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<metadesc>Book review site, with books from the many 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>
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<metadesc>Expert, full book reviews from most walks of literary life; fiction, non-fiction, children's books & self-published books plus author interviews & top tens.</metadesc>
Hello from The Bookbag, a book review site, featuring books from all the many walks of literary life - [[: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. It's the bag we take to the library and the bookshop. Sometimes it holds the latest releases, but at other times there'll be old favourites, books for the children, books for the home. They're sometimes our own books or books from the local library. They're often books sent to us by publishers and we promise to tell you exactly what we think about them. You might not want to read through a full review, so we'll give you a quick review which summarises what we felt about the book and tells you whether or not we think you should buy or borrow it. There are also lots of [[:Category:Interviews|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.
 
  
There are currently '''{{PAGESINCATEGORY:Reviews}}''' reviews at TheBookbag.
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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'll want to read here. Dig in!
  
Want to find out more [[About Us|about us]]?
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There are currently '''{{PAGESINCATEGORY: Reviews}}''' [[:Category:Reviews|reviews]] at TheBookbag.
  
==New Reviews==
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Want to find out more [[About Us|about us]]? __NOTOC__
'''Read [[:Category:New Reviews|new reviews by genre]].'''
 
  
'''Read [[Features|new features]].'''
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==The Best New Books==
__NOTOC__
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Meg Clothier
 
|title=The Girl King
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=King Giorgi, King of Georgia, is without an heir so he does the unthinkable.  He names his eldest daughter, Tamar, as 'King' on his death.  Tamar is strong, feisty and a total tomboy but, the fact remains, she's female.  Therefore when Giorgi passes away the kingdom he's held together starts to crack as the opportunists equate the fairer sex with weakness and possibilities.  If Tamar is to gain united lands, she must lose something in return.  Is this a sacrifice too far?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099553139</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
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'''Read [[:Category:New Reviews|new reviews by category]]. '''<br>
|author=Lucie Cash
 
|title=Fairytale Food
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Cookery
 
|summary=Are you looking for a gift for someone who enjoys cooking and who has an interest in fairy tales?  If so, this book could well be your perfect answer.  It has over sixty recipes - none of them at all complex - and they're all associated with favourite fairy tales.  Instead of the usual carefully-primped pictures of the finished dishes there are lavish illustrations by Yelena Bryksenkova of scenes from the tales and I didn't find a double page spread which didn't have some entertaining embellishment. It's also a bonus that there's a gentle humour in the illustrations, as in this note from Goldilocks:
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848093578</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
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'''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].'''
|author=Nick Alexander
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{{Frontpage
|title=The Case of the Missing Boyfriend
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|author=Fyodor Dostoyevsky
|rating=4
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|title=White Nights
|genre=General Fiction
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|rating=5
|summary=You could be forgiven for thinking that CC had it all.  At thirty nine she was near the top of the advertising business, owned her own flat in north London and had a group of close, party-going friends. That's what you saw from the outside, looking in.  What CC saw was a life that lacked that one essential which she seemed unable to acquire.  She was desperate to find the man of her dreams and preferably one who would whisk her off to a farm house in Devon where she'd live ''The'' ''Good'' ''Life''.  In the meantime she was stuck with the memories of too many heartbreaks, a mother whose current lifestyle brought a very unfortunate word to mind and being on the periphery of her friends' dramas - and as they were all gay she didn't have a lot of chance of meeting that elusive man.
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|genre=Short Stories
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>085789630X</amazonuk>
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|summary=As always in Dostoyevsky, the character work is sublime. One is never left wondering what a character is thinking or feeling because Dostoyevsky lays bare their innermost dispositions and temperaments with remarkable clarity.
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|isbn=0241619785
 
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}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=0008385068
|author=Stephen Davies and Christopher Corr
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|title=The Midnight Feast
|title=The Goggle-eyed Goats
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|author=Lucy Foley
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=For Sharing
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|genre=Thrillers
|summary=Life is pretty chaotic in Timbuktu where Ali Haji Amadu lives with his wives, children and their many animals. They have one dangle-tailed donkey, two snaggle-toothed camels, three curvy-horned cows, four wobble-legged lambs and five goggle-eyed goats. That would probably be enough if the goats were not so troublesome and mischievous, munching and chewing everything in sight. At the insistence of his three wives, Fama, Rama and Sama, Ali Haji sets off to Mopti Market with the intention of selling the goats. It's a long trek but he finally arrives early the following morning and tries to find someone to buy them. It's not as easy as he expects though, especially when certain members of his family, having followed him, decide to intervene. It seems that the goats are wanted after all even though there is always such a hullabaloo when they are around.
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|summary=It's midsummer on the Dorset coast and guests gather at The Manor.  It's their opening weekend and splendid celebrations are promisedIt's all headed up by Francesca Meadows. The Manor was her ancestral home and she's converted it into an impressive retreat for the wealthy and famous. Her husband, Owen, was the architect and work is still ongoing on parts of the site. The heat is oppressive and amongst the guests are enemies as well as friends. Old scores are going to be settled and it won't be long before a body is found.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849392935</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=James Baldwin
|author=Jon Bauer
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|title=Giovanni's Room
|title=Rocks in the Belly
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|rating=4.5
|rating=4
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|genre=Literary Fiction  
|genre=Literary Fiction
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|summary=''Giovanni's Room'' follows the narrator David, an American man living in Paris, as he navigates his torturous affair with Giovanni, an Italian bartender he meets in a gay bar. While David is engaged to Hella, who is travelling in Spain, the real tension in the novel arises not from his infidelity but from the deeper conflict within himself. It is David's crippling shame and denial of his sexuality that ultimately dooms his relationship with Giovanni.
|summary=Jon Bauer's first novel, ''Rocks in the Belly'', is an emotional journey. The narrator is a man in his late 20s who has returned from Canada to visit his mother who has cancer of the brain. The narrator himself is emotionally damaged from the relationship that he had with his mother from childhood when she and her husband fostered children and, interspersed with the narrative, is the voice of narrator at eight years old and in particular telling the experience of one foster boy, Robert, who we know from early on in the book suffered a significant tragedy while in their care. What that event was will be revealed in due course, but it is clear that the young boy suffered hugely from jealousy of his mother's love for these foster children.
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|isbn=0141186356
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846688450</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Ashley Hickson-Lovence
|author=Ella March Chase
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|title=Wild East
|title=The Virgin Queen's Daughter
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|rating=4.5
|rating=4
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|genre=Teens
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|summary=Written in verse, this is Ronny's story, a young black fourteen year old boy from Hackney who suddenly has to move to Norwich and start at a mostly white schoolThe move is initiated by Ronny's mum who is worried for Ronny's safety after a tragic event, and so Ronny finds himself trying to settle in a new town, a new school, and keep himself out of troubleHe listens to music constantly, and has always dreamed of being a rapperBut now, in this new school, his teacher encourages him to be part of a poetry writing workshop group and, slowly, Ronny begins to see the connections between rap and poetry, and the power of creativity and crafting your words.
|summary=Elinor de Lacey (Nell) has an eager, quick mind that's been trained by her scholarly father, against her mother's wishes.  Nell would rather be discussing Copernicus' latest theories than learn how to keep a wet larder or how to be a dutiful wifeIt's Nell's greatest wish, in fact, to attend the court of Queen Elizabeth I so that she can discuss and argue with the finest scientific and philosophical minds of the day, but her mother is ardently against itNell doesn't understand whyNot, that is, until her dream becomes a reality but by then it's too late to go back.
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|isbn=0241645441
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091947162</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1635866847
|author=Adam Johnson
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|title=The Lavender Companion
|title=The Orphan Master's Son
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|author=Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci
|rating=5
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|rating=4.5
|genre=Literary Fiction
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|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=''The Orphan Master's Son'' follows the adventures of Jun Do who has been born without any say in his futureFor this is North Korea, where all is organised for the good of the state or at the whim of the Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il.   
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|summary=It's strange, the things that make you ''immediately'' feel that this is the book for youBefore I started reading ''The Lavender Companion'', I visited the author's [https://www.pinelavenderfarm.com/ website] and there's a picture of a slice of chocolate cake on the homepageI don't eat cakes and desserts - but I wanted that cake viscerally(There's a recipe in the book, which I'm avoiding with some difficulty!!) Then I started reading the book and I was told to make a mess of it.  Notes in the margins are sanctioned. You get to fold down the corners of pages.  You suspect that smears of butter would not be a problem.  I ''loved'' this book already.
 
