Changes

[[Category:New Reviews|General Fiction]]__NOTOC__{{Frontpage|author=Jenny Lecoat|title=Beyond Summerland|rating=4|genre=General fictionFiction|summary=Jean lives on Jersey with her mother where they are celebrating 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__NOTOC__}}{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Alexander McCall SmithOnyi Nwabineli|title=Trains and Lovers: The Heart's JourneyAllow Me to Introduce Myself

|summary=Do you have a train journey Anuri spent her childhood on display to make? Will it take you several hours? If sothe world, then I canthanks to her step-mother Ophelia't think s increasingly popular presence on social media, where she posted every step of a better place to sit and read Alexander McCall SmithAnuri's newchildhood for sponsorships and influencer deals and, basically, standalone novelmonetary gain. It's all Now Anuri is in her twenties and she is slowly trying to regain her confidence and to get her life back, suing her step-mother to take down the content about four her. Anuri is battling alcoholism, failing to start her PhD, undergoing therapy and secretly abusing people travelling on a train you seeonline and receiving money from them for doing so. Most importantly, she is desperately worried about her little sister, and itwho is the new focus of Ophelia's all about loveonline empire. I gorged on it one evening, reading it all in one go without stoppingCan she save her sister, and it's really rather lovely!perhaps herself and her relationship with her father at the same time?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1846972450</amazonuk>0861546873

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Monica McInerney1529153298|title=The House List of MemoriesSuspicious Things|author=Jennie Godfrey|rating=45

|summary=Ella FoxIt's life would never have been described as easy1979 and Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister. (A woman? I mean, honestly... Her parents divorced when she was young and ) She's not long afterwhat's worrying Miv's family, her father was killed in a light aircraft crashthough. Women have been disappearing. Her mother remarried and although Ella loved her new and funny stepbrother Well, Charliethey've been murdered, but to have 'disappeared' doesn't sound quite so frightening. Miv's upset because she could not stem 's overheard that her feelings of jealousy when her half sister Jess is born not long after father wants to move the marriagefamily 'Down South'. Although she lived halfway across the world When you're from himYorkshire, she always turned to her Uncle Lucas in her lowest momentsDown South is a frightening, foreign place, best avoided. It's hardly surprising then, that years later For Miv, after the tragic death of move would mean leaving her twenty month old sonbest friend, FelixSharon, and she ultimately runs 'll do anything to prevent that. She's not worried about the dangers or that her uncle in LondonMum's stopped talking - to anyone.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0230763014</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=A K Hill1035906708|title=A Mediocre ManDiva|author=Daisy Goodwin|rating=34.5

|summary=Francis James HumbletonWe tend to think of Maria Callas as Greek, but she was born to Greek parents in Manhattan, the 'mediocre man' of the title is quiet and reservedNew York, hardworking in December 1923 and a man of such regular habits that his neighbours can set their clocks by his departure only moved to work each morningAthens when she was thirteen. His life Her original surname was unassuming, unnoticed by all Kalogeropoulos but a very few and his death only came her father changed it to light because his employers knew that something must be wrong when he didn't return Callas' to work after make it more manageable in the Christmas breakStates. Mr Humbleton had been murdered, at precisely (what else could it be?) 3am When she was back in what looked to be a burglary gone wrong. Only Mr Humbleton had nothing Athens - supposedly so that she could get appropriate training for her voice - she was worth stealing raised under the Nazi occupation by a mother who mercilessly exploited her and it's down to Detective Inspector Johnson and Detective Constable Smith to investigate his life as well as his deathmade no secret of her preference for her elder sister, Jackie.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B008YWQTME</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=John GrishamAlexander McCall Smith|title=The RacketeerPerfect Passion Company|rating=4.5

