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<metadesc>Book review siteExpert, with books full book reviews from the many most walks of literary life - ; fiction, biography, crime, cookery and anything else that takes our fancy. There are also lots of author interviews and top tens.</metadesc>Hello from The Bookbag, a book review site, featuring books from all the many walks of literary life non- [[:Category:Fiction|fiction]], [[:Category:Biography|biography]], [[:Category:Crime|crime]], [[:Category:Cookery|cookery]] and anything else that takes our fancy. At Bookbag Towers the bookbag sits at the side of the desk. Itchildren'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, & self-published 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 [[:Category:Interviews|plus author interviews]], and all sorts of [[:Category:Lists|& top tens]] - all of which you can find on our [[features]] page. If you're stuck for something to read, check out the [[Book Recommendations|recommendations]] page.</metadesc>

There are currently '''{{PAGESINCATEGORY:Reviews}}'by readers from all the many walks of literary life. With author interviews, features and top tens. You'll be sure to find something you' reviews at TheBookbagll want to read here.Dig in!

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==New There are currently '''{{PAGESINCATEGORY: Reviews==}}'''Read [[:Category:New Reviews|new reviews by genre]]at TheBookbag.'''

'''Read Want to find out more [[FeaturesAbout Us|new featuresabout us]].'''? __NOTOC__{{newreview|author=Alistair Duncan|title=The Norwood Author - Arthur Conan Doyle and the Norwood Years (1891 - 1894)|rating=4|genre=Biography|summary=At the age of 32 Dr Arthur Conan Doyle moved from London to a house in South Norwood, at that time part of Surrey, in June 1891. It found him at the stage when he was torn between pursuing a career as an eye specialist and trying to make a living through his writing, after he had sold a few stories to magazines. Shortly before the move, he had been confined to bed for three weeks with influenza, and while recovering from what had briefly threatened to be a fatal illness (or so he believed), he took the decision to abandon medicine in favour of becoming a full-time author. A few Sherlock Holmes stories had been published, but the man with the deerstalker and pipe had yet to make an impact on the reading public, and his creator could not yet call himself an established writer. Nevertheless, within the next few years he and the fictional detective were to become household names.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1904312691</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Jean Ure|title=Ice Lolly|ratingThe Best New Books=4.5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=It's the funeral. Laurel - Lolly to those that love her - is concentrating very hard and trying desperately to turn into an ice lolly. Ice lollies are frozen, you see, and they don't feel so much. They can't miss people - mothers - who are gone and people who are still around can't hurt them. A frozen heart is a sad thing, but it's a safe thing. Auntie Ellen doesn't like the music at the service, she thinks it's inappropriate. It isn't even a hymn. But it was one of Laurel's mother's favourites, and Laurel think it's just perfect. Special. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007281730</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview'''Read [[:Category:New Reviews|author=John Wilcox|title=The Shangani Patrol|rating=4|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=This is the latest in the adventures of Simon Fonthill, a cross between a Victorian James Bond and Indianna Jonesnew reviews by category]]. Although one of a series, it stands alone as a novel. It's steeped in the history (and there's a lot of it) of the late 19th century when Queen Victoria 'ruled the world.'|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755345614</amazonukbr>}}

{{newreview|author=Philip Womack|title=The Liberators|rating=4.5|genre=Teens|summary=Ivo's parents have gone off on a South American expedition. As it's the school holidays, Ivo is off to London to stay with some glamorous relatives. Aunt Lydia is a socialite and art expert who arranges exhibitions and parties for the great and 'Read [[:Category:Features|the goodlatest features]]. Uncle Jago is in finance and there isn't much about wheeling and dealing that he doesn't know. They're fond of Ivo and the kind of guardians who are likely to practise some benign neglect, so what Ivo is really looking forward to about his stay is freedom - he intends to explore London and enjoy everything it has to offer. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0747595526</amazonuk>}}

'''Read [[Forthcoming Publications|reviews of books about to be published]].{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Emily GravettSylvie Cathrall|title=Blue ChameleonA Letter to the Luminous Deep

|genre=For SharingScience Fiction|summary=The chameleon is feeling blue because he's lonely, so he goes and visits There are few greater joys than a yellow banana, pink cockatoo, swirly snail, brown boot, and so on. Each time, not only does he change his colour book which lives up to match the object or animal, but he also contorts himself into a shape that matches themcompelling premise.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0230704247</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Inga Moore|title=Six Dinner Sid - A Highland Adventure|rating=3.5|genre=For Sharing|summary=Sid the cat has six owners in six different houses, and he munches his way through six dinners a day. This big ol' greedyguts has a great life, but then And this is one day his owners all decide they want to go on holiday. They consider putting him in a cattery, but they have strange rules like one meal per cat, not six. They give it some thought, and eventually decide to all go on holiday together, taking Sid with of them.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0340988940</amazonuk>0356522776

