Changes

|author= Lee ChildThomas Dolby|title= No Middle NameThe Speed of Sound|rating= 4.5|genre= Crime Entertainment|summary= There is a theoryFrom struggling post-punk musician to pop star, from Silicon Valley innovator to which those who regularly read my reviews will know I sometimes subscribeuniversity professor, which says that the short story's heyday has passed and it Thomas Dolby has now put itself out to grass. This is particularly true, some say, and I have been known to concur, of the crime and thriller genres. Tosh! I can only apologise to all authors involved and own up: I simply haven't been paying attention. Not even to shorter offerings my by favourite authors. So: big thanks to Lee Child and publishers Bantam Press for putting me straight with ''No Middle Name'' : had a collection of short stories about my favourite latter-day, American-styleremarkable if not unique career, Robin Hood by often reinventing himself on the name of ''Jack Reacher''way.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0593079019</amazonuk>}}{{newreview <!-- remove 21/5 -->|author=Lizzy Mumfrey|title=Fall Out|rating=5|genre=General Fiction|summary=Charlton's the sort of village where people aspire to live, despite its apparent ordinariness. There's the usual mix of commuters (it's not ''too'' far from London) and those who make their lives in the village. Richard Hughes This memoir is a commuter, but based on his wife Jessica works at the local academy, where both their children - Alfie extensive notes and Hannah - are pupils. Pete Cole is a newly-promoted police superintendent and clearly still fond of his voluptuous wife, Susie. Actually, some of that voluptuousness might be better described as fat - Pete suspects that he might need longer arms to hug her before long. Less popular is Gary Webber. He's the sort of man who causes people to heave a sigh of relief when he joins someone else for a drink at the golf clubjournals.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>19110798401785781952</amazonuk>

|author= Cath StaincliffeRon Butlin|title= The Silence Between Breaths|rating= 5|genre= Crime|summary= I'm always wary of author endorsements, even those from people I rate as writers, but the ''harrowing Steve and humane'' quote from Ian Rankin Frandan Take on the front cover of ''The Silence Between Breaths'' does not overstate the case. This is an extremely powerful book.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472118014</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Jill Armitage|title= Arbella Stuart: The Uncrowned Queen World

|genre= BiographyTeens|summary= Lady Arbella StuartLike many books for confident readers and teens, cousin our heroes are the victims of cruel bullies – to both Elizabeth I be precise, as we are well into the twenty-first century here, of England and James VI of Scotlandthe cyber kind. But this isn't some worthy self-help, tell-an-adult book, was one of nor is it a gloomy book about young people who can't see the unfortunate figures point of English history who might have been Queen going on. Nope – these guys take the unusual (and who, like in the even more tragic Lady Jane Greylight of later events, might have paid utterly daft) decision to simply sail away into the ultimate pricesunset, to take a break from civilisation, online Thor and his idiot Viking horde, and the insanities in general of all adults. This is In their defence, it seems a sad but engrossing story of one whose only crime was to have royal blood coursing through her veinssensible move at the time...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>14456501931780274394</amazonuk>

|author= Stephan TaltyElaine Everest|title= The Black Hand|rating=4|genre=True Crime|summary=History is a fascinating subject to study as there is so much of it, so why do we keep going back to the same places? I feel like I have walked the steps of Julius Caesar and married at least two of Henry VIII's wives, so often I have read about them. There are countless other tales out there to learn about that may be more obscure, but are just as exciting. I don't know much about New York around 1900, but after reading ''The Black Hand'' by Stephan Talty I now know it was a violent place to live, but an interesting one to learn about.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785037129</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= A P McGrath|title= A Burning in the DarknessButlins Girls

|genre= CrimeHistorical Fiction|summary= At Fresh-faced Molly Missons has just arrived in Skegness to start her new job as a busy airportButlins auntie. Behind the smiles and confident appearance, Michael Kieh is she hides a full time faith representative serving secret; she has taken the needs of some of the 80 million passengersjob to escape escalating problems at home. She soon finds good friends in her chalet-mates Bunty and Plum, but circumstance and evidence point to his guilt in a terrible crime. His struggle to prove his innocence leads him on it turns out that they each have their own reasons for wanting a charged journey that pitches love against revengefresh start. When a mysterious woman confides a dark secretMeanwhile, he Molly is motivated shocked to redress a heartdiscover that her movie-breaking injusticestar crush Johnny Johnson is working as an entertainment adviser at the camp. Together they must battle against powerful forces Is he really as suave as they edge dangerously close to unmasking a past crime. But Michael faces defeat when his on-screen persona? And why is he chooses to protect a young witness, sparking memories of Michael's past in Liberia. working at the camp anyway? As he fights to prove his innocencehidden secrets become discovered, Michael has to risk anything for the sake of love Molly and her new friends face new threats and truthdangers that may threaten their new-found freedom.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B06ZYXJ1KL1447295536</amazonuk>

