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[[Category:New Reviews|General Fiction]] __NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Anita ShreveJenny Lecoat|title=The Stars Beyond Summerland|rating=4|genre=General Fiction|summary=Jean lives on Jersey with her mother where they are Firecelebrating the end of the occupation. During the war, Jean's father was arrested for listening to a banned radio and soldiers took him away one night, leaving Jean and her mother waiting for years for news of him. As the British finally free the Channel islands from the Nazis, and the war is finally over, their hopes rise that they will finally learn what became of him. But will the truth come as a relief, or will it raise further questions around what else happened during the war? Who was the informer who told the Nazis about the radio? And what other secrets have been kept throughout the occupation?|isbn=1846976537}}{{Frontpage|author=Onyi Nwabineli|title=Allow Me to Introduce Myself

|summary=Meet Grace. SheAnuri spent her childhood on display to the world, thanks to her step-mother Ophelia's increasingly popular presence on social media, where she posted every step of Anuri's not exactly trapped in a loveless marriagechildhood for sponsorships and influencer deals and, basically, but something like itmonetary gain. She has no real way away from the kitchen sink, Now Anuri is in her twenties and two very young children she is slowly trying to care for while regain her husband is a civil engineer. Her mother-in-law hates confidence and to get her, but she has a great relationship with a girlfriend neighbour – except said friend Rosie has a wondrous love lifeback, while Grace's experience with sex is getting worse and worsesuing her step-mother to take down the content about her. Things deteriorate when Grace's husbandAnuri is battling alcoholism, Gene, loses his motherfailing to start her PhD, undergoing therapy and secretly abusing people online and retreats receiving money from intimacy even furtherthem for doing so. The small community around Grace – and an endless rain shower – are closing in around Most importantly, she is desperately worried about herlittle sister, who is the new focus of Ophelia's online empire. But what would happen to Can she save her sister, and those she cares for if a real disaster were to occurperhaps herself and her relationship with her father at the same time?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1408702983</amazonuk>0861546873

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Jill Santopolo1529153298|title= The Light We LostList of Suspicious Things|author=Jennie Godfrey|rating= 3.5|genre= General Fiction|summary=11th September 2001It's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister. (A woman? I mean, honestly.. Lucy and Gabe meet in New York on a day that will change their lives – and the world – forever. As the city burns behind them) She's not what's worrying Miv's family, they kiss for the very first timethough. Women have been disappearing. Over the next thirteen years Well, they are torn apart've been murdered, then brought back together, time and time againbut to have 'disappeared' doesn't sound quite so frightening. It Miv's upset because she's overheard that her father wants to move the family 'Down South'. When you're from Yorkshire, Down South is a journey of dreamsfrightening, of desiresforeign place, of jealousybest avoided. For Miv, of forgiveness – and above allthe move would mean leaving her best friend, love. As Lucy is faced with a devastating choiceSharon, and she wonders whether their love is a matter of destiny 'll do anything to prevent that. She's not worried about the dangers or chancethat her Mum's stopped talking - to anyone.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0008224560</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Allie Rogers1035906708|title= Little GoldDiva|author=Daisy Goodwin|rating= 4.5|genre= General Fiction|summary= The heat is oppressive and storms are brewing We tend to think of Maria Callas as Greek, but she was born to Greek parents in Brighton in the summer of 1982. Little GoldManhattan, a boyish girl on the brink of adolescenceNew York, is struggling with the reality of her broken family in December 1923 and a home descending into chaosonly moved to Athens when she was thirteen. Her only refuge is the tree at the end of original surname was Kalogeropoulos but her garden. Into her fractured life steps elderly neighbour, Peggy Baxter. The connection between the two is instant, but just when father changed it seems that Little Gold has found solace, outsiders appear who seek to take advantage of her frail family 'Callas' to make it more manageable in the worst way possibleStates. In an era when When she was back in Athens - supposedly so much is hard to speak aloud, can Little Gold share enough of that she could get appropriate training for her life to avert disaster? And can Peggy Baxter, voice - she was raised under the Nazi occupation by a woman running out mother who mercilessly exploited her and made no secret of time and with her own secrets to bearpreference for her elder sister, recognise the danger before it's too late?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1787199959</amazonuk>Jackie.