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jaclyn Dolamore0008517061|title=Magic Under GlassDeath in a Lonely Place|author=Stig Abell

|genre=TeensCrime|summary=Namira is Former Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, has settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. There’s perhaps a trouser girl - a music hall performer. In Lorinarlittle uncertainty about the future of his life with his vet girlfriend, Livia and her daughter Diana, she's regarded as moving in together would mean a faintly risque curiosity but at home lot of compromise: does Jake give up his off-grid and relaxing life to move in Tiansher it wasn't like with Livia or does Livia move to Little Sky despite her reservations about whether or not this. Performers like her mother were feted and respected and Namira grew up in a palace. In Lorianar, is the future she lives in poverty, performing wants for drunken fools who don't understand herself and her art. And then suddenly, she's freed from daughter? For the moment they’re enjoying life in the seedy music hall by Hollin Parry, a wealthy man present and a member of Lorinar's Sorcerer Council. Parry has an automaton, a curiosity that plays putting the future on the piano, and he wants Namira's unique voice to accompany itback burner. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408802120</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Michael Foreman1786482126|title=Why The Animals Came To TownJanus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly Griffiths|rating=34.5|genre=For SharingCrime|summary=A young boy looks out Builders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the site was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the bones of his bedroom window and sees a parade of animals walking up his streetchild 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. They It's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn've come to show him the deserts and ice capst, to warn him that she is pregnant with his child as a result of the importance of taking care of Earthone night they spent together some three months ago. Without the animals Her condition will be obvious before long, he realises the world would be a much more desolate placenot least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of sickness.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1406318019</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Gaby Morgan (editor)0008551324|title=In My Sky at Twilight|rating=4|genre=Teens|summary=Off the back of the success of Stephenie Meyer's [[Twilight by Stephenie Meyer|Twilight]] series there has been a boom in vampire novels aimed at teenagers. In My Sky at Twilight is perhaps one of the most unusual books to come out of this craze as it is a collection of love poetry aimed at teenage fans of the series.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0230745865</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewThe Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=John Burdett|title=The Godfather of KathmanduNeil Lancaster|rating=4.5

|summary=Sonchai Jitpleecheep is half 'farang' the son of a brothel madam and an American GI, but itIt's unusual for anyone from the latter rather than the former which is likely Hardie family to hold up his promotion in approach the Thai police force, where he's a detective. HeNeither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he's also prepared to tell the police where the part owner body of a brothel where his mothermissing person is buried and who was responsible for her death. This person, Nonghe promises, is someone big and it will be worth the madam in chargepolice doing what he wants. It's no problem for his boss, Colonel Vikorn, who has a few illegal interests And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of his ownsentence and to get an early parole date. HeNot much to ask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's currently in competition with even prepared to do the head of the army, General Zinna, to see other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who can raise the finance for a forty million dollar shipment of heroin which Sonchaiworks with him is kept well away from what's Kathmandu-based guru has for salehappening.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0593055462</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Gary Blackwood0008405026|title=The Great Race: The Amazing Round-The-World Auto Race Of 1908A Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jane Casey

|genre=Children's Non-FictionCrime|summary=In 1908, Henry FordIt's Model T hadn't yet brought cars to the massessixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. The pioneers of the world of automobiles were experimenting She was never found and discovering just what the car could doinvestigation ground to a halt. Now, by driving right round the worldher mother, Helena, and her father are dead in their bed. Except they didn Initially, it looks like a straightforward murder/suicide but there't want to be pioneers. One s something about the positioning of the competitors, Antonio Scarfoglio, put bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. What looked as though it so perfectly when he said 'We had set out was going to perpetuate be an act of splendid folly, not to open up -and-shut case is now a new way for mencomplex double murder. We wished to be madmen, not pioneers.' Isn't Kerrigan is convinced that about the best quote youexplanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent've ever read?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0810994895</amazonuk>s boss, Una Burt) are less convinced.