|author=Nosy CrowBenjamin Ludwig|title=British Museum: ABCThe Original Ginny Moon|rating=45|genre=For SharingGeneral Fiction|summary=Learning your ABCs is also seemingly learning To Ginny, a child with autism, the word Forever means until the police come. Five years ago the police forcibly removed her from the same items appearing over home of her abusive birth mother, Gloria. Now fourteen, and over againin her fourth Forever Home, Ginny remains hell-bent on finding her way back to Gloria's apartment. A is not only A She has no illusions about her mother's addictions or lack of parenting skills. She knows that it might be dangerous – that it is also Applemight even kill her. B is BallStill she plots, obsessed with returning to Gloria's to find something she insists she left behind, C is Carsomething she hid under her bed. It is almost as if there Her teachers, therapist, and new Forever Parents are only 26 objects in the world turn frustrated, infuriated, and they happen perplexed. As Gloria returns to start her life, the reader follows Ginny on a journey filled with different letters of the alphabet. In fact, apart from Xylophone danger and X-Raydiscovery, there are loads of things that you could choose in her quest to put in an ABC book, if only you had find a vast repository of objects and art that you could choose from …place she can truly call her Forever Home. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>08576381651848456611</amazonuk>

|author=Liz PichonHolly Webb|title=Family, Friends and Furry Creatures (Tom Gates)The Homeless Kitten|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Emerging Readers|summary=Tom Gates has got Lily loves their rescue dog, Hugo. However, Lily also really wants a problem: his shoes are making cat – or better still a noisekitten. They sort of rasp when he walksShe, therefore, only he can't recreate the sound at homebelieve her luck when Hugo sniffs out three abandoned kittens while out of his walk with Lily and her dad. At school itBetter still (from Lily's a different matter: not only point of view at least) the animal shelter is full so Lily's mum and dad reluctantly offer to hand-rear the noise very loud, there are those of his classmates who suggest that it has originated from somewhere a little more, well, ''intimate'tiny kittens until they're old enough to be rehomed. All in all itLily's not a good start to in heaven looking after the day for Tomkittens, particularly when he realises that he's also forgotten his baby photo for especially the latest school projectlittle fluffy white one whom she names Stanley. Class 5F are building their family trees and theyThere is just one problem – it've got s going to interview family members break her heart when the time comes to get stories of their lives for the projectsay goodbye.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>14071681181847157831</amazonuk>

|author= Clare FisherHarriet Cummings|title= We All the Good ThingsBegin As Strangers

|summary= NatureIn the summer of 1984, nurture, chance a Chilterns village was gripped with fear and circumstance; all combine to produce suspicion as a mysterious intruder known as ''The Fox'' broke into the story homes of Bethany Mitchellseveral residents in the area. Despite an increased police presence, regular patrols and vigilante groups, a young adult who writes from her prison cellthis slippery character still managed to evade detection. We know only that she has committed a A huge police ''Foxhunt'bad thing'followed, a bad thing that she sees as and finally, forensic evidence led to the end eventual capture of her the perpetrator. This real-life news story. Armed with sparked the imagination of a simple task, Erikayoung Harriet Cummings, who went on to create a psychologistfictional version of events, sets out which invites the reader to challenge thisturn detective and try and unmask ''The Fox'' from a range of possible suspects. She asks Beth simply to compile |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1409169049</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Malcolm Devlin|title= You Will Grow Into Them|rating= 5|genre= Short Stories|summary=''You Will Grow Into Them'' is a list thrilling collection of ten short stories all centred on the nature of transition and change. The often grisly, macabre and ghoulish nature of the good things stories included in her lifeDevlin's debut collection are intoxicatingly illicit and the darkness within each tale is deviously addictive.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>024127575X1907389431</amazonuk>