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Meg HowreyAlexander McCall Smith|title= The WanderersPerfect Passion Company|rating= 34.5|genre= General Fiction |summary= Set The Perfect Passion Company is a dating agency in Edinburgh, run by Ness and operating as an alternative to all the online apps in providing a more personal, tailored service. Ness has asked her younger cousin Katie if she could come and look after the near futurebusiness, NASA prepares as Ness is planning to send three astronauts in take a trip to space Canada to put get away for a while. Katie is coming out of a break up with a bad boyfriend, and so jumps at the first humans on Marschance to come home to Edinburgh. Helen Kane And so begins this new story from Alexander McCall Smith, Yoshi Tanakabringing us to an Edinburgh we already love, thanks to 44 Scotland Street and Sergei Kuznetsov are the trio selected for the missionIsabel Dalhousie novels, but they must first prove themselves by spending seventeen months with some new characters who quickly begin to charm. Katie has no experience in running a simulation that mirrors conditions on Mars. Each of the astronauts business, or in match-making, but Ness has their own reason for taking part full confidence in the mission her abilities, and there's always her very helpful (and their relationships with their families will be put rather handsome) neighbour, William, to the ultimate test as they begin this journey of discovery and escapism.lend a hand…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1471146650</amazonuk>1846976596

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Lisa McInerneyDean Koontz|title= Blood MiraclesThe Bad Weather Friend|rating= 4.5|genre= General FictionParanormal|summary= Like all twentyBenny is having a terrifically bad day. He loses his job, he loses his fiancee, and his house gets trashed. Oh, and someone has delivered a really weird, disturbing coffin-year-oldssized object to his home, Ryan Cusack and it's possible that whoever or whatever was inside is trying to get the thing that has trashed his head around who he house! The thing is, Benny isthe very last person to deserve all this bad luck. This He is not a good time nice person. A really nice person. So fortunately for his boss Benny it turns out that the delivery to exploit his dual heritage by opening house is a new black market route from Italy friend, a bad weather friend called Spike, who has been sent to Ireland. It help him since Benny is certainly not clearly under attack from nefarious forces for being a good time for his adored girlfriend person. Spike is going to decide hetake care of Benny, and will certainly take care of Benny's irreparably corrupted. And enemies, if he really wishes he hadn, Benny, and Harper (a waitress slash Private Investigator who finds herself roped into Benny't accidentally caught the eye of an ornery grandmother s wild adventure) can figure out who fancies herself his saviourexactly they are.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1444798898</amazonuk>1662500491

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Cat ClarkeKatherine Howe|title= GirlhoodA True Account|rating= 4.5|genre= General Fiction|summary=''Girlhood'' focuses on Hannah Masury is living in Boston, having been sent to live with a family who run an inn, and being made to work there from a young age. When she hears there is to be a group hanging of friends; Harpersome pirates in the town, Rowan, Lily she decides to go and watch. Enthralled and Amahorrified in equal measure, who are fast approaching the end of term Hannah finds herself embroiled in a young boy's death at an elite boarding school in the middle hands of nowheretwo vicious pirates. The arrival of Kirsty causes She hides away, so that they don't find and kill her too, and then to escape them completely she runs away to sea, dressing as a seismic shift in this previously supportive friendship group boy and Harper joining the notorious Ned Low's pirate ship as a cabin boy. She soon finds herself in the thick of things when there is a mutiny on board, and from there we are caught between up in her old friends and rip roaring tale of life on the mysterious new girl who seems to have so much in common with herocean waves. But is Kirsty who she claims to be?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1784292737</amazonuk>0861547438

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Suellen Dainty1471180158|title= The Housekeeper|rating= 4.5|genre= General Fiction|summary= Annie has broken the cardinal rule of never mixing business with pleasure, and so when the latter ends, she's left without the former, and in need of a new job. She never thought about being a housekeeper, but her OCD tendencies mixed with years of working in hospitality mean she's quite capable, especially when an opportunity arises with her girl crush, Emma Helmsley, one half of a well-known celeb couple on the London circuit. Nothing is ever as it seems, though, and Annie soon finds that behind those tall walls there is a family no less dysfunctional than anyone else's, despite their fame, fortune, and front page headlines.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1476771405</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewMaybe Tomorrow|author=Helen Phillips|title=The Beautiful BureaucratPenny Parkes