 
Jun Do starts his adult life as a member of a state-sanctioned kidnap squad before joining a fishing boat as a 'listener', basically a spy monitoring and translating foreign radio trafficHis troubles start when he discovers that being a good citizen isn't enough and sometimes a person needs something else to believe in and fight for.
 
 
 
This is an incredibly hard book to sum up, but I also realise this will be an awfully short review if I don't try, so here goes... 
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857520555</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Jenny Valentine
|author=Elizabeth Wein
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|title=Us in the Before and After
|title=Code Name Verity
 
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Teens
 
|genre=Teens
|summary=
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|summary=Elk and Mab are best friends, or more than that even, their friendship is a once in a lifetime connection. They meet as children one day on a trip out but unfortunately they don't get each other's contact details at the time. But then chance brings them back together, and they are inseparable.   Something has happened though, something terrible and tragic, and now they must work through their grief, and their friendship, together.
It is probably impossible to read this book without crying. It is one of the most heart-breaking and yet uplifting books around, and reading it feels like a privilege. Begin it early in the day, because you will not want to put it down until you have reached the very last page, and when you do you will care for many of the main characters like friends. You will weep for those who die (or most of them, at any rate: even the gentlest of readers will be glad that the world is rid of one or two). You will be proud to be human, if people like these are in our world, and you will burn for shame that others can be so cruel, so cold and so vicious. And the worst of it is, our study of history tells us that even if these precise events did not happen, then there are many other events in war, both in the past and doubtless now as well, which resemble them. The whole book is a testament to human courage and human frailty.
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|isbn=1471196585
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405258217</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1787333175
|author=Veronica Roth
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|title=You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here
|title=Divergent
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|author=Benji Waterhouse
|rating=4
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|rating=5
|genre=For Sharing
 
|summary=Beatrice - or Tris as she becomes - belongs to one of five factions in a segregated future world. Beatrice is Abnegation (selflessness) but has always struggled with the self-effacing lifestyle embraced by her faction. But she's not sure if she's any better-suited to one of the others: Candor (honesty), Amity (kindness), Erudite (intellect) or Dauntless (courage). So Tris approaches the faction aptitude test taken by all sixteen-year-olds in her society with a large dollop of trepidation.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007420412</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Ronda Armitage and Andrew Gordon
 
|title=Wave the Flag and Blow the Whistle
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=For Sharing
 
|summary=A little boy and his grandad, and a spotty giraffe toy go out one day for a ride on a train.  They're off on a journey to Blueberry Hill.  What will they see?  What will they do?  All the excitement of travelling by train are looked at in this story!
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405253401</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=John D Barrow
 
|title=The Book Of Universes
 
|rating=4
 
 
|genre=Popular Science
 
|genre=Popular Science
|summary=The idea of a 'multiverse' - multiple universes existing alongside each other - is something science fiction and fantasy fans are fairly au fait with. Parallel realities in which you made a different decision at a pivotal moment and, as a consequence, have evolved in entirely different ways, have been fodder for authors, scriptwriters and 'what if' musings for some time, but recently, scientists - specifically cosmologists - have been taking increasingly seriously.
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|summary=I was tempted to read ''You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here'' after enjoying Adam Kay's first book {{amazonurl|isbn=1509858636|title=This is Going to Hurt}}, a glorious mixture of insight into the workings of the NHS, humour and autobiography.  ''You Don't Have to be Mad...'' promised the same elements but moved from physical problems to mental illness and the work of a psychiatrist.  I did wonder whether it was acceptable to be looking for humour in this setting but the laughter is directed at a situation rather than a person and it is always delivered with empathy and understanding.  
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099539861</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Mariana Enriquez
|author=Jennifer Lynn Barnes
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|title=A Sunny Place for Shady People
|title=Every Other Day
 
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Teens
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|genre=Short Stories
|summary=When Kali sees the Orobouros mark on cheerleader, Bethany, at her high school, she doesn't hesitate in tempting the parasitic creature - a Chupacabra - out of Bethany and into her own body. The parasite is a death sentence for humans. Some days, Kali's blood is toxic to paranormal creatures. Some days she's blessed with strength, speed and killer instinct, and the parasite feeding off her memories wouldn't have stood a chance. But not on this day. On this day, Kali is completely human. And she has to survive the next 17 hours before she changes back.
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|summary=Mariana Enriquez writes horror that is disturbingly real, achieving this uncanny familiarity by basing her paranormal plots on gritty realities: her settings include an abandoned field full of disused refrigerators due to an urban planning mishap, an overcrowded homeless shelter and a crime-ridden neighbourhood where safety meetings are routine - all within Argentina. The circumstances of her characters are so plausible that the supernatural or otherworldly horror which seeps into these spaces adopts a similarly tangible texture.  
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>085738970X</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1803511230
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Katie Fforde
 
|title=Recipe for Love
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=When Zoe Harper arrives at Somerby, a lovely old mansion and the setting for the latest televised cookery contest, she is full of excitement. Before long, she finds herself rescuing one of the judges, Gideon Irving, from a ditch and realises that she is extremely attracted to him. Not long after, she meets her room mate and fellow competitor, Cher, for whom there is no immediate attraction as she comes across as shallow and devious. All the rest of the contestants are friendly though and they are soon all immersing themselves in the challenges of the various rounds.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846056527</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Onyi Nwabineli
|author=SD Crockett
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|title=Allow Me to Introduce Myself
|title=After the Snow
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Teens
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|genre=General Fiction
|summary=On a near future Earth, Willo lives with his family in an isolated community without technology.  His parents remember a time when there were machines but all this has changed.  Now there's only enough petrol for the sinister government trucks.  One day Willo finds himself totally alone, his parents missing, presumed takenArmed with his father's cryptic sayings and his only friend, (a dog's skull that speaks through his imagination) Willo leaves all that's familiar in order to find his loved onesThe unknown is a ruthless place filled with Stealers and starvation but there's escape from what he needs to do.
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|summary=Anuri 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 childhood for sponsorships and influencer deals and, basically, monetary gainNow 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 herAnuri is battling alcoholism, failing to start her PhD, undergoing therapy and secretly abusing people online and receiving money from them for doing so. Most importantly, she is desperately worried about her little sister, who is the new focus of Ophelia's online empire.  Can she save her sister, and perhaps herself and her relationship with her father at the same time?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0230759351</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0861546873
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Gerbrand Bakker
 