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=P J Reece0571379877|title=RoxyThe Kellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet

|genre=TeensCrime|summary=Maddie was at Aunt GretchenEdward Jevons is a working-class young man, obsessed with his upper-class friends, Robert and Stanza. Robert's funeral when she got the phone call a theatre director. He's also self-obsessed, demanding, handsome and entitled and uses Edward to tell her that her father was run errands for him. Edward has been in a coma love with Stanza since their university days - and likely he's drunkenly confided how he feels to dieRobert. This might sound like Most men in Robert's position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a double whammy relationship had begun between them but Maddiehe's father had deserted her soon after her birth (during which her mother died) and she was brought up by Aunt Gretchen, who never missed an opportunity not like most men: Edward is left to point out that she was an unwanted burdenstumble upon the two of them kissing in a dark passageway.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1896580017</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Richard North PattersonJo Callaghan|title=The SpireLeave No Trace

|summary=When student Mark Darrow discovers a man is found crucified on the body top of a black fellow studenthill in Nuneaton, Angela HallDCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the case alongside her sidekick, at the foot of the spire in the centre of the college he attendsAI detective Lock. It's their first live case together, he little suspects that his best friend will be charged having previously been very successful with the murderseveral cold cases. Now, sixteen years But when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, Darrow Kat is back, at the invitation of his mentor suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and now college provost, Lionel Farr, to become president of the college in order to rebuild its reputation after a very high profile case that draws a lot of embezzlement has left unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. Will they be able to solve the college case in a precarious position (convenientlytime, Darrow has become an ace financial fraud lawyer in or will Kat find herself taken off the intervening years). As Darrow digs into what happened with the college finances, he also begins to look afresh at the trial of his friend case and questions if he really was guilty as charged. He also finds time to start an emerging relationship with the provost's troubled, but beautifulpotentially, daughter. Is the real killer still at large and are the two crimes connectedout of a career?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0230705650</amazonuk>139851120X

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Pseudonymous Bosch1399613073|title=This Book is Not Good for YouMoral Injuries|author=Christie Watson|rating=34.5|genre=Confident ReadersThrillers|summary=Cass is not having Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the best first day of time medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when it comes you aim to secretsbe a cardiothoracic surgeon. It's all very well being involved in Laura is a perfectionist and a top-secret society, designed to keep trauma doctor. Anjali is the secret free spirit of the most secretive secret ever, but those pesky people called adults are keeping things from her as well - namely, her very originsgroup and she becomes a GP. Can MaxWhen we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-Ernest fuelled party and she wade through their junk store base and find the box she was delivered it's going to end in? tragedy. Can they survive We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the mysterious clown school they end up visiting? consequences. And can they keep a mystical tuning fork from falling into Twenty-five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the wrong hands?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1409506312</amazonuk>three friends. This time, it's their teenage children who are involved.

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Russell Kirkpatrick0241636604|title=Beyond the Wall of Time (Broken Man)The Trading Game: A Confession|author=Gary Stevenson|rating=4.5|genre=FantasyAutobiography|summary=A couple If you were to bring up an image of aspects have summed up Russell Kirkpatricka city banker in your mind, you's ''Broken Man'' trilogy for me so farre unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson. A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and his background is the East End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injustice. There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the London School of Economics. Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he has been a fascinating story facility with some wonderful character building that has made it highly enjoyablenumbers which most of us can only envy. There have He also been some of the realised that most detailed maps I have ever seen in a fantasy seriesrich people expect poor people to be stupid. It was his ability at what was, offering more variation than I've seen in maps before and actually adding detail to some parts of the storyessentially, not merely acting as a guidecard game which got him an internship with Citibank. I was expecting more of the same from the final partEventually, ''Beyond the Wall of Time'' and very much looking forward to itthis turned into permanent employment as a trader.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841496715</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=David Hosp1035021803|title=Among ThievesThe Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder|author=C L Miller|rating=43.5

|summary=In 1990It's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to the English country village where she grew up. She's back now because of a request for help from her beloved aunt, some valuable paintings were stolen from Carole. Freya's former mentor and Carole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is dead and the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum in Boston in circumstances seem suspicious, to say the United Statesleast. The police investigation failed Arthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to find them and many felt the village: Arthur, she feels, let her down badly. Even though they were lost foreverin business together as antique hunters, she has not felt able to be near the man or pursue the profession she loved. But soon After the paintings split, she worked in a cafe, met and their whereabouts would be impacting married James (on many people's lives…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0230707238</amazonuk>the rebound from the love of her life, who was murdered) and Freya and James have now divorced.