|summary=Meet JosephineJamie Matson works in an upper-class grocery store, for a man who's a control freak with all the subtlety of a half brick. Married to Joseph JonesJamie's son, she has kept her maiden name to keep at least some character to her identity. As opposed to her new bossBo, who 'has no gender, no face, and horrid halitosishis problems'. The job Josephine is forced to choose is a simple one, of taking a fileHe's paper contentsasthmatic and the more you read, clicking up the subject on a huge database, entering a date newly printed more you'll suspect that he's on the sheet, and repeatingautistic spectrum. Told Sometimes Jamie needs to obey strict secrecy rules, take time off at short notice - she starts to find unusual signs of malignance all over – 's a man frequent flier in a grey sweatshirt following her, post redirected when nobody knows where Josephine the local A&E and Joseph are even living from one month sometimes Bo's not fit enough to go to school. Missed shifts or the next, need to be away on time to pick Bo up from school are occasions when Jamie can be controlled and a husband missing from put in the marital bed more and more often… wrong. Is there It was going to come to a way for her find a spark of happiness in the humdrum, windowless cell she works, and the horrid housing that is all the couple can afford?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782273328</amazonuk>head.

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Roisin MeaneyB0CKD1L5JL|title= The ReunionRadio Free Olympia|author=Jeffrey Dunn|rating= 54|genre= General Fiction|summary= This Petr is an emotional story about orphan. Rescued by the strange, reclusive Bear, he is brought up far from bustling cities and busy human society, in the lives forests of two Irish sistersWashington's Olympic Peninsula. After Bear dies and a brief sojourn in human company, beginning and armed with their invitation to attend only a twenty year reunion back at their Convent High School. They are both unsure whether to gopirate radio transmitter, their adult lives having veered off in totally different and dramatic directions since leaving school. We find out that Petr goes on a journey through the sisters have each suffered terrible life eventsforest, changing them for ever from broadcasting the children they were. The story reveals how they begin to re-build their livesstrange, supporting one another wild and becoming much closer in the processrarely heard voices he encounters.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>144479972X</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Claire NorthSarah Marsh|title= The End A Sign of the DayHer Own|rating= 3.5|genre= General Fiction|summary= At the end After a bout of the dayscarlet fever as a child, Death visits everyoneEllen Lark loses her hearing. Right before that Suddenly plunged into a world of silence, Charlie doeseverything about her life changes. You might meet him Living in a hospital, in a warzone, or at time when the scene use of sign language was seen as something only savages do, Ellen is sent to a traffic accident.Then againschool where she is taught to lip read, you might meet him at the North Pole - he gets everywherebut physically restrained from signing. From jungles to deserts to tundrahere, you may come across Charlieshe ends up in another school studying under Alexander Graham Bell who has been teaching the deaf and using a system called Visible Speech. Would you shake him by At the handsame time, take the gift he offers, or would you pay no attention to the words he says? Sometimes he Bell is sent as a courtesyworking on other inventions and ideas, sometimes as and Ellen finds herself unwittingly caught up in a warning. He never knows whichcomplicated tangle of espionage.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0316316741</amazonuk>1035401614

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Marie NDiaye and Jordan Stump (translator)B0BC3YTCMR|title= LadivineGood Girls Die|author=Ayura Ayira|rating= 4.5|genre= General Fiction|summary= Ladivine centres on the life ''This story is not for everyone.'' Lavender Daniels was three weeks short of Clarisseher fifteenth birthday when The Incident happened. She was a very bright student, a woman tormented by guilt and shame over her abandonment of her motherbit too nerdy if truth be told, and Clarisse's daughter Ladivine, a woman haunted by suffered from vitiligo - people were afraid to hug her motherin case it's choicescontagious. As tragedy unfolds the mysteries of Clarisse It's life and her determination to escape not easy being a black girl whose skin is 84% white. She had a past she cannot reconcile with crush on seventeen-year-old Reggie Anderson but never thought he would notice her ambition irreparably alter the lives of her daughter . Then he did: Lavender was very good at math and husbandReggie asked if she would tutor him. The sadness She readily agreed: tutoring was something she gladly did at the heart of church: this book is that Clarisse, driven by shame about her background chooses to create another life and identity and through this deception creates was just an insurmountable barrier between herself and the rest of the worldextension. When given the opportunity She went to let down his house and he raped her defences and be honest about who . In shock, she truly is, Clarisse falls prey even allowed him to give her a violent, damaged man and finds herself drawn into an intoxicating web of violence, drunk on truth and freedom to exist without pretencelift home. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848666047</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= E G Rodford1472263936|title= The Surgeon's Case: George Kocharyan Mystery 2Figurine|author=Victoria Hislop|rating= 45|genre= Crime General Fiction|summary=In the second instalment of this seriesIt was in 1968 that Helena McCloud made her first trip to Greece. She was alone: her mother, Private Investigator George Kocharyan has been hired Greek by a well-known local man birth, had left the family home and refused to track down some missing valuables. Bill Galbraithreturn, but Mary and Hamish (Helena's parents) felt that it would be a worldpity if Helena grew up without knowing her grandparents or understanding her Greek heritage. Her trip to the family apartment in up-famous surgeon at Cambridgemarket Kolonaki would be the first of several annual visits. She grew to love her grandmother and the family's Addenbrooke's Hospital who hosts a popular medical television programmemaid, Dina, has had his briefcase stolen by his livebut was wary - and frightened -in domestic servantof her grandfather, Auroraretired general Stamatis Papagiannis. According to Galbraith, this briefcase contains confidential notes concerning an important patient He was proud of his at the hospital. George agrees close connections to look into the theft, assuming it will be a relatively easy Junta and straightforward case – little does he know, heexpected his family to uphold his values but saw no reason to accommodate them. His prejudices included Helena's about to enter a world of deceit red hair and dysfunctiongreen eyes - inherited from her father's Scottish ancestors.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178565005X</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Diney CosteloeDean Koontz|title=After Death|rating=3|genre=General Fiction|summary= Michael Mace, Head of Security, at a top secret biological research facility, is among 55 people who die when a virus is released in a bio-hazard accident. Finding himself in a makeshift mortuary, covered in plastic, he has a sense that something very, very bad has happened to him – and only him – as he sits up and looks around at the shrouded bodies of his dead friends and former colleagues. As he recovers his senses, he realises that there is something different about him; he can ''feel'' everything. ''Everything''. Michael isn't ''Michael'' anymore.|isbn=1662500467}} {{Frontpage|isbn=B0BVDC2VWH|title=The New NeighboursGrave Listeners|author=William Frank

