just one problem – it's going to break her heart when the time comes to say goodbye.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407168118</amazonuk>
+
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847157831</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
{{newreview
|author= Clare Fisher
+
|author= Harriet Cummings
|title= All the Good Things
+
|title=We All Begin As Strangers
 
|rating= 4
 
|rating= 4
 
|genre= General Fiction
 
|genre= General Fiction
|summary= Nature, nurture, chance and circumstance; all combine to produce the story of Bethany Mitchell, a young adult who writes from her prison cell. We know only that she has committed a 'bad thing', a bad thing that she sees as the end of her story. Armed with a simple task, Erika, a psychologist, sets out to challenge this. She asks Beth simply to compile a list of all the good things in her life.
+
|summary=In the summer of 1984, a Chilterns village was gripped with fear and suspicion as a mysterious intruder known as ''The Fox'' broke into the homes of several residents in the area. Despite an increased police presence, regular patrols and vigilante groups, this slippery character still managed to evade detection. A huge police ''Foxhunt'' followed, and finally, forensic evidence led to the eventual capture of the perpetrator. This real-life news story sparked the imagination of a young Harriet Cummings, who went on to create a fictional version of events, which invites the reader to turn detective and try and unmask ''The Fox'' from a range of possible suspects.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>024127575X</amazonuk>
+
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1409169049</amazonuk>
 +
}}
 +
{{newreview
 +
|author= Malcolm Devlin
 +
|title= You Will Grow Into Them
 +
|rating= 5
 +
|genre= Short Stories
 +
|summary=''You Will Grow Into Them'' is a thrilling collection of ten short stories all centred on the nature of transition and change. The often grisly, macabre and ghoulish nature of the stories included in Devlin's debut collection are intoxicatingly illicit and the darkness within each tale is deviously addictive.
 +
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907389431</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
{{newreview
|author= Robert Harris
+
|author= Tove Jansson
|title= Conclave
+
|title= Letters From Klara
|rating= 4
+
|rating= 5
|genre= General Fiction
+
|genre= Literary Fiction
|summary= It is hard to believe that Harris has managed to bring such pace to the often lengthy and complex process of a conclave, but he has wrung out every piece of mystery and the result had me reading through long into the night. I simply could not put this down.
+
|summary= Famed in the UK for her creation of the Moomin family, Jansson is rather belatedly beginning to gather the richly deserved esteem for her adult writings.  For that I offer my heart-felt thanks to publishers ''Sort of books'' and Thomas Teal, who has been responsible for most of the translations.  Receiving this one, two things strike: firstly I somehow seem to have missed one of the series, and secondly there'll come a time sooner rather than later when there'll be no more to be had.  The former will be rectified, the latter is a sad thought.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784751839</amazonuk>
+
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908745614</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
{{newreview
|author= Samantha King
+
|author= Jane Menczer
|title= The Choice
+
|title= An Unlikely Agent
 