{{newreview|author=David Shields|title=Reality Hunger: A Manifesto|rating=5|genre=Politics and Society|summary=I've heard it said that 'The Novel is Deadtechnology' is not really what happens after you're eighteen. Well, I must confess that there have been more than a novelist wants few decades of technology in my lifetime. I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to read first on picking up a new book – me but I persevered 'm left with Shieldsthe feeling that it' manifesto s all getting away from me. Some of it is - frankly - quite frightening. Of course, I could research the possibilities and the probabilities and end up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm glad I didreading someone who knows what they're talking about or the latest conspiracy theorist. This is I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in a thought-provoking wake-up call that any artist, writer or book-lover will enjoyway I could understand.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>024114499X</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author= Ian Rankin and Werther Dell'Edera Sunny Singh|title=Dark EntriesHotel Arcadia|rating=43.5|genre=Graphic NovelsThrillers |summary=The producers of Dark Entries, the latest hit reality TV show, are worriedHotel Arcadia is a luxury hotel in an unnamed city that has suddenly been violently taken over by a terrorist group. Yes Hiding from the six housemates terrorists who are rampaging through, killing everyone on site, thereis Sam, present a wartime photographer and correctAbhi, and the hotel manager. As Abhi continues to try to care remotely for the residents who are ready still alive in the hotel, he forms a bond with Sam who refuses to be scared witless en route to the one way outcowed by events, and the brilliant prize that might await them somewhere in the merry-go-round keeps on venturing out of horror that is their new homeher room to try to capture what's happened through her photography. They Although they only ever talk over the phone, their friendship grows as Abhi tries to help her keep safe and they both wait to see if they will be rescued before they are already being scared witless, discovered by phantoms - but that's nothing to do with the TV producersterrorists.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1848563426</amazonuk>086154742X

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Betty G Birney1529153298|title=Holidays According to HumphreyThe List of Suspicious Things|author=Jennie Godfrey

|genre=Confident ReadersGeneral Fiction|summary=Humphrey the hamster It's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is worriedPrime Minister. (A woman? I mean, honestly...) She's not what's worrying Miv's family, though. Women have been disappearing. Well, they've been murdered, but to have 'disappeared' doesn't sound quite so frightening. Everywhere he turns his little pink ears he hears noises about Miv's upset because she's overheard that her father wants to move the school being closedfamily 'Down South'. How can he survive without all his adoring fans in room 26When you're from Yorkshire, and what Down South is life like for a classroom pet without a classroom? frightening, foreign place, best avoided. LuckilyFor Miv, this is only the summer holiday he is misunderstandingmove would mean leaving her best friend, Sharon, and what she'll do you know anything to prevent that. She's not worried about the dangers or that her Mum's stopped talking - he will soon be meeting familiar faces, not at school, but at summer campto anyone.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571250904</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Keith Mansfield1398524085|title=Johnny Mackintosh: Star BlazeHas Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?|author=Nicci French

|genre=Confident ReadersCrime|summary=Before I get into the review of this book, I'd like to suggest that if you haven't read Keith MansfieldCharlotte Salter was expected at her husband's first Johnny Mackintosh bookfiftieth birthday party but never turned up. Her children, sons Niall, Paul and Ollie and her daughter, Etty. are all worried but - strangely - her husband, Alec, is not. Shortly afterwards, [[Johnny Mackintosh Etty and Greg, find the Spirit body of London by Keith Mansfield|The Spirit of London]]Greg's father, Duncan Ackerley, you go off and read in the river. It was an easy assumption for the review of police to make that first Duncan had murdered Charlie and then go and read committed suicide when he couldn't stand the book itselfguilt. It The Salter children are not convinced but there's a fantastic read. But because this is a sequel, there are obviously going to be some SPOILERS aheadlittle else they can do but get on with their lives and wonder about what really happened.  So, done that have you?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849161267</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Chinua Achebe1035906708|title=The Education of a British-Protected ChildDiva|author=Daisy Goodwin

|genre=AutobiographyGeneral Fiction|summary=This book is a collection We tend to think of autobiographical essays by Nigerian writer Chinua AchebeMaria Callas as Greek, whose best known work is the novel Things Fall Apart, published but she was born to Greek parents in 1958. Topics covered include NigerianManhattan, Biafran and Igbo history and cultureNew York, African literature in December 1923 and only moved to Athens when she was thirteen. Her original surname was Kalogeropoulos but her father changed it to 'Callas' to make it more manageable in the legacy of colonialism States. When she was back in his country Athens - supposedly so that she could get appropriate training for her voice - she was raised under the Nazi occupation by a mother who mercilessly exploited her and the rest made no secret of Africaher preference for her elder sister, Jackie. Some of the essays }}{{Frontpage|author=Christopher Edge|title=Black Hole Cinema Club|rating=4|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Lucas and his friends are taken from guest lectures all booked in for a movie marathon at universities around their local cinema, a place that has the world and conference papersnickname of 'The Black Hole'. All big movie fans, they're looking forward to lots of exciting films, and others are written for this bookmany, particularly many of snacks! However, as the more personal pieces movie starts, they very quickly realise that something about Achebethis new film format is very different, and they are swept up into an adventure they couldn's familyt even imagine. But as they lurch from one film genre to the next, can they figure out what on earth is going on? Will they ever get back to the cinema, and to their real lives?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1846142598</amazonuk>1839942738