|summary=Dartmouth Circle has always been The village is isolated and poor. It's surrounded by a Witching Forest. And the epitome of British middle class propriety. Manicured lawns, wellvillagers subsist largely by farming Uphegia plants - its bread-kept house facades… All is where it should be like fruit provides nutrition and life is ordered, with the disrupting influence its blossom provides herbal medicines. The black wood of the town's university students out of sight forest provides heat and out of mind. Imaginewarmth, thenroofs on homes, the horror when the good citizens and even gallows, if needed. The fear of being buried alive is an existential superstition in the Circle hear village and that one is the reason Volushka, a drunken, self-indulgent, lazy lout of their houses… THEIR houses… has been bought as student accommodationa man is tolerated. Will it be the harbinger of doom they expect?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784972665</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Alexander McCall SmithB0BYF82CXT|title=A Distant View of EverythingSemi-Detached|author=Deborah Stone|rating=54

|summary=Ah, Isabel Dalhousie! The more I read about Isabel, the more I like her. I could see''Bill and Amanda are living in a semi-detached house, stuck in this book in particular, how annoying she could potentially be as a friend, since she is forever gazing off into the distance, heading into her inner imaginings rather than staying focussed on the conversationdepressing rut of boredom and disappointment, when Terry and yet I think she would be an interestingFiona – glamorous, successful and thought-provoking, sort of friend to have. In this, the eleventh novel very much in the series, Isabel finds herself once more embroiled love – move in someone else's businessnext door. SheDespite their different outlooks on life, the couples befriend each other and her husband Jamie, are starting life appears to be resigned to the fact that she just can't help but get involved! Mysteries aboundimprove for both pairs. But all is not what it seems, both in this business and in her own family life, as we watch her day to day doings up in Edinburghtheir increasingly interconnected relationships are fated for tragedy.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408709392</amazonuk>''

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Margaret ForsterShalini Boland|title= How to Measure a CowThe Silent Bride

|genre= General Fiction|summary= Seeking to escape her pastAlice and Seth are a match made in heaven. He is everything she has been searching for; handsome, accomplished, Tara has left Londonclever, resettling way up north in Cumbria where nofunny; total and utter husband-one knows hermaterial. She quickly settles into an anonymousis all he could possibly want in a wife; beautiful, unexciting lifesuccessful, observed only confident… and so the inevitable proposal is eagerly accepted by Nancy, her elderly neighbour who begins to develop an odd obsession with herAlice and the wedding is planned and set. Meanwhile When the much-anticipated day arrives, her three childhood friends are baffled Alice is walked down the aisle by her disappearancefather, beaming with pride and excitement as she surveys the congregation – their friends assembled to celebrate this joyful day and resolve when Seth turns to get back in touch with face his approaching bride, Alice's world implodes because she has absolutely no idea who the man at the altar is, who is waiting for herto become his wife.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1784702307</amazonuk>1662507089