|rating= 4
 
|rating= 4
|genre= Thrillers
+
|genre= Crime (Historical)
|summary= It's perfectly possible to be drawn towards one of your children more than the others at a particular point in time. Maybe for a moment, just a moment, you prefer the sleeping 4 year old over his up all night baby sister, and then later when off to do the Big Shop you favour the littlest one for sheer portability and lower likelihood of running off in the carpark, but if you ask most parents they will say they love their children equally. End of. In different ways and for different things, but equally. You might jokingly pick a favourite, but deep down there's no such thing. So imagine the worst thing that could come. Imagine a stranger arriving at your door with a gun and making you choose between your children. One can live, but one must die. Welcome to Madeline's world and her living nightmare.
+
|summary=London, 1905. Margaret Trant lives with her ailing, irascible mother in a dreary boarding house in St John's Wood. The pair have fallen on hard times, with only Margaret's meagre salary from a ramshackle import-export company keeping them afloat.When a stranger on the tram hands her a newspaper open at the recruitment page, Margaret spots an advertisement that promises to 'open new horizons beyond your wildest dreams!'. After a gruelling interview, she finds herself in a new position as a secretary in a dingy backstreet shop.But all is not as it seems; she is in fact working for a highly secret branch of the intelligence service, Bureau 8, whose mission is to track down and neutralise a ruthless band of anarchists known as the Scorpions.Margaret's guilty love of detective fiction scarcely prepares her for the reality of true criminality, and her journey of self-discovery forms the heart of this remarkable novel, as she discovers in herself resourcefulness, courage, independence and the first stirrings of love.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0349414653</amazonuk>
+
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846973805</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
{{newreview
|author= Suzanne Leal
+
|author=Henry Marsh
|title= The Teacher's Secret
+
|title=Admissions: A Life in Brain Surgery
|rating= 4.5
+
|rating=4.5
|genre= General Fiction
+
|genre=Autobiography
|summary= Terry has been teaching at his suburban Australian junior school for years. Everyone knows him, heck half the kids in his class have parents who were former pupils of his. He's an institution. You know the sort. And he does not take kindly to a new young upstart showing up and trying to meddle. He's not nasty about it, but it rubs him up the wrong way.
+
|summary=It's more than two years since I read [[Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery by Henry Marsh|Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery]] but the memories have stayed with me. I had thought then that a book about brain surgery might sound as though I was taking my pleasures too sadly, but the book was superb - and very easy reading and when I heard about ''Admissions'' I decided to treat myself to an audio download, particularly as Henry Marsh was narrating. I knew that my expectations were unreasonably high, but how did the book do?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785079077</amazonuk>
+
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1474603866</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
{{newreview
|title=Cheeky Charlie: Bugs and Bananas (My Crazy Brother Book 2)
+
|author=DK
|author=Mat Waugh
+
|title=Children's Illustrated Thesaurus
 +
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 +
|summary=One of the most valuable literary skills which children can learn is how to use reference books.  As a child every question which I began with ''how do you spell...?'' would be answered with ''EXACTLY as it says in the dictionary''.  This was fine, but the family's Collins Little Gem Dictionary didn't encourage exploration, not least because the font was small and difficult to read.  Fortunately those times have now changed and reference book for children are now much more inviting.  Not every book comes with a set of instructions but it's worth studying the ''How to...'' section, not least because similar systems are used in other reference books.
 +
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241286972</amazonuk>
 +
}}
 +
{{newreview <!-- remove 28/5 -->
 +
|author=Val Harris
 +
|title=Hunting Ground
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
+
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Cheeky Charlie has already had [[Cheeky Charlie by Mat Waugh|one book]] written about him and now he has another. His slapstick adventures are related once more by his sister Harry. I love Harry. Harry is by turn infuriated and amused by her brother Charlie. And Harry also brims over with enthusiasm.  
+
|summary=Nyara Camp is one of the newest camps in the Masai Mara and it's run by James and Alexia Sackville. The guests might sleep in tents, but it's still luxury accommodation in anybody's book. Chui Camp, on the other hand, sticks with the traditional way that safaris were run, including bucket showers. Owner Ralph Somerton is convinced that's what the guests ''should'' want and he won't listen to any of his wife Tessa's suggestions for updating the tired venue. It's beginning to be reflected in the profits Chui makes, but instead of upping his own game Somerton would rather see Nyara as unfair competition and it's only a small step from that reasoning to looking at ways of ensuring Nyara's failure.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B072F58644</amazonuk>
+
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0955599717</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
{{newreview
|author=Patrick Ness
+
|author= Marian Veevers
|title= Release
+
|title=Jane and Dorothy: A True Tale of Sense and Sensibility
|rating= 4.5
+
|rating= 4
|genre= Confident Readers
+
|genre= Biography
|summary= Adam lives in small-town America in a deeply religious household. His father is an evangelical preacher. His brother is at a Christian college training to be an evangelical preacher. Adam is used to a restricted life and he is also used to an atmosphere of suspicion. Because Adam is gay. And this must be unspoken because to acknowledge it would lead to...
+
|summary= The idea of a dual biography of two contemporaries who never met throughout their lives is an intriguing one. However, there were several unifying factors, which makes it seem logical enough. Jane Austen and Dorothy Wordsworth were both renowned writers though one was much more famous than the other, and both were born just four years apart, in the 1770s.  
... well, best not to think about that.
+
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910985775</amazonuk>
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1406331171</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
{{newreview
|author= Claire Fayers
+
|author= Geraint Jones
|title= Journey to Dragon Island (The Accidental Pirates)
+
|title= Blood Forest
 
|rating= 5
 
|rating= 5
|genre= Confident Readers
+
|genre= Historical Fiction
|summary= Two quests. Can the crew of the good ship Onion (don't ask) help their young friend Brine to find her home? And does the legendary island of dragons really exist or – a rather important point, this – if the ship keeps sailing west, will it just topple off the edge of the world? Of course, if you think a little thing like terrible peril and near-certain death should stop Captain Cassie and her shipmates from going wherever they fancy, then you're reading the wrong series.   
+
|summary= Felix. The lucky one.  He doesn't feel especially lucky when he staggers out into the grove and finds twelve of his comrades butchered and mutilated in the worst possible ways.  He felt even less lucky when the soldiers arrived, Roman cavalry. He might have run, but he knew he'd never make it. He stepped out to face whatever came next.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1447290623</amazonuk>
+
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0718184815</amazonuk>
 +
}}
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{{newreview
 +
|author=Dorling Kindersley
 +
|title=First Science Encyclopedia
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 +
|summary=I wasn't introduced to 'science' until I was eleven and went on to senior school: I wasn't alone in this, but it really was too late.  Thankfully, times have changed and children at primary school are getting to grips with plants and animals, atoms and molecules and even outer space from a very young age.  What's needed is a good, basic reference book which will introduce all the subjects and give a good grounding.  It needs to be something which would sit proudly in the classroom library and comfortably on a child's bookshelfThe ''First Science Encyclopedia'' would do both well.
 +
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>024118875X</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview <!-- remove 17/5 -->
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{{newreview
|title=Go To Sleep!
+
|author=Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet
|author=Marion Adams
+
|title=Supertato Run Veggies Run
|rating=4
+
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=For Sharing
 
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=''It was midnight on the wild moors. The round white moon peeped over the clouds. The barn owl flew from tree to tree without making a sound. The cool night breeze rustled through the gorse bushes.''
+
|summary=I've heard of these so called superfoods, they are reported to boost your immune system and flush out areas of your body that have gone unnoticed for decades, but does this make them super?  In my mind to be a superfood you need to do something spectacular; lift a car from a trapped child, or leap over a building in one bound. The vegetable and fruit in my house can't do any of this, but then they aren't Supertato; a spectacular spud that, more than once, has saved the day with his powers.
 