{{newreview|author=Norman Russell|title=The Calton Papers|rating=3Rosevear, a remote and partially forgotten island, survives on luring ships into the rocks and plundering the wrecks.5|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=Philip Garamond had had an abiding interest in botany since his teens Mira, like her mother before her, is one of the seven who swim out to survey the ruins – rescuing any survivors and any treasure that lies within. But when we first meet him hethe Council Watch lays a trap to end the wrecking, they capture the island's on his way to Sothebyleader and Mira's intent on making father. Desperate to save him from death, Mira makes a bargain with a wreck survivor who is as charming as he is secretive and with only coordinates to guide her, she sets off in search of a bid for family secret that lies buried deep in the Calton Paperssea. Sir George Calton's papers include an unpublished account With only nine days to unearth what might save her father, as her journey takes her from the watched streets of Darwin's explorations on foreign islands to the Beagle, some letters and a geographical survey heart of the British Isles. Garamondsmuggler's ambition had always been territory, Mira must be determined to stop at nothing to own a botanical garden on Madeira, but he lacked save the funds future of her home and the Calton Papers seemed to be as close as he would get to owning something specialones she holds most dear.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0709089546</amazonuk>0008664730

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie James Sherwood Metts|title=Legacy and Spellbound (Wicked)Planet Storyland

|genre=TeensConfident Readers|summary=Holly Cathers has returnedThings have been a bit sticky for the Earthlings. AI and automation have been proceeding apace, often replacing jobs they're paid to do and other tasks that took time to accomplish. Just as they were beginning to get used to all this technological change and starting to think of other, new ways to spend time, she's more powerful than everalong came an awful pandemic. The war between Life was pretty much shut down and, along with it, all the House of Cahors witches and House of Deveraux warlocks still rages many daily social interactions on, and only one side will eventually triumphwhich they depend so heavily.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>184738689X</amazonuk>1736128426

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Kees van DeemterMatthew Tree|title=Not Exactly - In Praise Of VaguenessWe'll Never Know|rating=34.5|genre=Popular ScienceLiterary Fiction|summary=How warm is a warm day? Or ratherTimothy Wyndham wants nothing more than to be different from his father, given the weather at the moment, how chilly is a chilly day? Is it better to know I want a small helping drunk and chronic underachiever whose dreams of peas, or to know that I want 82 peas? There are times when vagueness is more useful than being specificexceptional at any of his artistic passions all failed miserably and who had endless crises of self confidence. Kees van Deemter makes this pointSo Tim applied himself to his studies, sharing many examples from a number of fields, including maths, philosophy, linguistics cultivated his abilities rather than his daydreams and AIset himself high but achievable ambitions.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0199545901</amazonuk>B0CVFXPGP8

{{newreview|author=Chris Wormell|title=One Smart Fish|rating=5|genre=For Sharing|summary=ManyWithin a remote mountain pass, many, many years agofar away from the world, lies Silverton; a town under the ocean was full protection of amazing fish. The most amazing fish was the Briar's, a boring-looking silver fish, family of witches who was smarter than all protect the others. He played chess (against himself), drew pictures town and performed playsthe wider world from the Darklands. One dayThough she has always wished for magic, he decided Ellie Briar is the first non-witch to see what life be born into her family for generations and as such since she was like on landyoung, so he invented feet her training as a steward revolved around letters and administration rather than spells and went for a walkpotions. YepWhen her grandmother suddenly dies, youEllie've guessed it: its cousin Audra becomes the Briar Witch, the town's leader, and Ellie takes her place beside her. As challenges come her way left, right and centre, Ellie uncovers the rare ability to communicate with the dead, putting her at the heart of a picture book about evolutionmaelstrom of chaos. Reeling from one family secret to another, Ellie must decide who to trust and determine what to do as the Briar witches' legacy, everything they have sacrificed to survive, is under threat.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0224083546</amazonuk>1803364548