|author= Robert HarrisTove Jansson|title= ConclaveLetters From Klara|rating= 45|genre= General Literary Fiction|summary= It Famed in the UK for her creation of the Moomin family, Jansson is hard rather belatedly beginning to believe gather the richly deserved esteem for her adult writings. For that Harris has managed I offer my heart-felt thanks to bring such pace to the often lengthy publishers ''Sort of books'' and complex process Thomas Teal, who has been responsible for most of a conclavethe translations. Receiving this one, but he has wrung out every piece two things strike: firstly I somehow seem to have missed one of mystery the series, and the result secondly there'll come a time sooner rather than later when there'll be no more to be had me reading through long into . The former will be rectified, the night. I simply could not put this downlatter is a sad thought.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>17847518391908745614</amazonuk>

|author= Samantha KingJane Menczer|title= The ChoiceAn Unlikely Agent

|genre= ThrillersCrime (Historical)|summary= ItLondon, 1905. Margaret Trant lives with her ailing, irascible mother in a dreary boarding house in St John's Wood. The pair have fallen on hard times, with only Margaret's perfectly possible meagre salary from a ramshackle import-export company keeping them afloat.When a stranger on the tram hands her a newspaper open at the recruitment page, Margaret spots an advertisement that promises to be drawn towards one of 'open new horizons beyond your children more than the others at wildest dreams!'. After a gruelling interview, she finds herself in a new position as a particular point secretary in timea dingy backstreet shop. Maybe But all is not as it seems; she is in fact working for a momenthighly secret branch of the intelligence service, just a moment, you prefer the sleeping 4 year old over his up all night baby sisterBureau 8, whose mission is to track down and then later when off to do neutralise a ruthless band of anarchists known as the Big Shop you favour Scorpions.Margaret's guilty love of detective fiction scarcely prepares her for the littlest one for sheer portability reality of true criminality, and lower likelihood her journey of running off in self-discovery forms the carpark, but if you ask most parents they will say they love their children equally. End heart of. In different ways and for different thingsthis remarkable novel, but equally. You might jokingly pick a favouriteas she discovers in herself resourcefulness, but deep down there's no such thing. So imagine the worst thing that could come. Imagine a stranger arriving at your door with a gun and making you choose between your children. One can livecourage, but one must die. Welcome to Madeline's world independence and her living nightmarethe first stirrings of love.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>03494146531846973805</amazonuk>

|author= Suzanne LealHenry Marsh|title= The Teacher's SecretAdmissions: A Life in Brain Surgery|rating= 4.5|genre= General FictionAutobiography|summary= Terry has been teaching at his suburban Australian junior school for It's more than two years. Everyone knows himsince I read [[Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery by Henry Marsh|Do No Harm: Stories of Life, heck half Death and Brain Surgery]] but the kids in his class memories have parents who were former pupils of hisstayed with me. HeI had thought then that a book about brain surgery might sound as though I was taking my pleasures too sadly, but the book was superb - and very easy reading and when I heard about ''Admissions''s an institution. You know the sort. And he does not take kindly I decided to a new young upstart showing up and trying treat myself to meddlean audio download, particularly as Henry Marsh was narrating. He's not nasty about it I knew that my expectations were unreasonably high, but it rubs him up how did the wrong way.book do?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>17850790771474603866</amazonuk>

|author=DK|title=Cheeky Charlie: Bugs Children's Illustrated Thesaurus|rating=4.5|genre=Children's Non-Fiction|summary=One of the most valuable literary skills which children can learn is how to use reference books. As a child every question which I began with ''how do you spell...?'' would be answered with ''EXACTLY as it says in the dictionary''. This was fine, but the family's Collins Little Gem Dictionary didn't encourage exploration, not least because the font was small and Bananas (My Crazy Brother Book 2)difficult to read. Fortunately those times have now changed and reference book for children are now much more inviting. Not every book comes with a set of instructions but it's worth studying the ''How to...'' section, not least because similar systems are used in other reference books.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241286972</amazonuk>}}{{newreview <!-- remove 28/5 -->|author=Mat WaughVal Harris|title=Hunting Ground