|summary=Malcolm Bannister The Perfect Passion Company is forty-three years old 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 business, as Ness is planning to take a trip to Canada to get away for a lawyerwhile. HeKatie is coming out of a break up with a bad boyfriend, and so jumps at the chance to come home to Edinburgh. And so begins this new story from Alexander McCall Smith, bringing us to an Edinburgh we already love, thanks to 44 Scotland Street and the Isabel Dalhousie novels, but with some new characters who quickly begin to charm. Katie has no experience in running a business, or in match-making, but Ness has full confidence in her abilities, and there's also in prison for always her very helpful (and rather handsome) neighbour, William, to lend a hand…|isbn=1846976596}}{{Frontpage|author=Dean Koontz|title=The Bad Weather Friend|rating=4.5|genre=Paranormal|summary=Benny is having a crime terrifically bad day. He loses his job, he didn't know he was committing loses his fiancee, and in which he had no criminal intenthis house gets trashed. Halfway through Oh, and someone has delivered a tenreally weird, disturbing coffin-year stretch hesized object to his home, and it's possible that whoever or whatever was inside is the only black man in thing that has trashed his house! The thing is, Benny is the prison serving time very last person to deserve all this bad luck. He is a nice person. A really nice person. So fortunately for a white collar crime: Benny it turns out that's what happens when you're just the delivery to his house is a bit naive and what looks like new friend, a genuine real estate deal turns out bad weather friend called Spike, who has been sent to be part of help him since Benny is clearly under attack from nefarious forces for being a massive money laundering operationgood person. The prison he's in Spike is relatively relaxed going to take care of Benny, and hewill certainly take care of Benny's the librarianenemies, but if he's lost his job, his wife's divorced him Benny, and he wonders if he'll ever see his young son again. Other than that, lifeHarper (a waitress slash Private Investigator who finds herself roped into Benny's pretty much of a muchnesswild adventure) can figure out who exactly they are.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1444729748</amazonuk>1662500491

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Dawn FrenchKatherine Howe|title=Oh Dear SilviaA True Account|rating=4.5

|summary=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 Dawn French wrote her first novel [[A Tiny Bit Marvellous by Dawn French|A Tiny Bit Marvellous]] I was eager she hears there is to read itbe a hanging of some pirates in the town, looking forward she decides to plenty of silly humour go and those elusive-when-reading out loud laughswatch. I was disappointed unfortunatelyEnthralled and horrified in equal measure, and actually came away from Hannah finds herself embroiled in a young boy's death at the book feeling annoyed with the characters and quite discouraged and depressed somehowhands of two vicious pirates. SoShe hides away, I approached so that they don't find and kill her new novel with a little trepidationtoo, unsure as and then to whether escape them completely she deserved runs away to sea, dressing as a boy and joining the notorious Ned Low's pirate ship as a second chancecabin boy. I'm glad I gave She soon finds herself in the thick of things when there is a mutiny on board, and from there we are caught up in her the benefit rip roaring tale of life on the doubt!ocean waves.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0718156064</amazonuk>0861547438

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Salley Vickers1471180158|title=The Cleaner of ChartresMaybe Tomorrow|author=Penny Parkes

|summary=Agnes is a mystery to the residents of Chartres, even as she goes about filling any shortfall Jamie Matson works in labour herean upper-class grocery store, doing any odd job there, and cleaning for some of the people in and around a man who's a control freak with all the fabulous cathedral the town is so proud subtlety of – anda half brick. Jamie's son, even in the endBo, cleaning the cathedral itself'has his problems'. There is an aged, dotty professor from Wales, two extremely curmudgeonly He's asthmatic and bitter old gossipsthe more you read, and the more than enough members of you'll suspect that he's on the order whose faith has lapsedautistic spectrum. She seems perfectly willing Sometimes Jamie needs to do anything one asks, so much so that one might ask why, although nobody seems take time off at short notice - she's a frequent flier in the local A&E and sometimes Bo's not fit enough to go to do soschool. The answers might Missed shifts or the need to be away on time to pick Bo up from school are occasions when Jamie can be controlled and put in the even-numbered chapters, which take us deeper into this character's extraordinary past, and wrong. It was going to come to a linked series of quite tragic events…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0670922129</amazonuk>head.

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=James MeekB0CKD1L5JL|title=The Heart Broke InRadio Free Olympia|author=Jeffrey Dunn

|summary=In ''The Heart Broke In'', James Meek manages to combine some big and serious issues into a compellingly readable and entertaining moral thrillerPetr is an orphan. At Rescued by the centre of the book are two siblings who are very different. Ritchie strange, reclusive Bear, he is a former rock starbrought up far from bustling cities and busy human society, now working in the world forests of reality television producing Washington's Olympic Peninsula. After Bear dies and a game show about teenage pop bands while his younger sisterbrief sojourn in human company, Becand armed with only a pirate radio transmitter, is a devoted scientist working Petr goes on a cure for malariajourney through the forest, broadcasting the strange, wild and rarely heard voices he encounters. On the one hand it's }}{{Frontpage|author=Sarah Marsh|title=A Sign of Her Own|rating=3.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=After a story bout of family dynamicsscarlet fever as a child, but it's also Ellen Lark loses her hearing. Suddenly plunged into a thoughtful and well constructed tale world of morality and judgementsilence, everything about her life changes. Setting science against religion it asks very modern day questions about who is Living in a time when the guardian use of morality sign language was seen as something only savages do, Ellen is sent to a school where she is taught to lip read, but physically restrained from signing. From here, she ends up in today's world another school studying under Alexander Graham Bell who has been teaching the deaf and whousing a system called Visible Speech. At the same time, if anyoneBell is working on other inventions and ideas, has the right to judge others' behaviourand Ellen finds herself unwittingly caught up in a complicated tangle of espionage.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0857862901</amazonuk>1035401614