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Steven Anthony1787636003|title=Isaac Montgomery for the Love The Girls of BethSummer|author=Katie Bishop|rating=35

|summary=There are words to describe It was the Isaac Montgomery we meet at the beginning of summer when Rachel Evans turned eighteen that she and Caroline went backpacking around Greece and arrived on the storyisland. Unfortunately theyRachel wasn're not words you usually use in polite company. He'd worked for many years in stockbroking and had made a substantial fortune, t exactly innocent but his life she was devoid of much , perhaps, naive, so when thirty-four-year-old Alistair Wright started to take an interest in the way of personal relationships. When he required a woman as an escorther, he paidshe was flattered rather than wary. He assumed that if he It was having quite a good time, then she were too - if while before he even bothered made any sort of physical approach to think about it. He had a friend whom he didn't see all her and by that often and it time she was when he thought about Phil that a little ''jealousy'' crept into Isaac's heartobsessed by him. You seeAlistair worked for Henry Taylor, Phil was engaged to Penelope looking after his interests on the island and they were obviously happy. Isaac began to wonder what love was - and how you went about finding someone to share your life within particular in the bar where all the girls either worked or partied.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>152466815X</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Kate BeaufoyAmanda Craig|title= The Gingerbread HouseThree Graces|rating= 4.5|genre= General Fiction|summary=Few styles of contemporary fiction interest me like the state-of-the-nation novel. There''The Gingerbread House'' is not a cottage from a fairytale where a wicked old witch lives but s something so utterly compelling about any writer who can catch hold of the atmosphere of the day and capture it is in a wonderful rural setting, perfect for getting away from crafting an image of the country as it allstands in one particular moment. Or it To say that Amanda Craig is skilled at doing this would be, if it werenembarrassingly inadequate: she't s practically synonymous with the genre of contemporary social fiction at this point. She has such a gift for weaving the ongoing issues of the day into the lady who lives there who, while far from a witch, can be a bit of her characters in a b*tch. It's not entirely her fault. Eleanor has dementia way that feels natural and her fading mind makes her confusedlived-in, angry and quite hard work to care never making them ciphers for. With her current carer off to attend her daughter's weddingsocial commentary but instead fully realised people, Eleanor's daughter in law Tess steps up to assume this role in the interim, bringing her precocious daughter Katia grappling with herissues far larger than themselves.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1785300865</amazonuk>140871468X

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Pam Jenoff152915118X|title=The Orphan's TalePineapple Street|author=Jenny Jackson

|summary=Herr Neuroff's circus has a secret'Pineapple Street'' is the story of three women: as well as a much needed wartime source of entertainmentSasha, it's also refuge Darley and Georgiana. Darley and George are sisters and Sasha is married to Jews escaping uncertain concentration camp fatestheir brother Cord. One such person, AstridThey're Stocktons, only Sasha isn't a trapeze and high wire artist, lives a precarious life in which her possible discovery would be more dangerous than her nightly actStockton by birth so she isn't readily accepted into the tribe. SheThe problem's an expert who has perfected her art over time exacerbated when the clan matriarch, Tilda, asks Cord and therefore resents Neuroff demanding she teach NoaSasha if they'd like to move into the Pineapple Street property. Tilda and Chip have renovated and downsized to another property, a non-circus family new comerstreet or so away, quicklywhich they own. ThereThey won's a reason behind t need any of the circus owner's demand thoughfurniture from Pineapple Street, so Sasha and Cord can move straight in. Noa arrives at the circus endangered by an act of kindness: Nominally, they had a Jewish baby she stole from a Nazi train before leaving choice but that wasn't the Netherlandsreality. It was a spur of Darley and Georgiana start to call Sasha 'the moment decision gold digger'. She's living in ''their'' family home. They use it so often that will bind her they abbreviate it to Astrid and their future, no matter how long… or short… a time that may be'the GD'.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848455364</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Otto de Kat Emily Critchley|title=One Puzzling Afternoon|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=84 year old Edie has lived in the same small town for almost her whole life, but now she is facing a move as her son wants to move to another house and bring Edie to live with his family, as Edie is starting to lose her memory. However, Edie is tormented by the memory of her childhood friend, Lucy, who went missing over 60 years ago, and Laura Watkinson (translator)the worry that there was a secret she was keeping for Lucy that somehow might be the thing that reveals the truth of what happened all that time ago. After 'seeing' Lucy in the high street, just as she was the last time she saw her, she starts to find pockets of memories coming back to her. And yet as she remembers the past, she is forgetting more and more in her day to day life. Will she uncover the truth about Lucy's disappearance before her move, and before her memories are gone forever?|isbn=1804181250}}{{Frontpage|author=Madelaine Lucas|title=The Longest NightThirst for Salt|rating=3.5