|title=The Detour
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|summary=Gerbrand Bakker's Dutch novel, ''The Detour'' translated by David Colmer, is a very odd story indeed. Mostly set in Snowdonia, the book tells the story of a Dutch woman, who gives her name as Emilie, who rents a remote farm. She's clearly on the run from something, perhaps an affair with a student at the university where she was researching the works of Emily Dickinson, but it increasingly becomes clear that this is only part of the story. Certainly her husband and parents back in the Netherlands have no clue where she has gone - or why. Once these details are established, the book takes a turn to the seriously odd which is more of a full blooded journey rather than a mere 'detour'.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846556392</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=David Chadwick
|author=Tricia Rayburn
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|title=Headload of Napalm
|title=Pulse: A Siren Book
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary=Vanessa and her family have returned home from Winter Harbor, with Paige in tow due to the deaths of her sister and mother. Now in a relationship with Simon, Vanessa should be happy - but she's struggling to adjust to life as a siren, and is still keeping her secret from everyone. Disturbed as she seems to see Raina and Zara in her thoughts all the time, and confused by the way she affects men now, how can Vanessa move on with her life?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571273963</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell
 
|title=Wyrmeweald: Bloodhoney
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary=Micah and his mentor, the grizzled old tracker Eli, have holed up in a mountain cave: fullwinter in Wyrmeweald is harsh, and few humans could survive its rigours. With them is Thrace, a kingirl who bonded with a whitewyrme but who was abandoned by the enormous dragon-like creature after she and Micah fell in love. Used to flying free across the skies, she finds the confinement almost unbearable, and she is wasting away before their eyes.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0385617429</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Emily Hawkins
 
|title=Illusionology
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|summary=If there was a prize for the most lavish book received here at Bookbag Towers for review, this would definitely be on the shortlist.  A lovely large format hardback, the cover is a delight itself - with a 3D lenticular image, embossed bits, a plastic gem stuck in it...  And inside there are packets of goodies to open and explore, making this more of a literary toy than a book.  The book aims to introduce the cleverer child to the wonders of stagecraft and magic, and so here are props for some tricks for you to do, some instructions for other illusions of your own, and a historical guide to how the masters of their trade did it.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848772084</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Elizabeth Laird
 
|title=The Prince Who Walked with Lions
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
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|genre=Thrillers
|summary=This book is closely based on the story of a real boy, Prince Alamayu of Abyssinia, whose short life was divided between his beloved African home and Britain, the country of the people who conquered his father's kingdom. In fact, his grave can still be seen at St George's Chapel, Windsor. For his first few years he was brought up surrounded by servants, luxury and power, with a loving mother and a fierce but adored warrior father. But the king, a despotic and, some would say, reckless man, challenged the might of the British Army by chaining up and imprisoning the European envoys sent to negotiate with him, simply because he found them irritating. This action led to the attack on his lands and consequently the downfall of the Abyssinian monarchy.
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|summary= It's September 1973 in Hicks, California. Hicks is a Mojave desert town of a few thousand people with its nearest neighbours of LA and Las Vegas both a significant drive away. Not much happens in Hicks. A silver mine and a defence contractor are the main local employers but otherwise, there's not much of note other than dive bars and Joshua trees. Life is quiet, until....
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0230752438</amazonuk>
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|isbn= B0D321VJ76
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Charlotte Watts and Anna Magee
 
|title=The De-Stress Diet: The Revolutionary Lifestyle Plan for a Calmer, Slimmer You
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Lifestyle
 
|summary=Most people will recognise that excessive stress is not good for you.  It's the cause of depression, high blood pressure, skin problems and insomnia - to name just a few problems from a very long list. There's also mounting evidence that chronic stress is responsible for excessive weight gain and not just because there's a tendency (er, yes, I can testify to this...) to turn to comfort eating. Too many stress hormones in the body encourage fat storage - particularly in that ''obvious'' and very-hard-to-shift area around the middle. The aim of the De-Stress Diet is to bring about a slimmer, calmer person with a better quality of life.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848507798</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Tom Percival
|author=Sam Siciliano
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|title=The Wrong Shoes
|title=The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Web Weaver
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|summary=An old gypsy woman places a curse on guests at a ball, leaving the upper class revellers shocked. When, over the next few years, misfortune befalls several of the party-goers, potted-meat magnate Donald Wheelwright knows there's only one recourse left to him - to call Sherlock Holmes. It's a slightly different version of Holmes from that we've come to expect, though. The detective, far from being an emotionless man, is capable of feeling strongly for the right woman - could the detective find love as well as the answer to the mystery?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857686984</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Angela Carter
 
|title=Burning Your Boats
 
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Short Stories
 
|summary='Burning your Boats' brings together Carter's early works and her uncollected short stories, alongside the collections 'Fireworks', 'The Bloody Chamber', 'Black Venus' and 'American Ghosts'.  Carter's ability to take the everyday and transform it into the fantastic is evident in stories that range from a cautionary tale of a musician in love with his instrument to a lost motorist whose journey ends in nightmarish circumstances in the Snow Pavilion.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099592916</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Aifric Campbell
 
|title=On The Floor
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|summary=
 
Geri Molloy, the central character in Aifric Campbell's ''On The Floor'', may be earning a six figure salary working at a London investment bank just prior to the outbreak of the 1991 invasion of Kuwait, but she's seriously messed up. Drinking heavily, sleeping lightly and mourning the end of a relationship, she may be a mathematical genius with a direct line to a mysterious Hong Kong-based hedge fund manager with whom she trades, but her life is increasingly being controlled by other people.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846688086</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=David Lucas
 
|title=The Lying Carpet
 
|rating=4
 
 
|genre=Confident Readers
 
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=There is a room in a big old house where nothing moves but the insects.  An empty chair sits to one side, a stone statue of a girl called, and representing, Faith, the otherIn between is a tiger rug.  What potential is in that for the setting of a charming book?  What potential indeed...
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|summary=Will's life is difficult, in a multitude of waysHe is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and doesn't have enough money for even the most basic of things like food, and his dad can't work because he lost his job at the college, was working a cash-in-hand job on a building site and had an accident. Throw into that mix the fact that his mum and dad are separated, and Will's life seems bleak in every direction. And yet, he still has a tiny amount of hope.  He is good at art, and clings to the moments of joy when he is drawing, that feel like a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849390177</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1398527122
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Sadie S Forsythe
 
|title=The Weeping Empress
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|summary=Chiyo wakes up with the sun in her face and the grass at her back. For a moment, she feels almost as though she's in heaven. But the joy in the moment is short-lived. Around her is mayhem. Uniformed guards are fighting off two rogue warriors intent on freeing a band of captives. Before she knows it, Chiyo is fighting alongside the warriors, showing a ferocity the meek and mild wife and mother never knew she had.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1257814419</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Ada Wilson
 
|title=Red Army Faction Blues
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|summary=Ada Wilson admits that his fascination with the period is what drove his work on this novel, and it is the wealth of detail and background that strikes one when reading his account of Peter Urbach, the undercover agent whose role was to act as an agent provocateur to the Red Brigade. Urbach is revealed from the outset as a plant, an undercover operative who needs to keep all events of the group 'noted and filed' for his masters. And throughout the first half of the novel we see Urbach recording the changes and developments, the complex web of political ideology, naivety and the pure egocentricity of youth which created the happening of the Baader-Meinhof gang.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1901927482</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Sylvie Cathrall
|author=Matthew Green
+
|title=A Letter to the Luminous Deep
|title=Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend
 