+
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1471121038</amazonuk>
Parents - isn't this just a lovely way to start a bedtime story? It's an oft-forgotten truth about picture books that they need to engage the parents as well as the children. How else can they read it aloud successfully? So I loved this opening paragraph of ''Go To Sleep!'' - it not only set the scene beautifully but it also made me want to rush off and find a child to read it to.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0993079474</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
{{newreview
|author=Noah Hawley
+
|author=The British Museum
|title=Before the Fall
+
|title=Origami, Poems and Pictures
|rating=4
+
|rating=5
|genre=Thrillers
+
|genre=Crafts
|summary=All artist Scott Burroughs did was to accept the offer from the wife of a media mogul for a short plane ride, not realising it will shape the rest of his lifeThe private jet falls out of the sky, making him a hero in the way he saved the only other survivor, the mogul's small son and heir JJ.  The search for answers makes Scott uncomfortable in many ways, especially when he realises that for some he's not so much the hero as the murderer. Are they right?
+
|summary=Sometimes you find a delight of a book.  On an afternoon when it was unseasonably cold and decidedly wet I discovered ''Origami, Poems and Pictures'' and I was transported to Japan.  As the title suggests we're looking at three celebrated arts and crafts: the ancient art of paper folding, haiku poetry and painting.  I'll confess that it was the origami which caught my attention, but I was surprised by the extent to which the rest of the book caught my imaginationWe begin with something very simple: a boat and in case you're worried, all the entries have a degree of difficulty (from 'simple' through to 'tricky') and this one is at the lowest level.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>144477977X</amazonuk>
+
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857639382</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
{{newreview
|author=Antonia Senior
+
|author=Warner Brothers
|title=The Tyrant's Shadow
+
|title=Harry Potter Colouring Book Celebratory Edition: The Best of Harry Potter colouring
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Historical Fiction
+
|genre=Crafts
|summary=Warning: spoilers ahead for ''Treason's Daughter''.
+
|summary=Imagine pages and pages of images from the Harry Potter books and films for you to colour as you wish.  You ''might'' have seen some of the images before - I know I have - as they've appeared in the ''Harry Potter Colouring Book'', ''Harry Potter Magical Creatures Colouring Book'', and ''Harry Potter Magical Places and Characters Colouring Book'', but there are several exclusive never-before-seen images which will please the collector of Harry Potter memorabiliaIf you're in need of inspiration as to colours then you'll enjoy the sixteen pages of film stills, unit photography and concept art at the back of the book.
Patience lives with her widowed brother, William, helping to care for his son Richard (nicknamed Blackberry).  Despite the Civil war ending, the times are still uncertain.  Cromwell is increasingly annoyed with a parliament of rebels refusing to go to the electorate for ratification.  William sees this problem at close quarters once he's effectively forced to become Cromwell's legal advisor in an atmosphere poisoned by espionage and religious factions.  However when Patience comes across Shadrick Simpson, a charismatic preacher, all becomes clearer for her at least.  Meanwhile Sam Challoner, William's brother in law, comes home after privateering with Prince Rupert and realises that the fight at sea is better than peace at homeAt least when you're privateering you know who your enemy is.
+
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783708255</amazonuk>
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782396616</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 +
 
{{newreview
 
{{newreview
|author=Leonardo Padura
+
|title=The Secret of the Wooden Chest (Roman Magic)
|title=Heretics
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|author= Catherine Rosevear
|rating=4.5
+
|rating=3.5
|genre=Crime
+
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Daniel Kaminsky is a child émigré to Cuba in 1939, looking forward to being joined from Germany by his parents. They're on board the St Louis in Havana docks but in a country and a time rife with politics and corruption, the ship is turned back without permitting any of their passengers to disembark. Now, nearly 80 years later, Daniel's son wants to know how an auction house obtained a family heirloom: a Rembrandt painting that the Kaminskys had with them on the ill-fated ship. He approaches retired Cuban policeman Mario Conde for answers to something that may seem straightforward but they soon realise it will prove to be anything but.
+
|summary=Hannah lives with her parents in a flat above the nursing home where her mother is matron. Hannah is an only child and so she enjoys making friends with some of the home's residents. So when Mrs Oberto moves in, Hannah is keen to make her acquaintance - Hannah has never met anyone Italian before. Mrs Oberto is quite standoffish at first but Hannah persists and soon they are the best of friends. Mrs Oberto is particularly keen on helping Hannah with her school project about ancient Rome and relates many interesting stories about her Sicilian childhood. But she remains tight-lipped about the mysterious wooden chest, the key to which she keeps around her neck...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908524782</amazonuk>
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|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1788032535</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
{{newreview
|author= David Barbaree
+
|author= Dominic Smith
|title= Deposed
+
|title= The Last Painting of Sara de Vos
|rating= 4.5
+
|rating= 5
 