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Stevie Davies1529900360|title=Into SuezThe Ghost Orchid|author=Jonathan Kellerman|rating=4.5|genre=Historical FictionCrime|summary=We are introduced to the main characters Ailsa It hadn't been Lt Milo Sturgis's fault that Alex Delaware had been badly injured but he felt responsible and Joe Roberts and their young daughtereven after Alex recovered, NiaSturgis was reluctant to ask for his help on difficult cases. Joe is a downHis assertions that there were only open-toand-earth Welshman whoshut cases which didn's been posted to Egypt with t need the RAFhelp of a psychologist only worked for a while. They are making a new and exciting life Finally, it was Robin, Delaware's partner, who nudged Milo into asking for themselves amidst help again. She knew that the heat and poverty of involvement was something that the Middle Eastman she loved needed. Ailsa is EnglishThe next case did look simple, rather headstrong and cleverthough. Her parents said she'd 'Two lovers were murdered in the brain swimming pool of a boyremote property in Bel Air.' There are two strands He was the heir to the novel which interweave throughout: the 1950s which see the early an Italian shoe empire and she is married life of Joe to an extremely rich man and Ailsa and then thereit's not the post-invasion Italian. But which of Iraq period when them was the grown-up Nia returns to Egypt to lay some ghosts, as it were.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906998000</amazonuk>primary target?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Norah Vincent1529395224|title=Voluntary MadnessLetting the Cat Out of the Bag: My Year Lost and Found in the Loony BinThe Secret Life of a Vet|author=Sion Rowlands

|genre=LifestyleAnimals and Wildlife|summary=Siôn Rowlands fell into veterinary science accidentally. His father was a GP and Rowlands didn''Voluntary Madness'' is journalist Norah Vincent's account of her visits t want to three mental health facilities follow in America. The first is an urbanhis footsteps, public hospital particularly when he considered the strain that houses mainly homeless, psychotic patients, many of whom are addicted to drugsbeing on-call put on his father's life. In this hospital, When he was seventeen he took the doctors are overworked opportunity of doing work experience with a family friend who was a vet and jaded and medication is always was convinced this was the answerjob for him. Soon Before long, the author finds that her latent depression (which led her to do the book in the first place) is returninghe was at Liverpool University. The process of being institutionalised breaks her sense of self It hadn't - as with so many students -worth down astonishingly fastbeen his dream since he was a child. Indeed If anything, she suggests that it is the lack of autonomy in institutional life, even for those patients who voluntarily commit themselves, that makes it so hard for them he'd wanted to rebuild independent lives when they finally leave the institutionbe a professional footballer.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099513439</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Neal Shusterman0861541774|title=EverwildA Nye of Pheasants|author=Steve Burrows|rating=54|genre=Confident ReadersCrime|summary=Neal Shusterman continues his part zany adventureDCI Domenic Jejeune's close friend and former colleague, part philosophical enquiryDanny Maik, and part cominghas taken a short holiday in Singapore to meet up with an old ally, Guy Trueman. Maik was involved in a street brawl -of-age story he would later maintain that began he was facing a man armed with Everlost in this followa knife -up that is perhaps even better than its predecessorand he killed a Ghurka. Everlost is Initially, he faced a kind charge of limbo and home manslaughter but evidence came to children - Afterlights - who light that suggested that he might have died, but somehow missed planned to murder the tunnel and man. Now he could be facing the light - wherever and whatever the light actually isdeath penalty. Adults never make it there, but significant or much-loved objects and buildings sometimes Domenic Jejeune can do. Mary Hightower, for instance, is so-called because she took up residence in New York in the Twin Towers. Mary thinks Everlost is nothing to help as any interference from another police force could provoke a wonderful place diplomatic incident and she "saves" the Afterlights she finds by giving them repetitive but addictive tasks to fill eternitywouldn't help Danny at all. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847387322</amazonuk>

 {{newreview|author=Gabriel Weston|title=Direct Red|rating=5|genre=Autobiography|summary=Few people have the ability to convey the minutiae of their profession in ways which engage the reader, answer your unspoken questions and talk in such a way that you're neither patronised nor overburdened with jargon. Gabriel Weston is one such – and ''Direct Red'' held me as though I was hypnotised for several hours. She's a surgeon and we're pulled into the intricacies of her world without the need to don mask and gown.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099520699</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=David BaldacciAlexander McCall Smith|title=True BlueThe Perfect Passion Company