|summary=Emma has a philosophy – ''let the dead restLove, I'd read, was supposed to be a light and love the livingweightless feeling, but I had always longed for gravity''. The problem with that Told from a retrospective view, as a 96-young woman unravels the year-old, is long relationship that there are too few living leftonce defined her. Overlaid with later wisdom, and so while the love remains she will go through narrator relives the affair with a man twenty years her memories, taking a woozy, diaphanous path through all senior from its inception – the summer after finishing university – to its sorrowful end the summer after. Set against the major events backdrop of her life. Starting in wartime Berlin an isolated Australian coastal town ''Thirst for Salt'' details the 24-year-old narrator's deepening relationship with one husband, who gets snatched from her at workolder lover, fleeing to another place to wait for peacedepicting its all-consuming nature, and wait for him in vain, moving to Holland and finding new love, and so how it changed her perspective on – this wispy journey will show all the impacts of war, from rationing right up to exile, death both romantic and survival. The memories are coming strongly here familial relationships and now, as Emma is waiting for at least one of how it altered her two sons to visit, and then she will die…irrevocably.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0857056085</amazonuk>0861546490

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Irvine Welsh0008506337|title= The Blade ArtistGarnett Girls|author=Georgina Moore|rating= 5|genre= Crime General Fiction|summary=SoThe love affair between Margo Garnett and poet Richard O'Leary was all-consuming, apparently on both sides. In the interest of honest disclosure I should tell you Margo was just sixteen when they fell in love. Richard was twenty-one and described by Margo's mother as 'an older man'. Her parents worried that I love Irvine WelshRichard's work influence would take her away from what they felt she could achieve - going to Oxford and I must confess to having a particularly gruesome fancy for Begbieglittering career. In the event, they eloped and Richard took her away from the notoriously violent, terrifying protector/tormentor Isle of the Trainspotting gangWight. Whilst this means you are unlikely Margo did go to receive an unbiased review, it does mean you will get Oxford and went on to become a passionate onewell-respected journalist. It is fair to say that I loved '' The Blade Artist'' couple had three children: Rachel, Imogen and my only critique would be that it Sasha. Life was over too quicklylived in London and holidays were spent at Sandcove, the family home on the Isle of Wight. For those of you who may not be familiar with Welsh Even then the doubts about Richard's earlier manifestations have no fear, you can pick up drinking were never far from Margo's mind: 'The Blade Artist'she would never be able to leave him in charge' and be transfixed by Jim Francis, artist, father, husband and elegant thug. For those of you with previous knowledge of Francis Begbie you'll be instantly drawn back into the world of a man previously defined by petty vengeance, violence and blood.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178470055X</amazonuk>Then Richard left them.

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Amanda Roberts1914585402|title=The Roots of the TreeDashboard Elvis is Dead|author=David F Ross|rating=4.5

|summary=The strength of a tree comes not from what you can see, not from the trunk, the branches and the leaves, but from what you canI reviewed David F Ross's book [[There't see - the roots. Disturbance to the roots can be devastating. Its Only One Danny Garvey by David F Ross|There's similar in human beings. Annie had lived for 63 Only One Danny Garvey]] a couple of years, secure in the love of her parents, Elsie back and Frank. She'd looked after them in her home in their final years remember being absolutely floored by how powerful and affecting it was quite by chance that she came across their wedding certificate when she . It was sorting out their effects. They had not been married until ''after'' her birtha gripping, emotionally wounding read, but her birth certificate showed Frank as her father and rereading my review of it my main takeaway was that her mother was married to him. Something didn't add up and there was one inescapable conclusion: the man she'd loved as her father all those years ''wasn't'' her father after allI might not have lavished enough praise on it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1909716863</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jeroen Blokhuis and Asja Novak (translator)Lucy Ashe|title=The Yellow HouseClara and Olivia|rating=34.5|genre=Literary General Fiction|summary=If you were The year is 1933. The place? Sadler's Wells. Ballerinas Clara and Olivia are sisters, twins no less. Identical on the needy kindoutside but not, we learn, would you really join in on the drumming-out of town of two people accused of murder purely because of their nationality? Would you get a feeling of belonging just because you were inside. And not on stage, either. Because there when someone carried 's a dead dog down off lot that builds a mountain? The main character in this novel doesdancer. But he has something Some things that will really get him notedcan be taught or learnt – discipline, well-thought-ofattention to detail – and some things, that ''je ne sais quoi'', included. He has that don't come to from the south of France to set up an artists' collectiveclassroom. A stage presence, where he can live and work alongside his counterpartsa charm, who can inspire each other and best each other to create wonderful arta ''joie de vivre''. In fact The difference between a muchhard-respected guest is on his way nowworker, so surely he can find kinship? The guest's name is, after all, Gauguinand a star. The main character is, of course, Vincent van Gogh…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1907320563</amazonuk>0861544080