|genre= Historical Fiction
 
|genre= Historical Fiction
|summary= A.D 68. A deposed emperor lies in a prison cell, betrayed and newly blinded by those who were sworn to protect him. He is now crippled and deprived of power, left completely on the edge of despair with a frightened young slave named Marcus as his only companion. Ten years later and it is Emperor Vespasian who wears the purple. Things may have settled since the civil war but Vespasian's son Titus is plagued by worry about plots to murder his father. Gruesome atrocities and mysterious disappearances are rife throughout Rome; it is a city full of falsehoods and intrigues with the fear of rebellion lurking beneath the surface. Furthermore, a man who used to be emperor still lives – a blind man who everyone believes to be dead. His name is Nero and he seeks revenge against those who wronged him.
+
|summary= If you find the techniques used by Rembrandt and Vermeer fascinating, ''The Last Painting of Sara de Vos'' provides a masterclass in how to work up a canvas in stages.   Framing the novel as the story of a seventeenth century Dutch painting, Dominic Smith vividly sketches out the main contours of his characters and the three time periods they inhabit before we are even one fifth of the way through. Sara is one of the few women artists of the period and her painting is of children skating on a frozen canal, her now dead daughter its central figure. The painting has been in Marty de Groot's family since before Isaac Newton was born and he is the patent lawyer from whom it is stolen in 1950s Manhattan.  Ellie Shipley forged a copy of the painting in her postgraduate student years and in 2000 finds herself at the centre of a gathering storm which threatens to destroy her reputation as one of Sydney's foremost fine art academics.   Satisfying though those first descriptions are, we then understand these are merely the author's equivalent of the delicate chalk lines used by painters of the Dutch Golden Age to mark out the composition which will follow.  
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785762672</amazonuk>
+
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>192526680X</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
{{newreview
|author= Colleen Oakley
+
|author=Deirdre Osborne (Editor)
|title= Close Enough to Touch
+
|title=The Cambridge Companion to British Black and Asian Literature (1945–2010)
|rating= 4
+
|rating=5
|genre= Women's Fiction
+
|genre=Reference
|summary=''One time, a boy kissed me and I almost died...My lips started tingling. My tongue swelled to fill my mouth. My throat closed; I couldn't breathe. Everything went black.''
+
|summary=This literary companion offers fifteen essays addressing the contribution of black and Asian authors to the British literary canon since 1945. It covers not just fiction, but also poetry, plays and performance works. It sits as a kind of joyful cuckoo in the nest, interrupting the usual narratives of literary waves and movements in Britain that take little notice of any perspective other than the dominant white - and posh! - direction of travel. It's a disparate, varied collection of essays, covering spoken word performance poetry, black British urban fiction, LGBTQ writing, liberationist writing and much more. I was really happy to see children's authors such as Malorie Blackman, Jamila Gavin and Catherine Johnson discussed and respected.
 
+
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1316504808</amazonuk>
So begins the tale of an unlikely romantic heroine: a girl who is allergic to other human beings. After the extreme humiliation suffered in the aftermath of the events above, Jubilee Jenkins becomes a recluse and hides herself away from the world for nine years. When her source of income suddenly dries up, Jubilee needs to overcome her fears, step out into the world and find a job. Working at the local library, she meets divorced dad Eric and his quirky adopted son, Aja and strikes up a friendship with them. As their mutual attraction starts to grow, can there be any future for a relationship where even a simple kiss could be fatal?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1760294136</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
{{newreview
|author=Harold D Clarke, Matthew Goodwin and Paul Whiteley
+
|author=Dr Seuss
|title=Brexit: Why Britain Voted to Leave the European Union
+
|title=Dr Seuss's ABC
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Politics and Society
+
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=Ten, nearly eleven months on from the June 2016 referendum I'm still struggling to come to terms with the thought that the United Kingdom voted by a narrow but decisive majority to leave the European UnionSince then I've been searching for enlightenment in the form of hard facts rather than opinions: given a handful of people you'll get at least half a dozen 'valid' reasons. Personally, I blame Boris Johnson.  ''Brexit: Why Britain Voted to Leave the European Union'' isn't a book of ''opinions'' about why the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union but a close look at what the statistics tell us.  It's a dry but informative read.
+
|summary=No one who has read his work can deny that Dr Seuss had a powerful imagination.  He was able to pluck from his brainpan not only interesting takes on old ideas, but also new creatures and worlds that had never been seen beforeHis books are often madder than a box of March hares, but even he must have had his limits? The humble ABC book (dare I say the dull ABC book), surely he could not bring his sense of anarchic fun to this staple of the children's education market?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1107150728</amazonuk>
+
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007487754</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
{{newreview
|author=Tim Moore
+
|author= Stewart O'Nan
|title=The Cyclist Who Went Out in the Cold: Adventures Along the Iron Curtain Trail
+
|title= Last Night at the Lobster
|rating=4
+
|rating= 4
|genre=Travel
+
|genre= General Fiction
|summary= One of the results I find from travel documentaries, often on TV but also in book form, is the verdict 'rather him than me' (and it generally is a he).  Yes, I'd like to go there and see what he's seen, but I'm damned if I would risk the danger, the potential consequences and/or the effort the whole experience required. This book is the epitome of that, for as much as I love most of the twenty countries it hits on – give me a chance, I've not quite been to them all – I wouldn't countenance making this exact and exacting trip.  A couple of years ago, those in the know somewhere in an office deemed the route of the entire old Iron Curtain – the fringe of the Soviet Union, plus Romania, Bulgaria etc – to be a pan-continental biking route. With the news that he can dismiss other attempts and still have a claim to being the first person to clock the whole mammoth trip, our gutsy author undertakes it all, and thus surveys a scar across the entire continent to see if it's still visible, and what flesh it once upon a time divided. Oh and he did it on a Communist-era piddly little bike, lacking in both gears and good brakes, that was designed for nothing more strenuous than conveying you around a campsite, not for 6,000 miles…
+
|summary=The Red Lobster seafood restaurant chain is closing some of its poorly-performing branches just before Christmas. Amid the Christmas lights, office parties and forced jollity Manny DeLeon, the manager of one of these failing outlets, has to keep it all together for one last day. Short-handed, with most of the staff who've bothered to turn up facing unemployment, he tries to make the best of a bad job, all the while knowing this will be the last day he'll spend with the waitress he shouldn't still be in love with, particularly not now he's about to be a dad. Oh, and there's a blizzard on the way.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224100211</amazonuk>
+
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1760293865</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
{{newreview
|author= Diney Costeloe
+
|author=Tom Malmquist and Henning Koch (translator)
|title= The Married Girls
+
|title=In Every Moment We Are Still Alive
|rating= 4.5
 