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=General Fiction
+
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=Max is 8 years old. He likes Lego and Star Wars and playing with toy soldiers. He can tell you 102 words that rhyme with tree. He scarfs down grilled cheese sandwiches and chicken and rice. He does not like physical contact. He lives with his mum and dad who argue about what is best for him and why he’s not normal like other boys and girls.
+
|summary= There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751547875</amazonuk>
+
|isbn= 0356522776
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1786482126
|author=Kathryn Erskine
+
|title=The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)
|title=Mockingbird
+
|author=Elly Griffiths
|rating=4
+
|rating=4.5
|genre=Teens
+
|genre=Crime
|summary=Mockingbird is the story of Caitlin, an 11-year old girl with Asperger's syndrome trying to recover from the death of her brother Devon in a school shooting. With her dad struggling to cope and Caitlin no longer having her brother to explain to her things she doesn't understand, the young narrator must seek closure on the tragedy herself.
+
|summary=Builders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the site was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the bones of a child 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.  It's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn't, that she is pregnant with his child as a result of the one night they spent together some three months ago.  Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of sickness.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1409538583</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Joan Didion
|author=Sax Rohmer
+
|title=The Year of Magical Thinking
|title=The Mystery of Dr Fu Manchu
+
|rating=4.5
|rating=4
+
|genre=Autobiography
|genre=Crime (Historical)
+
|summary=This book is Joan Didion's heartbreaking autobiographical account of the grief she endured following her husband's sudden death. Books that shed light on taboo topics like death are such a beautiful and necessary resource to help people feel less alone. Didion unpicks unpleasant feelings surrounding death like self-pity, denial and delusion and makes them utterly normal, lends them a human face to wear.
|summary=Dr Petrie is surprised, but pleased, to see his old friend Nayland Smith has returned to England. But this is no mere pleasure visit – the former Scotland Yard man is on the trail of Fu Manchu, a Chinese doctor with ''the brains of any three men of genius''. Petrie is immediately plunged into a headlong race against time to stop the mysterious villain from fulfilling his evil plans and leading the East to world domination!
+
|isbn=0007216858
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857686038</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=0008551324
|author=Marian Keyes
+
|title=The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)
|title=Saved by Cake: Over 80 Ways to Bake Yourself Happy
+
|author=Neil Lancaster
|rating=4
+
|rating=4.5
|genre=Cookery
+
|genre=Crime
|summary=Right now you are probably thinking 'Marian Keyes? She writes chick-lit doesn't she? What's she doing writing a cookbook?' You'll quite probably also be looking at her and thinking that she doesn't look as though she eats a lot of the output either.  Well, there's a bit of a story behind this book...
+
|summary=It's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police. Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he's prepared to tell the police where the body of a missing person is buried and who was responsible for her death.  This person, he promises, is someone big and it will be worth the police doing what he wants. And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of his sentence and to get an early parole date.  Not much to ask, is it?  The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's even prepared to do the other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>071815889X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1739526910
|author=Debbie Foy
+
|title=Where I've Not Been Lost
|title=Pants, Vest, Getting Dressed! (All By Myself)
+
|author=Glen Sibley
|rating=3.5
+
|rating=4.5
|genre=For Sharing
+
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Have you ever noticed that there are certain processes which a child needs to master but which cause quite a lot of grief along the way?  Most children are alright with one or two but stick on others - and they're the ones which parents come to dread each day. Getting dressed is one of these. The need for it isn't immediately obvious and - let's be honest - there's not a lot of fun in it is there?  Well - that might be about to change with a series of books from Debbie Foy which inject some fun into the processes.
+
|summary=''One year after a suicide attempt blows apart musician Brian O’Malley's life, he arrives in an unfamiliar Devon town to recover. Living with an unexpected housemate at his former manager’s holiday home, he dreams of reconnecting with everything he has lost. But as those tentative plans falter, he becomes swept up in a local world of unlikely friendships, mobile discos and surprising romantic possibilities.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0750265817</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=0008405026
|author=Robert Jackson Bennett
+
|title=A Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)
|title=The Troupe
+
|author=Jane Casey
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Fantasy
+
|genre=Crime
|summary=George never knew his father, a man with whom his mother had a brief relationship when the Vaudeville - a travelling theatre company - came to townSixteen years later and George is following in the footsteps he believes to be his father's, by playing piano at a theatre on the circuit and hoping his father will show upHe doesn't, so George goes in search of himThe first glimpse George has of the man he thinks of as his father is at one of the troupe's shows.  He is captivated not just by Silenus, but by the entire company.
+
|summary=It's sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer nightShe was never found and the investigation ground to a halt.  Now, her mother, Helena, and her father are dead in their bedInitially, it looks like a straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the positioning of the bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspiciousWhat looked as though it was going to be an open-and-shut case is now a complex double murder.  Kerrigan is convinced that the explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's boss, Una Burt) are less convinced.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356500403</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1529077745
|author=Jim Carrington
+
|title=The Dark Wives (D I Vera Stanhope)
|title=Drive By
+
|author=Ann Cleeves
|rating=4
+
|rating=4.5
|genre=Teens
+
|genre=Crime
|summary=It's hot. Johnny and his friends tire of the park and ride their bikes to the local shop for an ice cream. Sitting outside in her husband's car is the Poisoned Dwarf, the miserable old lady who burst their football when it landed in her garden. Armed with water soakers, the boys just can't resist. But this "drive-by soaking" has catastrophic consequences. The Poisoned Dwarf has a heart attack and is carted off in an ambulance. And a few days later, she dies. Johnny is overwhelmed with remorse but is too afraid to come forwards. But are the weird things that start happening - waking up at the same time every night, a feeling of being watched - just tricks played by a guilty conscience? Or is the Poisoned Dwarf haunting him?
+
|summary=A man walking his dog in the early morning discovered the body of a man in the park near Rosebank, a care home for troubled teens.  The dead man was Josh - one of the care workers who was due to work a shift the night before but who had never turned up. D I Vera Stanhope is called in to investigate the murder - but her only clue is the disappearance of one of the residents, fourteen-year-old Chloe Spencer. Some people believe that Chloe was responsible for the death but Vera thinks this is unlikely as the girl's diary makes it clear that she adored Josh. She knows that she has to find Chloe to discover what happened to Josh.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408822784</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1399613073
|author=Liz Pichon
+
|title=Moral Injuries
|title=The Brilliant World of Tom Gates
+
|author=Christie Watson
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
+
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=Tom Gates is your typical year 5 lad: frequently late for school and fond of reading comics and doodling in school when he should be paying attentionThings change slightly when he's moved to sit at the front of the class between Amy - a clever girl - and Marcus who's a bit of an idiotTom tells us the story of his daily life, his attempts to impress Amy Porter, his favourite band and all the excuses he uses to get our of doing homework - or PE - or swimming - or for being lateHe puts so much effort into doing all this that you really wonder why he doesn't just ''do'' the schoolworkBut then that would be too simple, wouldn't it?  And we wouldn't have such a great book to read.
+
|summary=Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century.  Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeonLaura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor.  Anjali is the free spirit of the group and she becomes a GP.  When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it's going to end in tragedyWe don't know who suffered the tragedy or the consequencesTwenty-five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the three friendsThis time, it's their teenage children who are involved.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407120697</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=0241636604
|author=Joshua Doder
+
|title=The Trading Game: A Confession
|title=Grk and the Phoney Macaroni
+
|author=Gary Stevenson
|rating=4
+
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
+
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=The [[Grk Down Under by Joshua Doder|last time]] we met Grk (he's the dog, by the way) he was in Australia, but don't worry if you haven't read any of the seven earlier books in this series - they all read well as stand-alones. This time it might seem as though it's going to be a very local adventure with Mrs Malt taking Tim, Natasha and Max to the Natural Science Museum whilst Grk says in the car.  Things are not as they look, though - for Grk is going to be dog-napped from the local park and whisked off to Italy with Tim in pursuitOn the way he's going to encounter Giovanni Mascarpone, the thirteenth Duke of Macaroni, his vicious bodyguards and quite a lot of people whose names are going to put you in mind of Italian food.
+
|summary=If you were to bring up an image of a city banker in your mind, you're 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 injusticeThere 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 a facility with numbers which most of us can only envy.  He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be stupid. It was his ability at what was, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with Citibank.  Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1842709321</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Maureen Jennings
 