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Sally TissingtonB0BC3YTCMR|title=Crocodile on the CarouselGood Girls Die|author=Ayura Ayira

|summary=Cath Furnish's life has been so marked out by suffering to such an extent that she believes that's what life's about. Despite being married to Bill, raising her granddaughter Amanda and her daughter Marie being TV's 'Happy Lady', Cath This story is attracted to the biblical book of Job, a co-sufferer in her eyes. She's even bought a grotesque carousel not for the back garden incorporating such jolly figures as a crocodile, a bleeding horse and the gates of death because it reminds her of him. As much as Amanda loves her grandmother, she doesn't want to continue living like this and so sets herself a missioneveryone. Despite opposition she ''will'' disprove her upbringing and find love and happiness, so help her.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780950101</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=J K Rowling|title=Lavender Daniels was three weeks short of her fifteenth birthday when The Casual Vacancy|rating=4|genre=General Fiction|summary=It's hard Incident happened. She was a very bright student, a bit too nerdy if truth be told, and suffered from vitiligo - people were afraid to know how to describe my experience reading JK Rowlinghug her in case it's new book, and her first departure from the world of Hogwartscontagious. It'Liked it' doesn't seem appropriate, because I didn't reallys not easy being a black girl whose skin is 84% white. I found it very bleak, depressing and disturbing to be honestShe had a crush on seventeen-year-old Reggie Anderson but never thought he would notice her. I have a friend who is reading it Then he did: Lavender was very good at the moment math and Reggie asked if she says would tutor him. She readily agreed: tutoring was something she's really enjoying it, which gladly did at church: this was just makes me shake my head becausean extension. She went to his house and he raped her. In shock, really, this isn't the sort of book you enjoyshe even allowed him to give her a lift home.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>140870420X</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Syd Moore1472263936|title=Witch HuntThe Figurine|author=Victoria Hislop|rating=45

|summary=The history of witchcraft It was in 1968 that Helena McCloud made her first trip to Greece. She was alone: her mother, Greek by birth, had left the family home and the complexities of current social politics do not appear refused to return, but Mary and Hamish (Helena's parents) felt that it would be the easiest ingredients to blend smoothly into a novelpity if Helena grew up without knowing her grandparents or understanding her Greek heritage. But Moore has achieved this, skilfully weaving Her trip to the family apartment in up-market Kolonaki would be the threads first of several annual visits. She grew to love her grandmother and the middle ages with the modern day. This achievement has also been mixed with some fascinating points about feminismfamily's maid, Dina, witchcraft but was wary - and Essex stereotypesfrightened - of her grandfather, all retired general Stamatis Papagiannis. He was proud of his close connections to the while presenting Junta and expected his family to uphold his values but saw no reason to accommodate them as the narrative of the protagonist, Sadie.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847562698</amazonuk> His prejudices included Helena's red hair and green eyes - inherited from her father's Scottish ancestors.

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=John E FlanneryDean Koontz|title=God's GiftAfter Death

|summary=An exMichael 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-soap actorhazard accident. Finding himself in a makeshift mortuary, Tommy Armstrong now hosts covered in plastic, he has a successful Saturday night chat show. It covers entertainment sense that something very, very bad has happened to him – and only him – as he sits up and current affairs. Recently divorced, single Tommy enjoys bedding looks around at the shrouded bodies of his researchers dead friends and then firing themformer colleagues. It As he recovers his senses, he realises that there is something different about him; he can ''feel's something to do, after all, no? And particularly enjoyable if they're willing to take it up the bumeverything. Tommy likes bums ''Everything''. Irritatingly, the Michael isn't ''Dirty BitchMichael'', aka Susan, Tommyanymore.|isbn=1662500467}} {{Frontpage|isbn=B0BVDC2VWH|title=The Grave Listeners|author=William Frank|rating=4|genre=General Fiction|summary=The village is isolated and poor. It's exsurrounded by a Witching Forest. And the villagers subsist largely by farming Uphegia plants - its bread-wifelike fruit provides nutrition and its blossom provides herbal medicines. The black wood of the forest provides heat and warmth, roofs on homes, has forgotten all about bums and become a born-again Christianeven gallows, if needed. Her new partner The fear of being buried alive is an existential superstition in the village and that is the reason Volushka, a 21st century Mary Whitehousedrunken, leading self-indulgent, lazy lout of a campaign to clean up the mediaman is tolerated.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B009AEUOFS</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Rowan ColemanB0BYF82CXT|title=Dearest RoseSemi-Detached|author=Deborah Stone|rating=4.5