|genre=Confident ReadersGeneral Fiction|summary=Cheeky Charlie has already had [[Cheeky Charlie Nyara Camp is one of the newest camps in the Masai Mara and it's run by Mat Waugh|one book]] written about him James and now he has anotherAlexia Sackville. His slapstick adventures are related once more by his sister Harry The guests might sleep in tents, but it's still luxury accommodation in anybody's book. I love Harry Chui Camp, on the other hand, sticks with the traditional way that safaris were run, including bucket showers. Harry Owner Ralph Somerton is by turn infuriated convinced that's what the guests ''should'' want and amused by her brother Charliehe won't listen to any of his wife Tessa's suggestions for updating the tired venue. And Harry also brims over with enthusiasm It's beginning to be reflected in the profits Chui makes, but instead of upping his own game Somerton would rather see Nyara as unfair competition and it's only a small step from that reasoning to looking at ways of ensuring Nyara's failure. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>B072F586440955599717</amazonuk>

|author=Patrick NessMarian Veevers|title= ReleaseJane and Dorothy: A True Tale of Sense and Sensibility|rating= 4.5|genre= Confident ReadersBiography|summary= Adam The idea of a dual biography of two contemporaries who never met throughout their lives in small-town America in a deeply religious household. His father is an evangelical preacherintriguing one. His brother is at a Christian college training to be an evangelical preacherHowever, there were several unifying factors, which makes it seem logical enough. Adam is used to a restricted life Jane Austen and Dorothy Wordsworth were both renowned writers though one was much more famous than the other, and he is also used to an atmosphere of suspicion. Because Adam is gay. And this must be unspoken because to acknowledge it would lead to...... wellboth were born just four years apart, best not to think about thatin the 1770s.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>14063311711910985775</amazonuk>

|author= Claire FayersGeraint Jones|title= Journey to Dragon Island (The Accidental Pirates)Blood Forest

|genre= Confident ReadersHistorical Fiction|summary= Two questsFelix. Can the crew of the good ship Onion (don The lucky one. He doesn't ask) help their young friend Brine to find her home? And does feel especially lucky when he staggers out into the legendary island grove and finds twelve of dragons really exist or – a rather important point, this – if his comrades butchered and mutilated in the ship keeps sailing west, will it just topple off the edge of worst possible ways. He felt even less lucky when the world? Of coursesoldiers arrived, if you think a little thing like terrible peril and near-certain death should stop Captain Cassie and her shipmates from going wherever they fancyRoman cavalry. He might have run, then youbut he knew he're reading the wrong seriesd never make it. He stepped out to face whatever came next. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>14472906230718184815</amazonuk>

{{newreview |author=Dorling Kindersley|title=First Science Encyclopedia|rating=5|genre=Children's Non-Fiction|summary=I wasn't introduced to 'science' until I was eleven and went on to senior school: I wasn't alone in this, but it really was too late. Thankfully, times have changed and children at primary school are getting to grips with plants and animals, atoms and molecules and even outer space from a very young age. What's needed is a good, basic reference book which will introduce all the subjects and give a good grounding. It needs to be something which would sit proudly in the classroom library and comfortably on a child's bookshelf. The ''First Science Encyclopedia'' would do both well.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>024118875X<!-- remove 17/5 --amazonuk>}}{{newreview|titleauthor=Go To Sleep!Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet|authortitle=Marion AdamsSupertato Run Veggies Run|rating=4.5

|summary=I''It was midnight on the wild moors. The round white moon peeped over the clouds. The barn owl flew from tree ve heard of these so called superfoods, they are reported to tree without making a sound. The cool night breeze rustled through the gorse bushes.'' Parents - isn't boost your immune system and flush out areas of your body that have gone unnoticed for decades, but does this just a lovely way make them super? In my mind to start be a bedtime story? It's an oft-forgotten truth about picture books that they superfood you need to engage the parents as well as the childrendo something spectacular; lift a car from a trapped child, or leap over a building in one bound. How else The vegetable and fruit in my house can 't do any of this, but then they read it aloud successfully? So I loved this opening paragraph of aren''Go To Sleep!'' - it not only set t Supertato; a spectacular spud that, more than once, has saved the scene beautifully but it also made me want to rush off and find a child to read it today with his powers.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>09930794741471121038</amazonuk>