|title=Except the Dying: Murdoch Mysteries
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|summary=Victorian detective novels set in Britain are fairly common, and some of the most well-known and popular crime series fall into this category. The Murdoch stories, however, come from a different angle, being placed (for the most part) in Canada, with its snowy wastes, its logging camps and pioneering spirit. Loyalty to the Queen is as ardent here as back home in 'the old country', but there is a rawness and a sense of space to these novels which is due in large part to their setting.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857689878</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Leanne Egan
|author=Charlotte Middleton
+
|title=Lover Birds
|title=Christopher's Caterpillars
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=For Sharing
+
|genre=Teens
|summary=Christopher Nibble, a charming little guinea pig, loves gardening with his friend Posie. When they find six munching caterpillars on their plants though they decide that they cannot stay and choose to keep them as pets instead. They make a list of the things that they think that the caterpillars will need such as woolly socks and mini hairbrushes. When they visit Mr Rosetti, who runs the local café, he puts them straight and suggests that they get some clean jars, juicy leaves, twigs, and make lids with holes in them instead. They now know exactly what to do in order to look after their new pets and they do – very carefully.
+
|summary=When new girl, Isabel, moves to Lou's hometown of Liverpool from London Lou immediately feels Isabel's disdain for everything around her. A misunderstanding between them leaves them hating each other, but Lou feels her pulse racing every time she looks at Isabel or speaks with her, and that's definitely because Isabel makes her feel so cross, isn't it?  Because Lou is straight, isn't she?  Even though none of her relationships with boys have gone very well so far, and she's never had a good kiss with any of them?  So she just finds herself watching Isabel, and wanting to hang out with her because fighting with her is fun, and she definitely just hates Isabel, doesn't she?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0192732315</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=000862657X
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1009473085
|author=Elizabeth Noble
+
|title=The Conservative Effect 2010 - 2024
|title=Between a Mother and her Child
+
|author=Anthony Seldon and Tom Egerton (Editors)
|rating=3.5
+
|rating=5
|genre=Women's Fiction
+
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=Maggie and Bill had a wonderful, happy family until tragedy struck, nearly a year before the story opens. The blurb on the back of the book says exactly what this tragedy was, but it's not explained until several chapters into the book. It would have made more powerful reading had I not known what had caused the family to break up.
+
|summary=Sometimes it's simpler to explain a book by describing what it ''isn't'' and that applies to ''The Conservative Effect: 2010-2024 - 14 Wasted Years?''.  If you're looking for an easy read which will deliver the inside story about what ''really'' happened on certain occasions, then this isn't the book for you.  If that's what you're looking for, I don't think Anthony Seldon's book, {{amazonurl|isbn=B0BH7SKG2S|title=Johnson at 10}}, can be bettered for those tumultuous years. It's a compelling read and should be compulsory for anyone who thinks Johnson should return to politics.  ''The Conservative Effect'' is an entirely different beast.  It's the seventh book in a series which looks at the impact a government has made and co-editor Sir Anthony Seldon regards this as the most important. This book follows the well-established format: a series of experts from various fields review the state of the nation when the coalition took over in 2010, the changes that occurred and the situation in 2024.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0718155378</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Max Boucherat
|author=David Loades
+
|title=The Last Life of Lori Mills
|title=The Tudors: History of a Dynasty
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=History
+
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=
+
|summary=We meet Lori on the first evening she's got the house to herself – no neighbour to pop in, babysitter poorly, mother at work, just an avidly rule-breaking eleven year old, on her lonesomeWhat could possibly go wrong?  Snuggled in a blanket fort, she has one main intention, and that is to log on to Voxminer, the world-building, critter-collecting game that is a hit in Lori's worldBut first Lori has a tiny inkling that this stormy night doesn't find herself entirely on her own, and then she finds something even more spooky.  For the server she and her bestie and nobody else should be able to enter shows signs of tampering.  When malevolent eyes spark up on her phone screen, and her safe place in the game has been doctored – well, where is a girl to turn?
For several years David Loades has written and published extensively about the Tudors, individually and collectively, from almost every angle possible.  This title is not a chronological biography or history of the five monarchs whose reigns gave their name to the era.  As he and his publisher make clear in the preface, it is rather a study of Tudor policies.
+
|isbn=0008666482
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1441136908</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Harri Nykanen and Kristian London (translator)
 
|title=Nights of Awe (Ariel Kafka Mystery)
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Crime
 
|summary=
 
Inspector Ari Kafka (no relation to the author or, indeed, the local pawn shop owner) is half of the Jewish police officers in Finland which he's sure is due to pay levels rather than religious conviction.  Ari graduated 4th in his class at police academy which surprised his mother at the timeIf his brother and sister could both graduate top of their university classes, what's wrong with himHis brother is always trying to encourage his attendance at family dinners and the local rabbi has to remind him of the whereabouts of the local synagogueAll this pressure is normally water off a duck's back to Kafka, but this is about to change.  When two Arab bodies are found on a railway line, he must choose between loyalties to those he loves and to those he's sworn to serve.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1904738923</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=B0DGDJRHYD
|author=William Nicholson
+
|title=Nowhere Man
|title=The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life
+
|author=Deborah Stone
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=William Nicholson's ''The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life'' is an ensemble story focussing predominantly on middle class and mainly middle age people living in a Sussex village. The cover of the book suggests that it is little more than a superior chic-lit style story of how Laura reacts when an ex-lover from her past appears from out of the blue to disrupt her marriage and two children, but while this is a central issue that runs throughout the book, this is only a small part of the story. It's far better than that might suggest.
+
|summary=In a quiet suburban house, Patrick is making his final plans. A meticulous man, he makes sure of every preparation, down to the last detail. Some last reflections, and then he says goodbye to his wife, the world, and his life. It's horribly sad. At work in her shop, his wife Diana is fending off yet another phone call about her ageing and ailing mother, who needs extricating from yet another accident. It will be a while before Diana realises what Patrick has done.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184916195X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Virginie Despentes
|author=Polly Williams
+
|title=King Kong Theory
|title=The Angel at No. 33
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Women's Fiction
+
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Sophie is the wife of disorganised Ollie (who watered a plastic plant for a year before realising), mother of typical little boy Freddie and she's dead. Yes, Sophie is very dead.  During a wine-filled evening of moaning about her predictable lifestyle with her best friend Jenny, Sophie tries to stop a taxi in the worst way possible.  The taxi stops but not quite soon enough.
+
|summary=''King Kong Theory'' is a hard-hitting memoir and feminist manifesto, which can be seen as a call to arms for women in a phallocentric society broken at its core. Originally written in French, the book is a collection of essays in which Virginie Despentes explores her experiences as a woman through the complex prism of her varied life: from rape to sex work and pornography. Though these discussions are intertwined, their placement within the book can feel somewhat disjointed, a reflection of their original form as independent essays.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755358872</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=191309734X
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Alba de Cespedes
|author=J D Sharpe and Charles Dickens
+
|title=Forbidden Notebook
|title=Oliver Twisted
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Teens
+
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=A small boy, Oliver, is brought up in a workhouse before being sent to work for an undertaker. Running away from the cruel undertaker and his wife, he finds himself in London, where he falls in with a disreputable old rogue called Fagin and his gang of thieves. Think you know the story? Think again - and add soul stealers, werewolves, and magic...
+
|summary=This Italian work of feminist fiction holds an air of suspense and tension from the moment our protagonist, Valeria Cossati, purchases her forbidden notebook, and learns about herself in the most intimate and revealing ways.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405258179</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1782278222
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Victoria Lamb
 