|summary=Rose has finally escaped. For years she has put up with her bullying husband ''Bill and lived with the sadness Amanda are living in a semi-detached house, stuck in a depressing rut of her mother's suicide after her father left when she was a young girl. Only onceboredom and disappointment, when she was heavily pregnant with her daughter MaddieTerry and Fiona – glamorous, did anyone show her any warmth successful and kindness and treat her like a human being very much in love – move in her own rightnext door. That person was Frasier McCleodDespite their different outlooks on life, an art dealer who had been trying the couples befriend each other and life appears to trace Rose's fatherimprove for both pairs. But all is not what it seems, John Jacobs,who happened to be a very exciting artistand their increasingly interconnected relationships are fated for tragedy. Although she couldn't help him, Frasier sent a postcard to thank her and it is the village pictured on that postcard that she makes her way to nine years later when she can put up with her husband's cruelty no more.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099551276</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Anthony CapellaShalini Boland|title=Love and Other Dangerous ChemicalsThe Silent Bride|rating=4.53

|summary=Just when you thought you’d seen (read?) Alice and Seth are a match made in heaven. He is everythingshe has been searching for; handsome, accomplished, comes this bookclever, the story of the chemistry of Chemistry. Dr Steven Jfunny; total and utter husband-material. Fisher is an Oxford scientist whose special area of interest She is all he could possibly want in a wife; beautiful, successful, confident… and so the female orgasm. His latest work inevitable proposal is attracting interest from drug companies eagerly accepted by Alice and the public alike for it’s an elusive subject: a pill that will do for women what Viagra did for men (wedding is planned and I don’t mean help their cardiac problems)set. Currently in When the much-anticipated day arrives, Alice is walked down the clinical trial stageaisle by her father, beaming with pride and excitement as she surveys the results are looking promising until there’s a new addition congregation – their friends assembled to celebrate this joyful day and when Seth turns to face his group of guinea pigs in approaching bride, Alice's world implodes because she has absolutely no idea who the man at the form of Anniealtar is, a literature post-grad from the same university. Her lover (also her PhD supervisor) who is keen waiting for her to take part in the hope that Dr Fisher can fix her problem (and it is ‘her’ problem, not theirs). Simply put, Annie would rather read a good book than have a good… well, you can fill in your own rhyme herebecome his wife.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0857890255</amazonuk>1662507089

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Lucy Dawson1787636003|title=Little SisterThe Girls of Summer|author=Katie Bishop|rating=3.5

|summary=Kate Palmer’s life has been blighted with tragedy. Her sister Emily died at It was the summer when Rachel Evans turned eighteen that she and Caroline went backpacking around Greece and arrived on the age of thirteen in a freak accidentisland. Her parents could not cope with the grief and subsequently divorced leading Rachel wasn't exactly innocent but she was, perhaps, naive, so when thirty-four-year-old Alistair Wright started to her mother living take an interest in America and her father suffering a breakdown. Years later, she is married to Rob and struggling to cope with being a new mother to two month old Mathiaswas flattered rather than wary. Kate’s always been the sensible one whereas her younger sister, Anya, has always had It was quite a tendency while before he made any sort of physical approach to run away from her troubles and has never managed to settle downby that time she was obsessed by him. Therefore Alistair worked for Henry Taylor, it should come as no surprise to Kate that Anya has taken off once again looking after his interests on the island and has gone diving in Mexico. That would have been OK but Anya is now missingparticular in the bar where all the girls either worked or partied.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751542512</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Peter HoegAmanda Craig|title=The Elephant Keepers' ChildrenThree Graces

|summary=Danish writer Peter Høeg is best known for his third Few styles of contemporary fiction interest me like the state-of-the-nation novel [[Miss Smilla. There's Feeling For Snow by Peter Hoeg|Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow]]something so utterly compelling about any writer who can catch hold of the atmosphere of the day and capture it, partly because crafting an image of the country as it was made into stands in one of particular moment. To say that Amanda Craig is skilled at doing this would be embarrassingly inadequate: she's practically synonymous with the more beautiful movie adaptations genre of modern contemporary social fictionat this point. While his latest book, ''The Elephant Keepers' Children'' is unlikely to change that association, it is She has such a magical, story told through gift for weaving the eyes ongoing issues of the charmingly precocious fourteen year old Peter, full day into the lives of farcical events, zany chases and brilliantly named her characters. If you are looking for in a gritty, realistic novel, this won't fit the billway that feels natural and lived-in, never making them ciphers for social commentary but for all its madcap eventsinstead fully realised people, Høeg continues his arch view of events and has surprising depth in the form of philosophical consideration of religions and faithgrappling with issues far larger than themselves.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1846555841</amazonuk>140871468X