|genre= Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Wynsdown, 1949. In the small Somerset village of Wynsdown, Charlotte Shepherd is happily married to farmer Billy. She arrived from Germany on the Kindertransport as a child during the war and now feels settled in her adopted home. Meanwhile, the squire's fighter pilot son, Felix, has returned to the village with a fiancée in tow. Daphne is beautiful, charming... and harbouring secrets. After meeting during the war, Felix knows some of Daphne's past, but she has worked hard to conceal that which could unravel her carefully built life. For Charlotte, too, a dangerous past is coming back in the shape of fellow refugee, bad boy Harry Black. Forever bound by their childhoods, Charlotte will always care for him, but Harry's return disrupts the village quiet and it's not long before gossip spreads. The war may have ended, but for these girls, trouble is only just beginning...
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784976121</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview <!--remove 15/5 -->
 
|author=Michael Pronko
 
|title=The Last Train (Detective Hiroshi)
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Thrillers
+
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Detective Hiroshi Shimizu usually investigates white collar crime in Tokyo.  It suits him: he gets to have his own office, which is rare. He's got space at home too: his girlfriend has not only left him, but she's moved back to the States as well.  He's yet to ship all her boxes out of his apartment but when he's done that he'll be able to sleep in the bed again.  White collar crime's usually non-violent, but Hiroshi speaks English (many years spent in Boston when he was studying) and when an American businessman ends up dead under the last train, he's called in to help.  He could have done without having to see the body - or the people removing it from the tracks with chopsticks - but detective Takamatsu insisted.
+
|summary=Tom Malmquist is a poet from Sweden. Originally published in Swedish in 2015, this is his first work of prose. While it's being marketed as a novel, it reads more like a stylized memoir. Similar to Karl Ove Knausgaard's books, it features the author as the central character and narrator, and the story of grief it tells is a highly personal one.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1942410123</amazonuk>
+
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473640008</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
{{newreview
|author= Martin Edwards (editor)
+
|author= Michel Deon
|title= Continental Crimes
+
|title= Your Father's Room
|rating= 4
+
|rating= 4.5
|genre=Crime (Historical)
+
|genre= Literary Fiction
|summary=It's not clear whether the short story has gone out of fashion, relegated to the pages of certain types of women's magazines, or whether the magazines in which the format still holds its own are themselves not as high-profile as once they might have been. Perhaps they never were, perhaps we only know about them in retrospect. Whatever the truth of that it would seem that the golden age of the short story, coincided delightfully with the golden age of crime.
+
|summary= I don't feel altogether qualified to review Michel Déon's 2004 fictionalised memoir ''Your Father's Room'', translated here into English for the first time. I hadn't heard of Déon before receiving my copy, let alone read any of his books, published over a 70 year period to much acclaim in his homeland. But it's part of the pleasure of book reviewing to read with no prior knowledge or prejudice, all the more so if you discover an absolute gem.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0712356797</amazonuk>
+
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910477346</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview <!-- remove 13/5 -->
+
{{newreview
|author=Duncan Watson and Brian Bicknell
+
|author=Andrew Wilson
|title=Ratchwood Dilemma
+
|title= A Talent for Murder
|rating=3.5
+
|rating=4.5
|genre=Graphic Novels
+
|genre= Crime (Historical)
|summary=Well, this is a singular book and make no mistake.  The first part of the trilogy led us in quite bewildered steps from a hive mind crash-landing at Roswell and infecting a scientist, through a religious espouser being shot live on TV and the death of Judas, right up to some kind of godhead having to better the existence of what, you know, the more commonly perceived God, had left us with. I think.  Here we start with an A&E case where one of a pair of twins is left in near-vegetative state, but one advisor suggests that before the crash or whatever that caused the problem in the first place there might have only been one person. We see a man with the ability to snatch people out of space/time – in a world where that can happen who knows how stable anyone or anything or anywhen might be?  And what might any slight imbalance in the universes mean?
+
|summary= Agatha Christie wrote some tantalising crime thrillers back in her day, and here Andrew Wilson makes her a victim to a plot not unlike one of her own. It's all about the mystery, and it really drives the story forward. Agatha is ambushed by a strange man at the train station; she is given a proposition that confuses her and secretly intrigues her. Indeed, for this man wants her to commit a murder.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1524666513</amazonuk>
+
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1471148211</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
}}