|title=The Queen's Secret
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=It was July 1575 and the court had left the unpleasant atmosphere of London for its annual progress round the homes of the more prominent nobles.  It was to stay at Kenilworth Castle, home of the Earl of Leicester (better known as Robert Dudley, the queen's favourite) for some three weeks.  The expenditure on the stay was enormous, but Leicester was determined to persuade Queen Elizabeth to marry him.  The fact that he was also having an affair with Lettice Knollys, wife of the Earl of Essex, was beside the point.  Lucy Morgan, a black entertainer of Moorish descent, was drawn into the midst of this intrigue and found herself on the edge of a plot to assassinate the queen.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0593067991</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Anita Anand, Julian Barnes, Bella Bathurst, Alan Bennett and others
 
|title=The Library Book
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Lifestyle
 
|summary=I had better begin by saying that I had a vested interest in liking this book since I am a chartered librarian myself and so am wholeheartedly in support of saving our nation's public libraries.  But you don't need to be a librarian to enjoy this book.  It is rich with anecdotes from some wonderful writers and makes a pleasant read whether you're keen to save libraries or not.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781250057</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Gerry Boland
 
|title=Marco Moves In (A Rather Remarkable Grizzly Bear)
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=For Sharing
 
|summary=
 
''It's not every day that a grizzly bear turns up on your doorstep.'' Yet, this is exactly what happens one night at Patrick'shouse. The grizzly bear, Marco, has escaped from the local zoo and is looking for somewhere to live. The entire town is on the lookout and a grizzly can be rather hard to hide. After a host of close calls, Patrick and Marco find the perfect place.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847172296</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=RS Russell
 
|title=Dead Rules
 
|rating=2
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary=
 
Jana Webster knows that she will be with her boyfriend Michael Haynes for eternity. She even introduces herself as being part of Webster and Haynes. She knows that nothing can come between them – not even her death! So when she finds herself in Dead School, it's surely only a matter of time before Michael joins her… even if she needs to give him a helping hand.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857386751</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Marie Lu
 
|title=Legend
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary=
 
California. 2130 AD. The Republic of America is engaged in a vicious war with the Colonies. Life is hard for many in the Republic: plague terrorises millions in the slums while all resources are targetted at the military class. The regime is authoritarian and ruthless but the population believes that the constant struggle against a vicious enemy means that it has to be. All citizens undergo the Trial during adolescence. A high score means military college followed by privilege. A low score means life in the slums working in factories. A fail sends you to forced labour camps from which nobody ever returns.  
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141339608</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Ottessa Moshfegh
|author=Christina Jones
+
|title=My Year of Rest and Relaxation
|title=Never Can Say Goodbye
 
 
|rating=3
 
|rating=3
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=
 
When Frankie is unexpectedly handed the reins to the shop where she currently works, she’s surprised to say the least. Current boss Rita is heading off for a new life (and love) in the sun, and leaving her home and business behind. It’s a swift learning curve to go from shop assistant to business owner, but with her friends, and most of the village, behind her, Frankie’s going to give it a shot.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749953322</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Fiona Gibson
 
|title=The Great Escape
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=Hannah, Sadie and Lou have all known each other since their student days in Glasgow. That was thirteen years ago and since then, although they have kept in touch, they have not seen as much of each other as they would have liked. Sadie is married to Barney and is the mother of twin babies. She is trying to adjust to life in a country village and to fit in with all the other young mums who always appear to do things so much better than her. Lou lives in York with Spike, her boyfriend since college days. She has had to put her dreams of being a jewellery designer on hold while she supports herself and Spike (who does very little) by working in a soft play barn. She often thinks that there must be more to life but does not have the courage to break free. Hannah loves her fiancé, Ryan, but finds the open hostility from her future stepchildren hard to take and this is the reason why the imminent wedding is so daunting. They all need some time out which is why the others jump at Hannah's suggestion of a weekend away visiting their old student haunts.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847562604</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Shalom Auslander
 
|title=Hope: a Tragedy
 
|rating=4.5
 
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Meet Solomon Kugel, who is almost universally known by his surname.  He is about to join the list of kvetching Jewish heroes of comedy fiction, and at a very esteemed position in that list.  He's a man who worries that by having had a kid he's betraying the boy's soul by bringing it into a world such as this.  He's forced to live with his mother, who continually expects a second Holocaust and complains about suffering from the first, although she was not born then.  He's faced with the eternal dilemma of not finding gluten-free matzo bread for his observances. He's moved to a rural location, and found houses like his are on the hit-list of an arsonist, but his new home has an even more unusual secret...
+
|summary=At best, this novel is a scathing critique of modern society and reveals the fragility of human relationships; at worst, it is the cynical, predictable and slightly trite tale of an unlikeable protagonist. This unlikely heroine, a slim, attractive and newly orphaned girl in her twenties is disillusioned with the world, but resolves not to lose sleep over it: in fact, her solution lies in her hibernation.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1447207653</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1784707422
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Jo Callaghan
|author=Michael Rosen
+
|title=Leave No Trace
|title=Burping Bertha
+
|rating=4
|rating=4.5
+
|genre=Crime
|genre=Confident Readers
+
|summary=When a man is found crucified on the top of a hill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the case alongside her sidekick, the AI detective Lock.  It's their first live case together, having previously been very successful with several cold cases.  But when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a lot of unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. Will they be able to solve the case in time, or will Kat find herself taken off the case and, potentially, out of a career?
|summary=It all began very innocently and, well, quite accidentally.  Bertha was lying in bed looking at Tiger, her cuddly toy, when she burped - and Tiger fell over.  It was the precursor of a series of events which, at their peak, would make Bertha a 'multi-multi-mega-billionaire superstar' and all as a result of what was nothing more than a lot of hot air.  But it's not what happens when she gets there that matters - it's the story of how she did it and it's a brilliant tale told with all the ingenuity of Michael Rosen and accompanied by the wonderful illustrations of Tony Ross.
+
|isbn=139851120X
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849394067</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Grace McCleen
 