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Amanda Jennings152915118X|title=Sworn SecretPineapple Street|author=Jenny Jackson

|summary=A year ago Anna Thorne was found dead after presumably falling from ''Pineapple Street'' is the roof story of her school after drinking vodkathree women: Sasha, Darley and Georgiana. Darley and George are sisters and Sasha is married to their brother Cord. Twelve months later They're Stocktons, her parentsonly Sasha isn't a Stockton by birth so she isn't readily accepted into the tribe. The problem's exacerbated when the clan matriarch, Kate and JonTilda, asks Cord and her sister, Lizzie, are still trying Sasha if they'd like to make sense of move into the Pineapple Street property. Tilda and Chip have renovated and come downsized to terms with what has happenedanother property, a street or so away, which they own. They each have their own way won't need any of dealing with their grief whichthe furniture from Pineapple Street, rather than unitingso Sasha and Cord can move straight in. Nominally, serves they had a choice but that wasn't the reality. Darley and Georgiana start to isolate each of themcall Sasha 'the gold digger'. She's living in ''their'' family home. Ultimately, They use it so often that they are becoming three sad strangers living under abbreviate it to 'the same roofGD'.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184901969X</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Julie CorbinEmily Critchley|title=Do Me No HarmOne Puzzling Afternoon|rating=4.5|genre=General FictionCrime|summary=Dr Olivia Somers is minding her own business, trying to raise two kids alone 84 year old Edie has lived in the wake of same small town for almost her divorcewhole life, when everything goes wrong and but now she is facing a move as her sonwants to move to another house and bring Edie to live with his family, Robbie, ends up in hospitalas Edie is starting to lose her memory. It’s hard to work out what really happened However, or even if Robbie Edie is giving tormented by the memory of her childhood friend, Lucy, who went missing over 60 years ago, and the full story, but when there’s worry that there was a further incident, this secret she was keeping for Lucy that somehow might be the thing that reveals the truth of what happened all that time involving a break ago. After 'seeing' Lucy in at their homethe high street, it becomes clear that these are no random attacksjust as she was the last time she saw her, and someone is out she starts to find pockets of memories coming back to get themher. With And yet as she remembers the help of a friendly (past, she is forgetting more and handsome) detective, Olivia tries more in her day to piece together the puzzle to work day life. who is behind Will she uncover the troubletruth about Lucy's disappearance before her move, and it’s a race against time to figure it out before the next unwelcome surprise from the culprit.her memories are gone forever?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0340918969</amazonuk>1804181250

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Ian McEwanMadelaine Lucas|title=Sweet ToothThirst for Salt|rating=4.5

|summary=Ian McEwan's 'Love, I'Sweet Tooth'' is part spy novel but more a love story and a tale of deception and half truths. It's also, more subtly, a book about the power, role and importance of fiction. Set in the 1970s, with frequent musical and political references to the UK at that time, Serena Frome is a beautifuld read, Cambridge-educated daughter of an Anglican bishop with a taste for unsuitable romances. From an early affair with a man who turns out was supposed to be homosexual, to an affair with an older lecturer she moves on to a surprise job at MI5 where she had a crush on one of her bosses, again light and awkwardweightless feeling, repressed and unattractive individual before encountering talented author Tom Haley as part of her job with whom she once again falls in love. Few of these men are what they seem, and neither but I had always longed for that matter is Serena when she has to hide her job from Haley.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224097377</amazonuk>}}gravity''

{{newreview|author=Alexander McCall Smith|title=The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds|rating=4Told from a retrospective view, a young woman unravels the year-long relationship that once defined her.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=SoOverlaid with later wisdom, here we are the narrator relives the affair with Isabel Dalhousie in a man twenty years her ninth story, and I'm assuming that you know who she is by now because really, if you don't, then you'd better not start with book number nine and instead you should really go all senior from its inception – the way back summer after finishing university – to its sorrowful end the beginning summer after. Set against the backdrop of the series and an isolated Australian coastal town ''The Sunday Philosophy Club.Thirst for Salt'' If, on details the other hand24-year-old narrator's deepening relationship with her older lover, you are well acquainted with Isabel then settle yourself down for another good read from the master of gentledepicting its all-consuming nature, funny fictionhow it changed her perspective on both romantic and familial relationships and how it altered her irrevocably.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1408704145</amazonuk>0861546490