|author=Noah HawleyThe British Museum|title=Before the FallOrigami, Poems and Pictures|rating=45|genre=ThrillersCrafts|summary=All artist Scott Burroughs did Sometimes you find a delight of a book. On an afternoon when it was unseasonably cold and decidedly wet I discovered ''Origami, Poems and Pictures'' and I was transported to accept Japan. As the offer from title suggests we're looking at three celebrated arts and crafts: the wife ancient art of a media mogul for a short plane ridepaper folding, not realising haiku poetry and painting. I'll confess that it will shape was the origami which caught my attention, but I was surprised by the extent to which the rest of his lifethe book caught my imagination. The private jet falls out of the sky, making him We begin with something very simple: a hero boat and in the way he saved the only other survivorcase you're worried, all the mogulentries have a degree of difficulty (from 'simple' through to 'tricky's small son ) and heir JJ. The search for answers makes Scott uncomfortable in many ways, especially when he realises that for some he's not so much the hero as this one is at the murdererlowest level. Are they right?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>144477977X0857639382</amazonuk>

|author=Antonia SeniorWarner Brothers|title=Harry Potter Colouring Book Celebratory Edition: The Tyrant's ShadowBest of Harry Potter colouring

|genre=Historical FictionCrafts|summary=Warning: spoilers ahead Imagine pages and pages of images from the Harry Potter books and films for you to colour as you wish. You ''Treasonmight's Daughter' have seen some of the images before - I know I have - as they've appeared in the ''Harry Potter Colouring Book''.Patience lives with her widowed brother, William''Harry Potter Magical Creatures Colouring Book'', helping to care for his son Richard (nicknamed Blackberry). Despite the Civil war ending, the times are still uncertain. Cromwell is increasingly annoyed with a parliament of rebels refusing to go to the electorate for ratification. William sees this problem at close quarters once heand 's effectively forced to become Cromwell's legal advisor in an atmosphere poisoned by espionage Harry Potter Magical Places and religious factions. However when Patience comes across Shadrick Simpson, a charismatic preacher, all becomes clearer for her at least. Meanwhile Sam Challoner, WilliamCharacters Colouring Book''s brother in law, comes home after privateering with Prince Rupert and realises that but there are several exclusive never-before-seen images which will please the fight at sea is better than peace at homecollector of Harry Potter memorabilia. At least when If you're privateering in need of inspiration as to colours then you know who your enemy is'll enjoy the sixteen pages of film stills, unit photography and concept art at the back of the book.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>17823966161783708255</amazonuk>

|authortitle=Leonardo PaduraThe Secret of the Wooden Chest (Roman Magic)|titleauthor=HereticsCatherine Rosevear|rating=43.5|genre=CrimeConfident Readers|summary=Daniel Kaminsky Hannah lives with her parents in a flat above the nursing home where her mother is matron. Hannah is a an only child émigré to Cuba and so she enjoys making friends with some of the home's residents. So when Mrs Oberto moves in 1939, looking forward Hannah is keen to being joined from Germany by his parentsmake her acquaintance - Hannah has never met anyone Italian before. They're on board the St Louis in Havana docks Mrs Oberto is quite standoffish at first but in a country Hannah persists and a time rife soon they are the best of friends. Mrs Oberto is particularly keen on helping Hannah with politics her school project about ancient Rome and corruptionrelates many interesting stories about her Sicilian childhood. But she remains tight-lipped about the mysterious wooden chest, the ship is turned back without permitting any of their passengers key to disembarkwhich she keeps around her neck. Now, nearly 80 years later, Daniel's son wants to know how an auction house obtained a family heirloom: a Rembrandt painting that the Kaminskys had with them on the ill-fated ship. He approaches retired Cuban policeman Mario Conde for answers to something that may seem straightforward but they soon realise it will prove to be anything but.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>19085247821788032535</amazonuk>

|author= David BarbareeDominic Smith|title= DeposedThe Last Painting of Sara de Vos|rating= 4.5