|title=The Land of Decoration
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|summary=Grace McCleen's debut novel, ''The Land of Decoration'' paints an original, unsettling, sometimes dark and generally rather wonderful picture. Narrated by ten year old Judith, raised by her father who is a fundamental religious follower of the end of the world is nigh variety, it looks at bullying, both at school and in more general society, faith and the possible rejection thereof and the strength of childhood imagination.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>070118681X</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Rachel Aaron
 
|title=The Legend of Eli Monpress
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Fantasy
 
|summary=The important thing, when reading or reviewing books, is to take them on their own terms, and not to try and make something of them that they do not claim to be. Do not seek laugh-out-loud humour from horror stories (except by accident). Do not expect picture books to discuss the ins and outs of astrophysics. And do not demand great depth from a series of fantasy novels where the hero's first action is to steal a king on the grounds that, to be perfectly honest, no one will actually miss him very much.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356500861</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=B0DB64PYV5
|author=David McKee
+
|title=The White Rose
|title=Elmer's First Counting Book
+
|author=Dave Baines
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=For Sharing
+
|genre=Dystopian Fiction
|summary=It's a lovely board book in the ''Elmer'' series and a lovely way of introducing the youngest readers to the patchwork elephant although there's only one of him and as this is a counting book he only gets to feature on the front and back covers and the first page.
+
|summary=In 2033, a superstorm known as the White Rose devastates the Northern Hemisphere. And it's not a storm that gathers, wreaks havoc, then dissipates. Instead, it hovers across half the Earth with its octopus-like tentacles, not giving up and never going away.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1842706306</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Alison Murray
 
|title=Little Mouse
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=For Sharing
 
|summary='Sometimes, when I am being very quiet and cuddly, my mummy calls me her little mouse'. Although mostly, Little Mouse is anything but quiet, just as you would expect from a pre-school age child; she can waddle like a penguin, eat like a horse and splash like a whale in author Alison Murray's gorgeous wander through the daytime exploits of an imaginative little girl, who likes to turn the plainest of activities into something fun and adventurous, becoming her favourite animals en route.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408316331</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}

Latest revision as of 08:50, 31 October 2024

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'll want to read here. Dig in!

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Review of

White Nights by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

5star.jpg Short Stories

As always in Dostoyevsky, the character work is sublime. One is never left wondering what a character is thinking or feeling because Dostoyevsky lays bare their innermost dispositions and temperaments with remarkable clarity. Full Review

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Review of

The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley

4.5star.jpg Thrillers

It's midsummer on the Dorset coast and guests gather at The Manor. It's their opening weekend and splendid celebrations are promised. It's all headed up by Francesca Meadows. The Manor was her ancestral home and she's converted it into an impressive retreat for the wealthy and famous. Her husband, Owen, was the architect and work is still ongoing on parts of the site. The heat is oppressive and amongst the guests are enemies as well as friends. Old scores are going to be settled and it won't be long before a body is found. Full Review

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Review of

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

4.5star.jpg Literary Fiction

Giovanni's Room follows the narrator David, an American man living in Paris, as he navigates his torturous affair with Giovanni, an Italian bartender he meets in a gay bar. While David is engaged to Hella, who is travelling in Spain, the real tension in the novel arises not from his infidelity but from the deeper conflict within himself. It is David's crippling shame and denial of his sexuality that ultimately dooms his relationship with Giovanni. Full Review

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Review of

Wild East by Ashley Hickson-Lovence

4.5star.jpg Teens

Written in verse, this is Ronny's story, a young black fourteen year old boy from Hackney who suddenly has to move to Norwich and start at a mostly white school. The move is initiated by Ronny's mum who is worried for Ronny's safety after a tragic event, and so Ronny finds himself trying to settle in a new town, a new school, and keep himself out of trouble. He listens to music constantly, and has always dreamed of being a rapper. But now, in this new school, his teacher encourages him to be part of a poetry writing workshop group and, slowly, Ronny begins to see the connections between rap and poetry, and the power of creativity and crafting your words. Full Review

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Review of

The Lavender Companion by Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci

4.5star.jpg Lifestyle

It's strange, the things that make you immediately feel that this is the book for you. Before I started reading The Lavender Companion, I visited the author's website and there's a picture of a slice of chocolate cake on the homepage. I don't eat cakes and desserts - but I wanted that cake viscerally. (There's a recipe in the book, which I'm avoiding with some difficulty!!) Then I started reading the book and I was told to make a mess of it. Notes in the margins are sanctioned. You get to fold down the corners of pages. You suspect that smears of butter would not be a problem. I loved this book already. Full Review

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Review of

Us in the Before and After by Jenny Valentine

5star.jpg Teens

Elk and Mab are best friends, or more than that even, their friendship is a once in a lifetime connection. They meet as children one day on a trip out but unfortunately they don't get each other's contact details at the time. But then chance brings them back together, and they are inseparable. Something has happened though, something terrible and tragic, and now they must work through their grief, and their friendship, together. Full Review

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Review of

You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here by Benji Waterhouse

5star.jpg Popular Science

I was tempted to read You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here after enjoying Adam Kay's first book This is Going to Hurt, a glorious mixture of insight into the workings of the NHS, humour and autobiography. You Don't Have to be Mad... promised the same elements but moved from physical problems to mental illness and the work of a psychiatrist. I did wonder whether it was acceptable to be looking for humour in this setting but the laughter is directed at a situation rather than a person and it is always delivered with empathy and understanding. Full Review

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Review of

A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez

5star.jpg Short Stories

Mariana Enriquez writes horror that is disturbingly real, achieving this uncanny familiarity by basing her paranormal plots on gritty realities: her settings include an abandoned field full of disused refrigerators due to an urban planning mishap, an overcrowded homeless shelter and a crime-ridden neighbourhood where safety meetings are routine - all within Argentina. The circumstances of her characters are so plausible that the supernatural or otherworldly horror which seeps into these spaces adopts a similarly tangible texture. Full Review

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Review of

Allow Me to Introduce Myself by Onyi Nwabineli

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

Anuri 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 childhood for sponsorships and influencer deals and, basically, monetary gain. 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 her. Anuri is battling alcoholism, failing to start her PhD, undergoing therapy and secretly abusing people online and receiving money from them for doing so. Most importantly, she is desperately worried about her little sister, who is the new focus of Ophelia's online empire. Can she save her sister, and perhaps herself and her relationship with her father at the same time? Full Review

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Review of

Headload of Napalm by David Chadwick

4.5star.jpg Thrillers

It's September 1973 in Hicks, California. Hicks is a Mojave desert town of a few thousand people with its nearest neighbours of LA and Las Vegas both a significant drive away. Not much happens in Hicks. A silver mine and a defence contractor are the main local employers but otherwise, there's not much of note other than dive bars and Joshua trees. Life is quiet, until.... Full Review

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Review of

The Wrong Shoes by Tom Percival

5star.jpg Confident Readers

Will's life is difficult, in a multitude of ways. He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and doesn't have enough money for even the most basic of things like food, and his dad can't work because he lost his job at the college, was working a cash-in-hand job on a building site and had an accident. Throw into that mix the fact that his mum and dad are separated, and Will's life seems bleak in every direction. And yet, he still has a tiny amount of hope. He is good at art, and clings to the moments of joy when he is drawing, that feel like a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel. Full Review

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Review of

A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall

5star.jpg Science Fiction

There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them. Full Review

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Review of

The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway) by Elly Griffiths

4.5star.jpg Crime

Builders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the site was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the bones of a child 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. It's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn't, that she is pregnant with his child as a result of the one night they spent together some three months ago. Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of sickness. Full Review