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Favel Parrett0008506337|title=Past the ShallowsThe Garnett Girls|author=Georgina Moore

|summary=Harry Curren lives with Miles (one of his brothers) The love affair between Margo Garnett and their widowed father poet Richard O'Leary was all-consuming, apparently on both sides. Margo was just sixteen when they fell in a small Tasmanian fishing communitylove. Their Richard was twenty-one and described by Margo's mother has been killed in a car accident but life goes on even if itas 'an older man'. Her parents worried that Richard's more damaged influence would take her away from what they felt she could achieve - going to Oxford and having a glittering career. In the event, they eloped and disjointed than beforeRichard took her away from the Isle of Wight. Miles still goes out Margo did go to Oxford and went on his father's fishing boat to ensure their income become a well-respected journalist. The couple had three children: Rachel, Imogen and Sasha. Life was lived in London and Harry spends his time holidays were spent at schoolSandcove, outside amusing himself or being with his other brother, Joe, who, for some reason, lives with their grandfatherthe family home on the Isle of Wight. Even then the doubts about Richard's drinking were never far from Margo's mind: ''she would never be able to leave him in charge''.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848547501</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Charity Norman|title=After The Fall|rating=3Then Richard left them.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=It’s the middle of the night when five year old Finn falls from the balcony at his home in a remote part of New Zealand. Leaving his twin brother and older sister in the care of a neighbour, his mother Martha stays with him as a helicopter races him to the nearest hospital. But as he is rushed into surgery, she is taken to one side for questioning, with first nursing staff then the police and social workers raising concerns. Was Finn really sleep walking, something he is prone to do? But if so, how did he come to have suspicious bruises on one side of his body, not in keeping with how he landed? And if it wasn’t the accident Martha is saying it was, was his mother involved or is she covering for someone?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>174331096X</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Dorothy Koomson1914585402|title=The Rose Petal Beach|rating=4|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=Tamia and Scott met at school and they were friends before they were anything else although it wasn't to the liking of either family. Scott's brother referred to Tamia as ''that'' - a reference to the colour of her skin. Tamia's family weren't racially prejudiced but they knew the Challey family and their reputation for criminality. It wasn't what they wanted for their daughter: they saw a university education, but were to be disappointed on both counts. It looked to be working well: the marriage seemed stable and they had two beautiful daughters, but then one night it all fell apart. Scott was arrested in front of his wife and children for a dreadful crime. As if this wasn't bad enough, Tami's world disintegrated even further when she discovered that Scott's accuser was someone whom she regarded as a close friend.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780874960</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewDashboard Elvis is Dead|author=Chris Worthington|title=Setting The Record StraightDavid F Ross|rating=34.5

|summary=When he was twelve Geoff Dealer returned to his Texas home and walked in on what looked like a frightening situation. A man, trousers round his ankles was pushing his mother up against a wall and she was squealing. Mindful of his fatherI reviewed David F Ross's advice about using a gun Geoff grabbed it from the gun cabinet and injured the man with his first shot. The second killed him. It was their neighbour and his fatherbook [[There's best friend - whoOnly One Danny Garvey by David F Ross|There'd obviously been more than s Only One Danny Garvey]] a friend to his mother. Lizzie Dealer took the blame - saying that she'd been attacked couple of years back and remember being absolutely floored by how powerful and had grabbed the gun from her son - but her husband affecting it was arrested and . It was killed in prison a couple gripping, emotionally wounding read, and rereading my review of days laterit my main takeaway was that I might not have lavished enough praise on it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848767080</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Herman KochLucy Ashe|title=The DinnerClara and Olivia

|summary=Serge Lohman, presidential candidate, The year is not the kind of man to frequent the cafés of ordinary people, 1933. The place? Sadler's Wells. Ballerinas Clara and so when his brother Paul and his wife Claire join Serge and wife Babette for dinnerOlivia are sisters, it can only be at twins no less. Identical on the fanciest of localesoutside but not, and for 'fanciest' read poshestwe learn, snootiest, and most overpricedon the inside. And while they may be in Holland, going Dutch is not on the menustage, either. This is not Serge’s story, howeverBecause there's a lot that builds a dancer. It is Paul’sSome things that can be taught or learnt – discipline, attention to detail – and what he lacks in terms of incomesome things, power and influence compared to his brotherthat ''je ne sais quoi'', he more than makes up for with dry humour and astute observations.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848873824</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Kim Barnes|title=In the Kingdom of Men|rating=3|genre=General Fiction|summary=This book begins beautifully with all that don't come from the characters springing to life through fantastically spare and creative descriptionclassroom. By the time we reach GinA stage presence, a charm, living with her her grandfather in the stifling atmosphere of a strict Methodist minister’s home''joie de vivre''. The difference between a hard-worker, the story is in full swing and we follow Gin through her teenage years as she tries hard to rebel against all the limitations placed upon hera star.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>009194421X</amazonuk>0861544080