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Antonin Varenne and Sam Taylor (translator)Heather Fawcett|title=Retribution RoadEmily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries|rating=4.5|genre=Historical General Fiction |summary=Emily Wilde is an expert academic scholar on faerie lore, and she has travelled extensively, and researched meticulously, to write her life''Sergeant Bowman wasn't just a hard mans work, he was something else: a dangerous manthe very first encyclopaedia of faeries.'' IfWhilst she is brilliant at research and speaking to faeries, indeed, there was someone who was ideal for a suicide mission, it was himshe is not so good with people. Working as a soldier for the East India Company So when she finds herself far, far North in the ruralsmall village of Hrafvsnik, remotehaving somehow offended the village matriarch, outlaw hotbeds of Asia in the 1850sshe is not sure what she has done, he's tasked with taking a boat of unknown prospects up the Irrawaddy nor how to try redeem herself and combat local warlord Pagan Minput her final investigations for her book back on the right track. It doesn't go well – to start withEnter Wendell Bambleby, her dashingly handsome and insufferable rival who arrives unexpectedly, all charm and delight, he's supposed much to run the rule over ruffians saved from the gallows, but can't command them until heEmily's forced his way to having the knowledge of the mission he needs first, only for all hell to break loosefrustration. But get back why is he here? What does, only to find that while his nightmares about he want? And what really happened are met exactly is going on with equally dark goings-on, the official record suggests the mission never actually existed…faerie folk around Hravsnik?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0857053744</amazonuk>0356519120

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jennifer Down1398515388|title=Our Magic HourThe Boy and the Dog|author=Seishu Hase and Alison Watts (translator)

|genre=Literary General Fiction|summary=There had always been KatyFirst of all, it was the earthquake, deep in the ocean floor, Audrey which created the tsunami and Adam. They've been friends since school and nowthis, along with Audrey's partner Nickin turn, they remain inseparable as young professionalscaused the nuclear meltdown. Then, one day, Katy kills herselfThe result was complete and utter devastation. No warningThe deaths were uncountable, no reason just no Katyand the loss of livelihoods was widespread. The four are suddenly three trying to make sense fact that many pets were separated from their owners came far down the list of priorities but - six months after the tsunami - Kazumasa Nakagaki discovered a moment that leaves so many questions in dog outside a convenience store. He wasn't a world dog person but the convenience store owner's comment that refuses he would call Public Health prompted Kazumasa to pause while they figure it outopen his car door and Tamon the dog jumped in.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1925240835</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author= Ayobami AdebayoChristopher Bowden|title= Stay With MeMr Magenta|rating= 54|genre= General Fiction|summary= I have Christopher Bowden's latest novel is a patient untangling of a seemingly ordinary woman''thing'' about blurbs which give away far too much of the storiess life, carried out by her nephew after she has died. Not this time. This time…''There are things even love can't do…if the burden is too much The aunt who always provided a safe harbour and stays too long even love bends, cracks, comes close a little bit of indulgence to breaking, and sometimes does break.'' ''But even when it's in a thousand pieces around your feet, young nephew had had a much more interesting life than that doesn't mean nephew Stephen had ever realised and it's no longer love…'' That is the most heart-breakingly beautiful truth I've read in a long time – and seems to him an obligation to find it sums up this story. This is a story about love not being enough…but still being love. I hope this becomes a classic, not just in its native Nigeria but around the worldall out. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1782119469</amazonuk>B0B6Z9VJDW