Revision as of 07:53, 25 May 2017

The Bookbag

Hello from The Bookbag, a site, featuring books from all the many walks of literary life - fiction, biography, crime, cookery and anything else that takes our fancy. At Bookbag Towers the bookbag sits at the side of the desk. It's the bag we take to the library and the bookshop. Sometimes it holds the latest releases, but at other times there'll be old favourites, books for the children, books for the home. They're sometimes our own books or books from the local library. They're often books sent to us by publishers and we promise to tell you exactly what we think about them. You might not want to read through a full review, so we'll give you a quick review which summarises what we felt about the book and tells you whether or not we think you should buy or borrow it. There are also lots of author interviews, and all sorts of top tens - all of which you can find on our features page. If you're stuck for something to read, check out the recommendations page. We can even direct you to help for custom book reviews! Visit www.everychildareader.org to get free writing tips and www.genecaresearchreports.com will help you get your paper written for free.

There are currently 16,084 reviews at TheBookbag.

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The Speed of Sound by Thomas Dolby

4.5star.jpg Entertainment

From struggling post-punk musician to pop star, from Silicon Valley innovator to university professor, Thomas Dolby has had a remarkable if not unique career, often reinventing himself on the way. This memoir is based on his extensive notes and journals. Full review...

Steve and Frandan Take on the World by Ron Butlin

4.5star.jpg Teens

Like many books for confident readers and teens, our heroes are the victims of cruel bullies – to be precise, as we are well into the twenty-first century here, of the cyber kind. But this isn't some worthy self-help, tell-an-adult book, nor is it a gloomy book about young people who can't see the point of going on. Nope – these guys take the unusual (and, in the light of later events, utterly daft) decision to simply sail away into the sunset, to take a break from civilisation, online Thor and his idiot Viking horde, and the insanities in general of all adults. In their defence, it seems a sensible move at the time... Full review...

The Butlins Girls by Elaine Everest

4star.jpg Historical Fiction

Fresh-faced Molly Missons has just arrived in Skegness to start her new job as a Butlins auntie. Behind the smiles and confident appearance, she hides a secret; she has taken the job to escape escalating problems at home. She soon finds good friends in her chalet-mates Bunty and Plum, and it turns out that they each have their own reasons for wanting a fresh start. Meanwhile, Molly is shocked to discover that her movie-star crush Johnny Johnson is working as an entertainment adviser at the camp. Is he really as suave as his on-screen persona? And why is he working at the camp anyway? As hidden secrets become discovered, Molly and her new friends face new threats and dangers that may threaten their new-found freedom. Full review...

The Original Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig

5star.jpg General Fiction

To Ginny, a child with autism, the word Forever means until the police come. Five years ago the police forcibly removed her from the home of her abusive birth mother, Gloria. Now fourteen, and in her fourth Forever Home, Ginny remains hell-bent on finding her way back to Gloria's apartment. She has no illusions about her mother's addictions or lack of parenting skills. She knows that it might be dangerous – that it might even kill her. Still she plots, obsessed with returning to Gloria's to find something she insists she left behind, something she hid under her bed. Her teachers, therapist, and new Forever Parents are in turn frustrated, infuriated, and perplexed. As Gloria returns to her life, the reader follows Ginny on a journey filled with danger and discovery, in her quest to find a place she can truly call her Forever Home. Full review...

The Homeless Kitten by Holly Webb

4.5star.jpg Emerging Readers

Lily loves their rescue dog, Hugo. However, Lily also really wants a cat – or better still a kitten. She, therefore, can't believe her luck when Hugo sniffs out three abandoned kittens while out of his walk with Lily and her dad. Better still (from Lily's point of view at least) the animal shelter is full so Lily's mum and dad reluctantly offer to hand-rear the tiny kittens until they're old enough to be rehomed. Lily's in heaven looking after the kittens, especially the little fluffy white one whom she names Stanley. There is just one problem – it's going to break her heart when the time comes to say goodbye. Full review...

We All Begin As Strangers by Harriet Cummings

4star.jpg General Fiction

In the summer of 1984, a Chilterns village was gripped with fear and suspicion as a mysterious intruder known as The Fox broke into the homes of several residents in the area. Despite an increased police presence, regular patrols and vigilante groups, this slippery character still managed to evade detection. A huge police Foxhunt followed, and finally, forensic evidence led to the eventual capture of the perpetrator. This real-life news story sparked the imagination of a young Harriet Cummings, who went on to create a fictional version of events, which invites the reader to turn detective and try and unmask The Fox from a range of possible suspects. Full review...

You Will Grow Into Them by Malcolm Devlin

5star.jpg Short Stories

You Will Grow Into Them is a thrilling collection of ten short stories all centred on the nature of transition and change. The often grisly, macabre and ghoulish nature of the stories included in Devlin's debut collection are intoxicatingly illicit and the darkness within each tale is deviously addictive. Full review...

Letters From Klara by Tove Jansson

5star.jpg Literary Fiction

Famed in the UK for her creation of the Moomin family, Jansson is rather belatedly beginning to gather the richly deserved esteem for her adult writings. For that I offer my heart-felt thanks to publishers Sort of books and Thomas Teal, who has been responsible for most of the translations. Receiving this one, two things strike: firstly I somehow seem to have missed one of the series, and secondly there'll come a time sooner rather than later when there'll be no more to be had. The former will be rectified, the latter is a sad thought. Full review...