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Luis SepulvedaHeather Fawcett|title=The Shadow Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of What we WereFaeries

|summary=ChileEmily Wilde is an expert academic scholar on faerie lore, and she has travelled extensively, and researched meticulously, to write her life's work, the modern dayvery first encyclopaedia of faeries. Four elderly men meet for one last timeWhilst she is brilliant at research and speaking to faeries, planning something suspiciously underhand, having made arrangements - and discussed Internet dating - onlineshe is not so good with people. We're let into So when she finds herself far, far North in the fact that small village of Hrafvsnik, having somehow offended the grandfather of one was a bank robber in a classic tale of Robin Hood-style wealth distributionvillage matriarch, she is not sure what she has done, but as nor how to what redeem herself and put her final investigations for her book back on the outcome of their plans might be we're forced to waitright track. Elsewhere a domestic incident leads Enter Wendell Bambleby, her dashingly handsome and insufferable rival who arrives unexpectedly, all charm and delight, much to a bizarre death - by record playerEmily's frustration. But why is he here? What does he want? And you can just tell I'm suggesting you wait to discover what exactly is going on with the link...faerie folk around Hravsnik?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1609450027</amazonuk>0356519120

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Sophie Duffy1398515388|title=This Holey Life|rating=3.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=Vicky's husband has found faith The Boy and since he's working as a curate now rather than a plumber Vicky has been dragged into church life whether she likes it or not. She's struggling to raise her family whilst dealing with her own grief when suddenly into the mix come her irritating big brother and his little boy. As Vicky's patience is stretched paper-thin the lies woven within her family begin to unravel and she struggles to keep everything and everyone together.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908775971</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewDog|author=Cath Staincliffe|title=Split Second|rating=5|genre=General Fiction|summary=On a late December evening, Emma Curtis is on a bus travelling home from work when she becomes aware of a young lad being picked on by three others. Too scared to intervene, she sits alone feeling guilty but taking everything in. To her shame, nineteen year old student, Jason Barnes, comes downstairs on the bus Seishu Hase and immediately challenges the three youths. Luke, the young victim, leaps off the bus and a chase follows. Jason continues to try and defend Luke, and they end up in Jason's front garden where his parents witness the brutal attack. Eventually the trio run off leaving Luke unconscious on the snowy ground. Worse still, is the realisation that Jason has been stabbed and tragically it turns out to be fatal. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849013462</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Peter Heller|title=The Dog StarsAlison Watts (translator)

|summary=We are First of all, it was the earthquake, deep in North America the ocean floor, which created the tsunami and this, in a near but post-Apocalyptic futureturn, caused the nuclear meltdown. Those few humans to survive a pandemic have to be treated as carriers, The result was complete and/or armed and desperateutter devastation. The deaths were uncountable, and so are particularly the loss of note to military-minded survivalist Bangleylivelihoods was widespread. And climate and eco-problems have killed off The fact that many common species, something closer to narrator Hig's heart, as he's a more placid, huntin', shootin' and fishin' guy. These two solitary men are an unlikely partnership, pets were separated from their owners came far down the list of priorities but both look out for each other in complementary ways. Bangley has his watch-tower, while Hig takes off in his Cessna to get away from it all, and his flights act as six months after the tsunami - Kazumasa Nakagaki discovered a dog outside a first line of defenseconvenience store. But is it all life could be, for Hig and his He wasn't a dog and Bangley? What is Hig still to make of person but the last inviting contact he heard on his planeconvenience store owner's radio - even if comment that was three years ago? |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755392590</amazonuk>he would call Public Health prompted Kazumasa to open his car door and Tamon the dog jumped in.

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Michael FraynChristopher Bowden|title=SkiosMr Magenta|rating=3.54

|summary=Set on Christopher Bowden's latest novel is a patient untangling of a Greek islandseemingly ordinary woman's life, a cultural foundation is preparing for the biggest event in its year at which renowned academic Dr Norman Wilfred is due to give the keynote speechcarried out by her nephew after she has died. Also heading to the island on the same plane is Oliver Fox, The aunt who always provided a morally vacant but charming Lothario, who has arranged an assignation with safe harbour and a girl who he has met for only five minutes but has invited little bit of indulgence to spend a week with him at the villa young nephew had had a much more interesting life than that he was due spend a week with his ex-girlfriend before she threw nephew Stephen had ever realised and it seems to him out. But when the girl sent an obligation to collect Dr Wilfred from the airport, Nikki, turns find it all out to be irresistibly charming Oliver decides to play the role of Dr Wilfred and follow her to the foundation while the real Dr Wilfred, minus luggage is transported to the villa at the other end of the island. Someone still has to give the speech though - will it be the real Dr Wilfred or the fake Dr Wilfred?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0571281419</amazonuk>B0B6Z9VJDW