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Elan MastaiJennifer Mason|title= All Our Wrong TodaysPartitions of Unity|rating=3.54|genre= General Fiction|summary=Welcome to 2016Here at Bookbag Towers, but not as we know it. This version of 2016 was like a picture-perfect scene from a science-fiction movie: a world free from war and poverty, with hover cars, space-tourism, food replicatorsfirst met Elizabeth Cromwell, shiny buildings dominatrix and AI that catered to every whim. This was the resplendent 2016 we were supposed to have, thanks to the invention unintentional detective in 1965 of the Goettreider Engine[[Preposterous: An Elizabeth Cromwell Mystery by Jennifer Mason|Preposterous]], which created when she investigated and unravelled a sustainable form series of energy that transformed the planetdisappearances. With all In ''Partitions of the major problems in the world goneUnity'', humans were free she sets her mind to dedicate their time to the pursuit of science and entertainment, culminating in what could be the most exciting development yet: solving a time machinemurder. But of course, this perfect future would be completely derailed if, say, someone went back in time and messed up Goettreider's experiment. Maybe the result would be a world similar to the one we live in now: the world we were never meant to have.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0718184076</amazonuk>B09LQR9FRF

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Samanta Schweblin and Megan McDowell (translator)Will Carver|title=Fever DreamThe Daves Next Door|rating=4|genre=General Fiction|summary= Five strangers come together in one moment as a suicide bomber prepares to detonate his vest on a London tube line. As their fates overlap, the story is told in backwards order, leading up to the fateful moment.|isbn= 1914585186}} {{Frontpage|author=Jennifer Mason|title=Preposterous: An Elizabeth Cromwell Mystery

|genre=Literary General Fiction|summary=Meet Carla. She's a glamorous older woman, with poise and beauty, and someone who still looks a treat in a golden bikini. But inside, she's different. The biggest issue she seems to bear relates to an event a few years agoA struggling poetry zine, when her horse breeder husband had the drama of both a hired, valuable stallion, mom-and their son, being poisoned. Away from -pop mobile diner in the right medical treatmentNorthern California redwoods, Carla took David to a woman 400-meter hurdler who said just missed the only hope was 2004 Olympics, a 'migration' – basically, to farm out part of Davidwomen's spirit and swap it track coach with someone else'sa yen for bullwhips, to dilute the toxin. This was a success, as David seems to have survived, although Carla is sure it was billionaire with a state-of-the wrong decision – she now sees David as at least part monster. But another odd thing about this tale is that it isn't being narrated by Carla-art S&M dungeon, but by her neighboura man serving a life sentence in Alabama, another mother called Amandaan enigmatic signature, who is renting a holiday home nearby. And the further odd thing is to whom she is narrating this story – it'K(s to David…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1786070901</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Heather O'Neill|title= The Lonely Hearts Hotel|rating= 5|genre= General Fiction |summary=Two babies are abandoned in a Montreal orphanage in the winter of 1914. Pierrot is a piano prodigy, and Rose lights up even the dreariest room with her dancing and comedy. As they travel around the city performing clown routinesx), the children fall in love with each other and dream up on a plan for the most extraordinary show the world has ever seen. Seperated as teenagers and sent off to work during the Great Depressioncheap oil painting, both descend into the city's underworld - dabbling an erotic art dealer in sex, drugs, and theft. Will Rose and Pierrot ever reunite? And if they do - what lengths will they go to to make their dream come true? One thing's for sure - neither they nor the theatre nor the underworld will ever look the sameGeorgia...''|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849163359</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Min Jin Lee|title= Pachinko|rating= 4|genre= General Fiction|summary= I have often said that much of what I know of the world, its geography, history and politics, I have learned from reading story books. Because I learn this way, I do wonder about people who profess not to read fiction. I wonder how much of the truth of how the world really This is passes them by as just a result. In the light sample of 2016 in the UK and the USA, I wonder if this is a concern to be added to all cast of the others about cuts to arts funding characters and arts learning and the absolute necessity of having public libraries where children can start to choose for themselves at the earliest age, which stories to read, uncensored by the views of those who might think they know better. I say all this because Pachinko is yet one more of those books that did not just make me think differently about what I thought I knew, but actually opened up to me a world that I knew nothing about: the world of the ethnic Korean settings in JapanPreposterous.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1786691353</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Shanthi Sekaran|title=Lucky Boy|rating=5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=Solimar wants more from her life than her Mexican home As you can offer and now she's 18see, she can go find it. Her target is to get to the USA, a target so blinding that she doesn't realise what reaching out for it some keeping up will costbe required! The basic premise of this mystery story goes like this. Meanwhile Kavya is living the American dream. She's rich in friendship, family, a loving husband and life prospects and yet Kavya has a baby-shaped hole in her world. The problem is that there's only one baby for both of them… Lucky boy!|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0735212279</amazonuk>B09STS96HS