An Unlikely Agent by Jane Menczer

4star.jpg Crime (Historical)

London, 1905. Margaret Trant lives with her ailing, irascible mother in a dreary boarding house in St John's Wood. The pair have fallen on hard times, with only Margaret's meagre salary from a ramshackle import-export company keeping them afloat.When a stranger on the tram hands her a newspaper open at the recruitment page, Margaret spots an advertisement that promises to 'open new horizons beyond your wildest dreams!'. After a gruelling interview, she finds herself in a new position as a secretary in a dingy backstreet shop.But all is not as it seems; she is in fact working for a highly secret branch of the intelligence service, Bureau 8, whose mission is to track down and neutralise a ruthless band of anarchists known as the Scorpions.Margaret's guilty love of detective fiction scarcely prepares her for the reality of true criminality, and her journey of self-discovery forms the heart of this remarkable novel, as she discovers in herself resourcefulness, courage, independence and the first stirrings of love. Full review...

Admissions: A Life in Brain Surgery by Henry Marsh

4.5star.jpg Autobiography

It's more than two years since I read Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery but the memories have stayed with me. I had thought then that a book about brain surgery might sound as though I was taking my pleasures too sadly, but the book was superb - and very easy reading and when I heard about Admissions I decided to treat myself to an audio download, particularly as Henry Marsh was narrating. I knew that my expectations were unreasonably high, but how did the book do? Full review...

Children's Illustrated Thesaurus by DK

4.5star.jpg Children's Non-Fiction

One of the most valuable literary skills which children can learn is how to use reference books. As a child every question which I began with how do you spell...? would be answered with EXACTLY as it says in the dictionary. This was fine, but the family's Collins Little Gem Dictionary didn't encourage exploration, not least because the font was small and difficult to read. Fortunately those times have now changed and reference book for children are now much more inviting. Not every book comes with a set of instructions but it's worth studying the How to... section, not least because similar systems are used in other reference books. Full review...

Hunting Ground by Val Harris

4star.jpg General Fiction

Nyara Camp is one of the newest camps in the Masai Mara and it's run by James and Alexia Sackville. The guests might sleep in tents, but it's still luxury accommodation in anybody's book. Chui Camp, on the other hand, sticks with the traditional way that safaris were run, including bucket showers. Owner Ralph Somerton is convinced that's what the guests should want and he won't listen to any of his wife Tessa's suggestions for updating the tired venue. It's beginning to be reflected in the profits Chui makes, but instead of upping his own game Somerton would rather see Nyara as unfair competition and it's only a small step from that reasoning to looking at ways of ensuring Nyara's failure. Full review...

Jane and Dorothy: A True Tale of Sense and Sensibility by Marian Veevers

4star.jpg Biography

The idea of a dual biography of two contemporaries who never met throughout their lives is an intriguing one. However, there were several unifying factors, which makes it seem logical enough. Jane Austen and Dorothy Wordsworth were both renowned writers though one was much more famous than the other, and both were born just four years apart, in the 1770s. Full review...

Blood Forest by Geraint Jones

5star.jpg Historical Fiction

Felix. The lucky one. He doesn't feel especially lucky when he staggers out into the grove and finds twelve of his comrades butchered and mutilated in the worst possible ways. He felt even less lucky when the soldiers arrived, Roman cavalry. He might have run, but he knew he'd never make it. He stepped out to face whatever came next. Full review...

First Science Encyclopedia by Dorling Kindersley

5star.jpg Children's Non-Fiction

I wasn't introduced to 'science' until I was eleven and went on to senior school: I wasn't alone in this, but it really was too late. Thankfully, times have changed and children at primary school are getting to grips with plants and animals, atoms and molecules and even outer space from a very young age. What's needed is a good, basic reference book which will introduce all the subjects and give a good grounding. It needs to be something which would sit proudly in the classroom library and comfortably on a child's bookshelf. The First Science Encyclopedia would do both well. Full review...

Supertato Run Veggies Run by Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet

4.5star.jpg For Sharing

I've heard of these so called superfoods, they are reported to boost your immune system and flush out areas of your body that have gone unnoticed for decades, but does this make them super? In my mind to be a superfood you need to do something spectacular; lift a car from a trapped child, or leap over a building in one bound. The vegetable and fruit in my house can't do any of this, but then they aren't Supertato; a spectacular spud that, more than once, has saved the day with his powers. Full review...

Origami, Poems and Pictures by The British Museum

5star.jpg Crafts

Sometimes you find a delight of a book. On an afternoon when it was unseasonably cold and decidedly wet I discovered Origami, Poems and Pictures and I was transported to Japan. As the title suggests we're looking at three celebrated arts and crafts: the ancient art of paper folding, haiku poetry and painting. I'll confess that it was the origami which caught my attention, but I was surprised by the extent to which the rest of the book caught my imagination. We begin with something very simple: a boat and in case you're worried, all the entries have a degree of difficulty (from 'simple' through to 'tricky') and this one is at the lowest level. Full review...