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Ned BeaumanJennifer Mason|title=The Teleportation AccidentPartitions of Unity

|summary=It's hard to know where to start in reviewing Ned Beauman's Booker long-listed ''The Teleportation Accident''. Reading itHere at Bookbag Towers, you feel like the parent of an ADHD-suffering child. At times it is lovable, brilliant and entertainingwe first met Elizabeth Cromwell, at others you just want to reach for the Ritalin dominatrix and tell it to sit unintentional detective in a corner quietly while it composes itself. A clue to both the brilliance and frustration of Beauman is in the vast range of writers to whom he has been compared in both this and his first novel [[Boxer, Beetle Preposterous: An Elizabeth Cromwell Mystery by Ned BeaumanJennifer Mason|Boxer, BeetlePreposterous]], when she investigated and unravelled a series of disappearances. There are hints In ''Partitions of people as wide ranging as [[:Category:David Mitchell|David Mitchell]], [[:Category:P G Wodehouse|P G Wodehouse]], [[:Category:Douglas Adams|Douglas Adams]]Unity'', Raymond Chandler even [[:Category:Angela Carter|Angela Carter]] she sets her mind to name just solving a fewmurder.. Beauman takes a huge range of styles and genres and pushes them and bends them often to glorious effect, but it can be a challenge keeping up with him at times.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0340998423</amazonuk>B09LQR9FRF

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Howard L AndersonWill Carver|title=Albert of AdelaideThe Daves Next Door|rating=54

|summary=Albert the Duck-Billed Platypus lives Five strangers come together in an Adelaide zoo but knows there's more to life than this. There must be one moment as he's heard the stories. Somewhere beyond the cages is Old Australia, a land of dreams where there are no zoos and no human captors, just animals who are free to govern themselves and live in perpetual peace and happiness. That's a world that Albert wants suicide bomber prepares to be a part of and so he escapes, realising that for the first time in detonate his short life his future is in his own webbed paws.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184668840X</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Manu Joseph|title=The Illicit Happiness of Other People|rating=3.5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=Meet what the first chapter calls ''the underdog family''. Tamil immigrants to Madras, they are below the breadline due to Ousep's constant drinking, and by him being vest on a failed writer and mediocre journalistLondon tube line. His wife Mariamma hasAs their fates overlap, shall we say, problems, their younger son is fixated on the beautiful girl next door. But their other son Unni story is a ''cartoonist hottie'' - a handsome prodigy of the comic strip world - or he was until he took a nosedive off their roof three years agotold in backwards order, aged 17. Ousep is still tracking through his son's friends and output, trying leading up to seek the cause of this suicide, and what we have here is the journey of the family as he struggles towards the truthfateful moment.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1848543093</amazonuk>1914585186}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Charles McLeodJennifer Mason|title=American WeatherPreposterous: An Elizabeth Cromwell Mystery

|summary=Jim Haskin is a very odd man''A struggling poetry zine, doing a very odd jobmom-and-pop mobile diner in the Northern California redwoods, in a very odd country if this book is to be believed. An advertising guru in San Francisco400-meter hurdler who just missed the 2004 Olympics, he owns a touchy feely company which boasts such wonders as women's track coach with a ‘Dream Pod’yen for bullwhips, a room for his team to relax in billionaire with sleeping bagsa state-of-the-art S&M dungeon, TVs and a cooler brimming with organic fruit tea. That’s for their down time man serving a life sentence in between saving the worldAlabama, promoting one eco-friendly item after another and doing other worthy things. Except behind the scenesan enigmatic signature, Jim Haskin is not that man. While his team are organising poetry slams to help homeless prostitutesK(s, he’s coming up with fight-back campaignsx), showing that bleach makes on a beach bettercheap oil painting, chemical spills arenan erotic art dealer in Georgia...'t as bad as ' This is just a sample of the cast of characters and settings in Preposterous. As you first might thinkcan see, and other quite inexplicable thingssome keeping up will be required! The basic premise of this mystery story goes like this...|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099542226</amazonuk>B09STS96HS

{{newreview|author=Alexander McCall Smith|title=Sunshine Move on Scotland Street|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=I can hardly believe this is the eighth book about Scotland Street, and it's so nice to just pick up where we left off and discover what's been happening to all our friends. This time we have Angus and Domenica's wedding, Cyril's adventures whilst they're away on their honeymoon, Bruce encounters a rather strange gentleman and of course there's plenty of Bertie to entertain us!|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846972329</amazonuk>}}[[Newest Graphic Novels Reviews]]