|genre=CrimeGeneral Fiction|summary=Jamie MeldonThe Perfect Passion Company is a dating agency in Edinburgh, ex-criminal-defence attorney, now run by Ness and operating as an alternative to all the online apps in private practiceproviding a more personal, leaves his office very late one nighttailored service. He's met by Ness has asked her younger cousin Katie if she could come and look after the FBI. Very shortly afterwards Jamie Meldon business, as Ness is dead in planning to take a trip to Canada to get away for a dumpsterwhile.  Mace Perry Katie is working coming outof a break up with a bad boyfriend, trying and so jumps at the chance to stay fitcome home to Edinburgh. And so begins this new story from Alexander McCall Smith, trying bringing us to stay sanean Edinburgh we already love, trying thanks to stay alive long enough 44 Scotland Street and the Isabel Dalhousie novels, but with some new characters who quickly begin to get out jail in a couple of days' timecharm. Perry was Katie has no experience in running a cop. Underbusiness, or in match-covermaking, but Ness has full confidence in her abilities, maverick and darn good at there's always her job. Until she ended up stoned on methvery helpful (and rather handsome) neighbour, busted for robberyWilliam, convicted and sent down.to lend a hand…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0230706134</amazonuk>1846976596

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=David Baldwin0811771741|title=The Kingmaker's Sisters: Six Powerful Women in the Wars of the RosesInstaKnits for Baby|author=Melissa Leapman

|genre=BiographyCrafts|summary=Due Melissa Leapman's ''InstaKnits for Baby'' gives us a collection of knits from toys to blankets. Some will be quick knits - others are of the small amount 'long, cosy afternoons in front of surviving personal sourcesthe fire' variety. The projects are divided by the time they'll take to complete - less than five hours, any book which purports five to be a biography of a 15-century subject is almost inevitably going ten hours, ten to be twenty hours and more a 'life and times' than a lifetwenty hours. In All the case of women who were sisters projects are attractive, modern and useable. I perhaps show my age when I wonder about 'social-media-worthy projects' but not sovereigns or consorts themselves, the lack of data will be even more acutethat's me being picky.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0750950765</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Fred VargasDean Koontz|title=The Chalk Circle ManBad Weather Friend

|genre=CrimeParanormal|summary=Meet Jean-Baptiste AdamsbergBenny is having a terrifically bad day. An unlikely police commissaireHe loses his job, he's an acquired taste for loses his fiancee, and his colleagueshouse gets trashed. ShortOh, ungainlyand someone has delivered a really weird, seemingly thinking about the most obtuse things in disturbing coffin-sized object to his pursuit of the truthhome, and endlessly doodlingit's possible that whoever or whatever was inside is the thing that has trashed his house! The thing is, but beneath Benny is the very last person to deserve all this bad luck. He is a nice person. A really nice person. So fortunately for Benny it turns out that the delivery to his deathly slow speech and unexpected diversions into his childhood comes house is a new friend, a surprisingly perceptive ability bad weather friend called Spike, who has been sent to find the culprit in whatever crime he help him since Benny is clearly under attack from nefarious forces for being a good person. Spike is forced going to solvetake care of Benny, and will certainly take care of Benny's enemies, if he, Benny, and Harper (a waitress slash Private Investigator who finds herself roped into Benny's wild adventure) can figure out who exactly they are.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099488973</amazonuk>1662500491

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jean Reidy and Genevieve LeloupAdam Stower|title=Too Purply!Murray and Bun

|genre=For SharingConfident Readers |summary=It's time for schoolMurray is supposed to be a humble, but the young girl tidy and her tortoise don't want friendly cat, one who is able to wear any sleep and eat and eat and sleep and, well, whatever takes his fancy next of their clothesthe two. They But he's a bad magician're too purplys cat, too ticklyso his favourite bun has been turned into a hyperactive sticky rabbit called Bun, too puckeryand the catflap they both use can chuck them out, too pricklynot into the regular back garden, but into a world of frightening adventure and so on. You get the idea. Adjectives abound in this fun getting dressed bookwhiffs. This time round it drops them into a Viking land, where a troll hunter is expected – well, one much bigger than Murray was, to be honest, but he's turned up and he'll have to do…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1408803151</amazonuk>0008561249

{{newreview|author=Rachel Isadora|title=The Twelve Dancing Princesses|rating=3|genre=For Sharing|summary=Bookbag recently loved Rachel Isadora's take on [[The Night Before Christmas by Rachel Isadora and Clement Clarke Moore|The Night Before Christmas]]'Fragility'' is set as the city of Portland, which put the classic Christmas poem in an African setting. This time roundOregon, she has turned her eye cautiously begins to emerge from the Grimms' 'The Twelve Dancing Princesses'.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0142414506</amazonuk>restrictions imposed during the covid pandemic