Harry Potter Colouring Book Celebratory Edition: The Best of Harry Potter colouring by Warner Brothers

4star.jpg Crafts

Imagine pages and pages of images from the Harry Potter books and films for you to colour as you wish. You might have seen some of the images before - I know I have - as they've appeared in the Harry Potter Colouring Book, Harry Potter Magical Creatures Colouring Book, and Harry Potter Magical Places and Characters Colouring Book, but there are several exclusive never-before-seen images which will please the collector of Harry Potter memorabilia. If you're in need of inspiration as to colours then you'll enjoy the sixteen pages of film stills, unit photography and concept art at the back of the book. Full review...

The Secret of the Wooden Chest (Roman Magic) by Catherine Rosevear

3.5star.jpg Confident Readers

Hannah lives with her parents in a flat above the nursing home where her mother is matron. Hannah is an only child and so she enjoys making friends with some of the home's residents. So when Mrs Oberto moves in, Hannah is keen to make her acquaintance - Hannah has never met anyone Italian before. Mrs Oberto is quite standoffish at first but Hannah persists and soon they are the best of friends. Mrs Oberto is particularly keen on helping Hannah with her school project about ancient Rome and relates many interesting stories about her Sicilian childhood. But she remains tight-lipped about the mysterious wooden chest, the key to which she keeps around her neck... Full review...

The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith

5star.jpg Historical Fiction

If you find the techniques used by Rembrandt and Vermeer fascinating, The Last Painting of Sara de Vos provides a masterclass in how to work up a canvas in stages. Framing the novel as the story of a seventeenth century Dutch painting, Dominic Smith vividly sketches out the main contours of his characters and the three time periods they inhabit before we are even one fifth of the way through. Sara is one of the few women artists of the period and her painting is of children skating on a frozen canal, her now dead daughter its central figure. The painting has been in Marty de Groot's family since before Isaac Newton was born and he is the patent lawyer from whom it is stolen in 1950s Manhattan. Ellie Shipley forged a copy of the painting in her postgraduate student years and in 2000 finds herself at the centre of a gathering storm which threatens to destroy her reputation as one of Sydney's foremost fine art academics. Satisfying though those first descriptions are, we then understand these are merely the author's equivalent of the delicate chalk lines used by painters of the Dutch Golden Age to mark out the composition which will follow. Full review...

The Cambridge Companion to British Black and Asian Literature (1945–2010) by Deirdre Osborne (Editor)

5star.jpg Reference

This literary companion offers fifteen essays addressing the contribution of black and Asian authors to the British literary canon since 1945. It covers not just fiction, but also poetry, plays and performance works. It sits as a kind of joyful cuckoo in the nest, interrupting the usual narratives of literary waves and movements in Britain that take little notice of any perspective other than the dominant white - and posh! - direction of travel. It's a disparate, varied collection of essays, covering spoken word performance poetry, black British urban fiction, LGBTQ writing, liberationist writing and much more. I was really happy to see children's authors such as Malorie Blackman, Jamila Gavin and Catherine Johnson discussed and respected. Full review...

Dr Seuss's ABC by Dr Seuss

4star.jpg For Sharing

No one who has read his work can deny that Dr Seuss had a powerful imagination. He was able to pluck from his brainpan not only interesting takes on old ideas, but also new creatures and worlds that had never been seen before. His books are often madder than a box of March hares, but even he must have had his limits? The humble ABC book (dare I say the dull ABC book), surely he could not bring his sense of anarchic fun to this staple of the children's education market? Full review...

Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan

4star.jpg General Fiction

The Red Lobster seafood restaurant chain is closing some of its poorly-performing branches just before Christmas. Amid the Christmas lights, office parties and forced jollity Manny DeLeon, the manager of one of these failing outlets, has to keep it all together for one last day. Short-handed, with most of the staff who've bothered to turn up facing unemployment, he tries to make the best of a bad job, all the while knowing this will be the last day he'll spend with the waitress he shouldn't still be in love with, particularly not now he's about to be a dad. Oh, and there's a blizzard on the way. Full review...

In Every Moment We Are Still Alive by Tom Malmquist and Henning Koch (translator)

4.5star.jpg Literary Fiction

Tom Malmquist is a poet from Sweden. Originally published in Swedish in 2015, this is his first work of prose. While it's being marketed as a novel, it reads more like a stylized memoir. Similar to Karl Ove Knausgaard's books, it features the author as the central character and narrator, and the story of grief it tells is a highly personal one. Full review...

Your Father's Room by Michel Deon

4.5star.jpg Literary Fiction

I don't feel altogether qualified to review Michel Déon's 2004 fictionalised memoir Your Father's Room, translated here into English for the first time. I hadn't heard of Déon before receiving my copy, let alone read any of his books, published over a 70 year period to much acclaim in his homeland. But it's part of the pleasure of book reviewing to read with no prior knowledge or prejudice, all the more so if you discover an absolute gem. Full review...

A Talent for Murder by Andrew Wilson

4.5star.jpg Crime (Historical)

Agatha Christie wrote some tantalising crime thrillers back in her day, and here Andrew Wilson makes her a victim to a plot not unlike one of her own. It's all about the mystery, and it really drives the story forward. Agatha is ambushed by a strange man at the train station; she is given a proposition that confuses her and secretly intrigues her. Indeed, for this man wants her to commit a murder. Full review...