|summary= AIf you find the techniques used by Rembrandt and Vermeer fascinating, ''The Last Painting of Sara de Vos'' provides a masterclass in how to work up a canvas in stages.D 68. A deposed emperor lies in Framing the novel as the story of a prison cellseventeenth century Dutch painting, betrayed Dominic Smith vividly sketches out the main contours of his characters and newly blinded by those who were sworn to protect himthe three time periods they inhabit before we are even one fifth of the way through. He Sara is now crippled and deprived one of power, left completely on the edge few women artists of despair with a frightened young slave named Marcus as his only companion. Ten years later the period and it her painting is Emperor Vespasian who wears the purpleof children skating on a frozen canal, her now dead daughter its central figure. Things may have settled since the civil war but VespasianThe painting has been in Marty de Groot's son Titus family since before Isaac Newton was born and he is plagued by worry about plots to murder his father. Gruesome atrocities and mysterious disappearances are rife throughout Rome; the patent lawyer from whom it is stolen in 1950s Manhattan. Ellie Shipley forged a city full copy of falsehoods the painting in her postgraduate student years and intrigues with in 2000 finds herself at the fear centre of a gathering storm which threatens to destroy her reputation as one of rebellion lurking beneath the surfaceSydney's foremost fine art academics. Furthermore Satisfying though those first descriptions are, a man who we then understand these are merely the author's equivalent of the delicate chalk lines used by painters of the Dutch Golden Age to be emperor still lives – a blind man who everyone believes to be dead. His name is Nero and he seeks revenge against those who wronged himmark out the composition which will follow. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785762672192526680X</amazonuk>

|author= Colleen OakleyDeirdre Osborne (Editor)|title= Close Enough The Cambridge Companion to TouchBritish Black and Asian Literature (1945–2010)|rating= 45|genre= Women's FictionReference|summary=''One time, a boy kissed me This literary companion offers fifteen essays addressing the contribution of black and I almost died...My lips started tingling. My tongue swelled Asian authors to fill my mouththe British literary canon since 1945. My throat closed; I couldn't breatheIt covers not just fiction, but also poetry, plays and performance works. Everything went black.'' So begins It sits as a kind of joyful cuckoo in the nest, interrupting the tale usual narratives of an unlikely romantic heroine: a girl who is allergic to other human beings. After the extreme humiliation suffered literary waves and movements in the aftermath Britain that take little notice of any perspective other than the events above, Jubilee Jenkins becomes a recluse dominant white - and hides herself away from the world for nine yearsposh! - direction of travel. When her source It's a disparate, varied collection of income suddenly dries upessays, covering spoken word performance poetry, Jubilee needs to overcome her fearsblack British urban fiction, LGBTQ writing, step out into the world liberationist writing and find a jobmuch more. Working at the local libraryI was really happy to see children's authors such as Malorie Blackman, she meets divorced dad Eric Jamila Gavin and his quirky adopted son, Aja Catherine Johnson discussed and strikes up a friendship with themrespected. As their mutual attraction starts to grow, can there be any future for a relationship where even a simple kiss could be fatal?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>17602941361316504808</amazonuk>

|author=Harold D Clarke, Matthew Goodwin and Paul WhiteleyDr Seuss|title=Brexit: Why Britain Voted to Leave the European UnionDr Seuss's ABC

|genre=Politics and SocietyFor Sharing|summary=TenNo one who has read his work can deny that Dr Seuss had a powerful imagination. He was able to pluck from his brainpan not only interesting takes on old ideas, nearly eleven months on from the June 2016 referendum I'm still struggling to come to terms with the thought but also new creatures and worlds that the United Kingdom voted by had never been seen before. His books are often madder than a narrow box of March hares, but decisive majority to leave the European Union. even he must have had his limits? Since then The humble ABC book (dare I've been searching for enlightenment in say the form dull ABC book), surely he could not bring his sense of hard facts rather than opinions: given a handful anarchic fun to this staple of people youthe children'll get s education market?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007487754</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Stewart O'Nan|title= Last Night at least half a dozen 'valid' reasonsthe Lobster|rating= 4|genre= General Fiction|summary=The Red Lobster seafood restaurant chain is closing some of its poorly-performing branches just before Christmas. PersonallyAmid the Christmas lights, office parties and forced jollity Manny DeLeon, the manager of one of these failing outlets, I blame Boris Johnsonhas to keep it all together for one last day. Short-handed, with most of the staff who''Brexit: Why Britain Voted ve bothered to turn up facing unemployment, he tries to Leave make the European Unionbest of a bad job, all the while knowing this will be the last day he'' isnll spend with the waitress he shouldn't a book of ''opinions'still be in love with, particularly not now he' s about why the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union but be a close look at what the statistics tell usdad. ItOh, and there's a dry but informative readblizzard on the way.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>11071507281760293865</amazonuk>