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Review of

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

4.5star.jpg Autobiography

This book is Joan Didion's heartbreaking autobiographical account of the grief she endured following her husband's sudden death. Books that shed light on taboo topics like death are such a beautiful and necessary resource to help people feel less alone. Didion unpicks unpleasant feelings surrounding death like self-pity, denial and delusion and makes them utterly normal, lends them a human face to wear. Full Review

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Review of

The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie) by Neil Lancaster

4.5star.jpg Crime

It's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police. Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he's prepared to tell the police where the body of a missing person is buried and who was responsible for her death. This person, he promises, is someone big and it will be worth the police doing what he wants. And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of his sentence and to get an early parole date. Not much to ask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's even prepared to do the other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening. Full Review

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Review of

Where I've Not Been Lost by Glen Sibley

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

One year after a suicide attempt blows apart musician Brian O’Malley's life, he arrives in an unfamiliar Devon town to recover. Living with an unexpected housemate at his former manager’s holiday home, he dreams of reconnecting with everything he has lost. But as those tentative plans falter, he becomes swept up in a local world of unlikely friendships, mobile discos and surprising romantic possibilities. Full Review

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Review of

A Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11) by Jane Casey

5star.jpg Crime

It's sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and the investigation ground to a halt. Now, her mother, Helena, and her father are dead in their bed. Initially, it looks like a straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the positioning of the bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. What looked as though it was going to be an open-and-shut case is now a complex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that the explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's boss, Una Burt) are less convinced. Full Review

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Review of

The Dark Wives (D I Vera Stanhope) by Ann Cleeves

4.5star.jpg Crime

A man walking his dog in the early morning discovered the body of a man in the park near Rosebank, a care home for troubled teens. The dead man was Josh - one of the care workers who was due to work a shift the night before but who had never turned up. D I Vera Stanhope is called in to investigate the murder - but her only clue is the disappearance of one of the residents, fourteen-year-old Chloe Spencer. Some people believe that Chloe was responsible for the death but Vera thinks this is unlikely as the girl's diary makes it clear that she adored Josh. She knows that she has to find Chloe to discover what happened to Josh. Full Review

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Review of

Moral Injuries by Christie Watson

4.5star.jpg Thrillers

Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor. Anjali is the free spirit of the group and she becomes a GP. When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it's going to end in tragedy. We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the consequences. Twenty-five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the three friends. This time, it's their teenage children who are involved. Full Review

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Review of

The Trading Game: A Confession by Gary Stevenson

4.5star.jpg Autobiography

If you were to bring up an image of a city banker in your mind, you're 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 a facility with numbers which most of us can only envy. He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be stupid. It was his ability at what was, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with Citibank. Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader. Full Review

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Review of

Lover Birds by Leanne Egan

4.5star.jpg Teens

When new girl, Isabel, moves to Lou's hometown of Liverpool from London Lou immediately feels Isabel's disdain for everything around her. A misunderstanding between them leaves them hating each other, but Lou feels her pulse racing every time she looks at Isabel or speaks with her, and that's definitely because Isabel makes her feel so cross, isn't it? Because Lou is straight, isn't she? Even though none of her relationships with boys have gone very well so far, and she's never had a good kiss with any of them? So she just finds herself watching Isabel, and wanting to hang out with her because fighting with her is fun, and she definitely just hates Isabel, doesn't she? Full Review

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Review of

The Conservative Effect 2010 - 2024 by Anthony Seldon and Tom Egerton (Editors)

5star.jpg Politics and Society

Sometimes it's simpler to explain a book by describing what it isn't and that applies to The Conservative Effect: 2010-2024 - 14 Wasted Years?. If you're looking for an easy read which will deliver the inside story about what really happened on certain occasions, then this isn't the book for you. If that's what you're looking for, I don't think Anthony Seldon's book, Johnson at 10, can be bettered for those tumultuous years. It's a compelling read and should be compulsory for anyone who thinks Johnson should return to politics. The Conservative Effect is an entirely different beast. It's the seventh book in a series which looks at the impact a government has made and co-editor Sir Anthony Seldon regards this as the most important. This book follows the well-established format: a series of experts from various fields review the state of the nation when the coalition took over in 2010, the changes that occurred and the situation in 2024. Full Review

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Review of

The Last Life of Lori Mills by Max Boucherat

4.5star.jpg Confident Readers

We meet Lori on the first evening she's got the house to herself – no neighbour to pop in, babysitter poorly, mother at work, just an avidly rule-breaking eleven year old, on her lonesome. What could possibly go wrong? Snuggled in a blanket fort, she has one main intention, and that is to log on to Voxminer, the world-building, critter-collecting game that is a hit in Lori's world. But first Lori has a tiny inkling that this stormy night doesn't find herself entirely on her own, and then she finds something even more spooky. For the server she and her bestie and nobody else should be able to enter shows signs of tampering. When malevolent eyes spark up on her phone screen, and her safe place in the game has been doctored – well, where is a girl to turn? Full Review

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Review of

Nowhere Man by Deborah Stone

4star.jpg General Fiction

In a quiet suburban house, Patrick is making his final plans. A meticulous man, he makes sure of every preparation, down to the last detail. Some last reflections, and then he says goodbye to his wife, the world, and his life. It's horribly sad. At work in her shop, his wife Diana is fending off yet another phone call about her ageing and ailing mother, who needs extricating from yet another accident. It will be a while before Diana realises what Patrick has done. Full Review

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Review of

King Kong Theory by Virginie Despentes

4star.jpg Autobiography

King Kong Theory is a hard-hitting memoir and feminist manifesto, which can be seen as a call to arms for women in a phallocentric society broken at its core. Originally written in French, the book is a collection of essays in which Virginie Despentes explores her experiences as a woman through the complex prism of her varied life: from rape to sex work and pornography. Though these discussions are intertwined, their placement within the book can feel somewhat disjointed, a reflection of their original form as independent essays. Full Review

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Review of

Forbidden Notebook by Alba de Cespedes

4star.jpg Literary Fiction

This Italian work of feminist fiction holds an air of suspense and tension from the moment our protagonist, Valeria Cossati, purchases her forbidden notebook, and learns about herself in the most intimate and revealing ways. Full Review

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Review of

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

3star.jpg Literary Fiction

At best, this novel is a scathing critique of modern society and reveals the fragility of human relationships; at worst, it is the cynical, predictable and slightly trite tale of an unlikeable protagonist. This unlikely heroine, a slim, attractive and newly orphaned girl in her twenties is disillusioned with the world, but resolves not to lose sleep over it: in fact, her solution lies in her hibernation. Full Review

139851120X.jpg

Review of

Leave No Trace by Jo Callaghan

4star.jpg Crime

When a man is found crucified on the top of a hill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the case alongside her sidekick, the AI detective Lock. It's their first live case together, having previously been very successful with several cold cases. But when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a lot of unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. Will they be able to solve the case in time, or will Kat find herself taken off the case and, potentially, out of a career? Full Review

B0DB64PYV5.jpg

Review of

The White Rose by Dave Baines

4star.jpg Dystopian Fiction

In 2033, a superstorm known as the White Rose devastates the Northern Hemisphere. And it's not a storm that gathers, wreaks havoc, then dissipates. Instead, it hovers across half the Earth with its octopus-like tentacles, not giving up and never going away. Full Review