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Gemma Malley1529431735|title=The ReturnersWinter Visitor|author=James Henry|rating=54|genre=TeensCrime|summary=It'Ducks are cool. Whatever happenss February 1991 and Essex is bitingly cold, whatever gets thrown at them, they just carry on, their little legs paddling. Unfazed. They always look like theywhich made Bruce Hopkins're smilingreturn all the more surprising. He' Will almost wishes he could be d been exiled on the Costa del Sol as a wanted drug smuggler for a duckdecade. He The return has precious little to smile come about. Sitting watching those ducks go about their business so blithely by the pond, because he can't help but remember s had a letter from his mother who committed suicide there some years agoex-wife, saying that she's ill and hasn't long to live. It's hard to feel any sympathy when Will was just Hopkins is abducted, stripped to his underwear and sent to a watery grave in the boot of a tiny ladstolen Ford Sierra. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408800918</amazonuk> Is it a warning from a Spanish gang or a problem closer to home?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Alex MilwayBell and Tim McDonagh|title=Mousebeard's Revenge (Mousehunter Trilogy)The Glorious Race of Magical Beasts

|summary=If you started this trilogy way back when, you would probably never expect Eli is a busy lad – by day an apprentice in the pirate, Mousebeardwondrous library we start by visiting with him, and in the hero and heroine, Emiline and Scratcher, to be working together. But they are - so deep is evening a helper at the world of Old Town in intrigue, subterfuge and wicked plans, that they need to combine forces - and get other returning characters back on hand and on their side - to counter Mousebeard's enemies once dessert cafe his gran owns and for allruns. Only, one great thing has changed. YesEli lives with his lovely gran, that's right. Mousebeard has had a shave...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571245102</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Chris Mullin|title=A Very British Coup|rating=5|genre=General Fiction|summary=No one had anticipated that Labour would win the election, not least because the party leader was Harry Perkins, a former steel worker. His manifesto included promises to remove all American bases from British soil, public control of finance and the dismantling of media empires. There were a few other things too – but they'll do for starters. The establishment – to a man – was appalled. Press barons, media stars, bishops and civil service mandarins knew that, for the good of the country (not themselves, ''of course'') something had to be done and ''obviously'' the end would justify whatever means they had to take to achieve their aims. Harry Perkins had to be removed from office.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846687403</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Orson Scott Card|title=Ender in Exile|rating=3.5|genre=Science Fiction|summary='Ender in Exile' there is the most recently published in the series set in the universe of 'Ender's Game', a long standing and one of the best known series of science-fiction by Orson Scott Card. It's been defined as an 'interquel', fitting chronologically between 'Ender's Game' and the 'Speaker for the Dead', the first two (and probably the best two) novels generation missing in the sequencefamily. Technically speaking A few short years ago, 'Ender in Exile' actually fits in-between the last chapters of 'EnderEli's Game' and describes in more detail events outlined in the resolving sections of 'Ender's Game'. Confusingly for the uninitiated, 'Ender in Exile' is also a sequel parents were both lost to the 'Shadow of the Giant'titular race, a parallel subglobe-series from trotting adventure where all entrants have to navigate the universe of world in the 'Ender's Game'. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841492272</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Sue Roe|title=The Private Lives company of the Impressionists|rating=4.5|genre=Biography|summary=In the early 1860s a group of young Parisian artists were keen to exhibit their work, despite opposition from the official art worldmagical beast. Their protests at being spurned by This has made the Salon, race anathema to the French equivalent of the Royal Academy, resulted in their paintings being shown pair – but when a bad incident at the rather disparagingly-named Salon des Refusés, where crowds and critics came eatery leads to view - and jeer. When they held the first of their own exhibitions a few years laterconfession from gran, one reviewer said that they 'seem Eli knows his only hope is to dare to have declared war on beauty'enter what he most hates, while another assured his readers that every canvas must have been with the sole aim the work prize of some practical joker who had dipped his brushes in paint, smeared it onto yards of canvas, and signed magic at the result with several different names.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099458349</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Angela McAllister and Alex T Smith|title=My Mum Has X-Ray Vision|rating=4|genre=For Sharing|summary=Milo suspects his mum has x-ray vision. She can see through end – the ceiling downstairs when he's jumping on her bed. She can see through the outside wall when he's making potions in the garden in her saucepans. Is she really a superhero? Milo puts her only thing to the test..possibly save his gran.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1407105388</amazonuk>0571382231