|author=Tim MooreTom Malmquist and Henning Koch (translator)|title=The Cyclist Who Went Out in the Cold: Adventures Along the Iron Curtain TrailIn Every Moment We Are Still Alive|rating=4.5|genre=TravelLiterary Fiction|summary= One of the results I find Tom Malmquist is a poet from travel documentaries, often on TV but also Sweden. Originally published in Swedish in book form2015, this is the verdict his first work of prose. While it'rather him than me' (and s being marketed as a novel, it generally is reads more like a he)stylized memoir. Yes, I'd like Similar to go there and see what heKarl Ove Knausgaard's seenbooks, but I'm damned if I would risk it features the danger, author as the potential consequences central character and/or the effort the whole experience required. This book is the epitome of thatnarrator, for as much as I love most of the twenty countries it hits on – give me a chance, I've not quite been to them all – I wouldn't countenance making this exact and exacting trip. A couple of years ago, those in the know somewhere in an office deemed the route story of the entire old Iron Curtain – the fringe of the Soviet Union, plus Romania, Bulgaria etc – to be a pan-continental biking route. With the news that he can dismiss other attempts and still have a claim to being the first person to clock the whole mammoth trip, our gutsy author undertakes grief it all, and thus surveys a scar across the entire continent to see if it's still visible, and what flesh it once upon tells is a time dividedhighly personal one. Oh and he did it on a Communist-era piddly little bike, lacking in both gears and good brakes, that was designed for nothing more strenuous than conveying you around a campsite, not for 6,000 miles…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>02241002111473640008</amazonuk>

|author= Diney CosteloeMichel Deon|title= The Married GirlsYour Father's Room

|genre= Historical Literary Fiction|summary=Wynsdown, 1949. In the small Somerset village of Wynsdown, Charlotte Shepherd is happily married I don't feel altogether qualified to farmer Billy. She arrived from Germany on the Kindertransport as a child during the war and now feels settled in her adopted home. Meanwhile, the squirereview Michel Déon's 2004 fictionalised memoir ''Your Father's fighter pilot sonRoom'', Felix, has returned to translated here into English for the village with a fiancée in towfirst time. Daphne is beautifulI hadn't heard of Déon before receiving my copy, charming... and harbouring secrets. After meeting during the war, Felix knows some let alone read any of Daphne's pasthis books, but she has worked hard published over a 70 year period to conceal that which could unravel her carefully built life. For Charlotte, too, a dangerous past is coming back much acclaim in the shape of fellow refugee, bad boy Harry Blackhis homeland. Forever bound by their childhoods, Charlotte will always care for him, but HarryBut it's return disrupts part of the village quiet and it's not long before gossip spreads. The war may have endedpleasure of book reviewing to read with no prior knowledge or prejudice, but for these girls, trouble is only just beginning..all the more so if you discover an absolute gem.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>17849761211910477346</amazonuk>

{{newreview <!--remove 15/5 -->|author=Michael PronkoAndrew Wilson|title=The Last Train (Detective Hiroshi)A Talent for Murder

|genre=ThrillersCrime (Historical)|summary=Detective Hiroshi Shimizu usually investigates white collar Agatha Christie wrote some tantalising crime thrillers back in Tokyo. It suits him: he gets her day, and here Andrew Wilson makes her a victim to have his a plot not unlike one of her own office, which is rare. HeIt's got space at home too: his girlfriend has not only left him, but she's moved back to the States as well. He's yet to ship all her boxes out of his apartment but when he's done that he'll be able to sleep in about the bed again. White collar crime's usually non-violentmystery, but Hiroshi speaks English (many years spent in Boston when he was studying) and when an American businessman ends up dead under the last train, he's called in to help. He could have done without having to see the body - or the people removing it from the tracks with chopsticks - but detective Takamatsu insisted.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1942410123</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Martin Edwards (editor)|title= Continental Crimes|rating= 4|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=It's not clear whether really drives the short story has gone out of fashion, relegated to the pages of certain types of women's magazines, or whether the magazines in which the format still holds its own are themselves not as high-profile as once they might have beenforward. Perhaps they never were, perhaps we only know about them in retrospect. Whatever Agatha is ambushed by a strange man at the truth of train station; she is given a proposition that it would seem that the golden age of the short storyconfuses her and secretly intrigues her. Indeed, coincided delightfully with the golden age of crimefor this man wants her to commit a murder.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>07123567971471148211</amazonuk>