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Hello from The Bookbag, a 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 , the charity shop 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.

'''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].'''<!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->{{Frontpage|isbn=1780724047|title=A Dictionary of Interesting and Important Dogs|author=Peter J Conradi|rating=4|genre=Pets|summary=I struggle to resist a book about dogs, but I did wonder why this one was so ''thin'': given that I've never encountered a dog who wasn't interesting or important - and probably both, I was expecting a massive tome. But ''A Dictionary of Interesting and Important Dogs'' is actually ''a rich compendium of the world's most significant and beloved dogs'' and it's certainly a rich treasure trove. We begin with Peter J Conradi's four collies: Cloudy, Sky. Bradley and Max. They're consecutive rather than simultaneous dogs, but what comes over is Conradi's love for each and every one of them. I knew that I was in safe hands.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1785769294|title=Man at the Window (Detective Cardilini)|author=Robert Jeffreys|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=It's when we read that a young boy is creeping reluctantly to a teacher's bedroom one October night that we realise something is badly wrong. Nowadays you ''might'' hope that something would be done about it fairly quickly but this was 1965 and child abuse was generally regarded as malicious mischief on the part of the child. The boy would be safe that night though - albeit in the most horrific fashion. When he reached Captain Edmund's bedroom he found the man dead on the floor, the top of his skull missing. The school's initial reaction was that this was a dreadful accident: there had been a cull of kangaroos in some nearby fields and it was obviously a stray bullet which had killed the Captain.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1786695227|title=Invisible in a Bright Light|author=Sally Gardner|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=The beginning of this excellent story will leave the reader more than a little confused: who is the man in the green suit, what is the Reckoning, and why are rows of people in a cave? But stick with it – Ms Gardner is very cleverly letting us experience the same disorientation as our heroine. We watch in dismay as the strange man, who seems to have no eyes, does his best to persuade her to answer his questions. But for some reason Celeste, despite her bewilderment, remains wary and gives nothing away.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1912374854|title=Violet|author=S J I Holliday|rating=3.5|genre=Thrillers|summary=I've never been but understand that travelling is all about meeting new people and forming instantaneous bonds with people in often chance situations. Well that's exactly what happens when the two main/only characters meet in a travel agency in Beijing - Carrie is unsuccessfully trying to get a refund on an extra ticket for the Trans-Siberian train and Violet is trying to unsuccessfully buy a ticket for the same sold-out journey. As the two team up, travelling through Mongolia, Serbia and into Russia, it could've been the start of a beautiful friendship but this a thriller after all so it quickly becomes a tale of obsession, manipulation and toxic friendships.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1912374838|title=Nothing Important Happened Today|author=Will Carver|rating=4|genre=General Fiction|summary=Nothing Important Happened Today is a dark, twisted, difficult read. Stories about cults often are, but this is different; it's written with a sense of style that is quite unlike anything I've read before. I can't remember ever having read a novel with such an odd, distinctive narrative voice. While a slim and relatively small book, the slow-moving nature of the plot makes it feel far larger than its 276 pages.}}{{Frontpage|isbn= williamabbey|title=The Pursuit of William Abbey|author=Claire North|rating=3.5|genre=Paranormal|summary=When William Abbey fails to prevent the lynching of a young boy in 1880's South Africa, he finds himself cursed by the grieving mother. A naïve English Doctor, he slowly learns the weight of the curse upon him, as the shadow of the dead boy begins to follow him across the world. Never stopping, always growing – it crosses oceans and mountains in pursuit of William. As he finds himself unable to resist speaking the truths that he hears in others, he also learns that the dark shadow is deadly – and seeks to kill the one he loves the most…}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1643785036|title=The Wondrous Apothecary|author=Mary E Martin|rating=4|genre=General Fiction|summary=Those who have known Alexander Wainwright, the landscape artist famous for his Turner prize winning ''The Hay Wagon'', and Rinaldo, renowned conceptual artist would say that they're chalk and cheese, if not sworn enemies. If you've watched the relationship, as has our narrator, art dealer Jamie Helmsworth, you'd have said that they were magnets, drawing and repulsing each other in equal measure. Wainwright was at the socially acceptable end of the artistic continuum, but with Rinaldo it was all too obvious that there was but a fine dividing line between conceptual art and public nuisance. As time has worn on, he's frequently been brought to the attention of the police. On this latest occasion we see him charged with arson and theft of ''The Hay Wagon''.}}{{Frontpage|author=Mary H.K. Choi|title=Permanent Record|rating=4|genre=Teens|summary=Pablo, a college drop-out, is working at a New York bodega. He's massively in debt, he's avoiding his mother, and he finds his joy in creating unusual snacks with random ingredients! Whilst working one evening, he's surprised to discover that the girl he is chatting with as he serves is a super-famous pop star and, as unlikely as it may seem, they start a relationship. With one character who is trying very hard not to be seen or noticed by anyone, and the other who is seen and followed and hounded by everyone all over the world, it's an interesting clash as they come together. This isn't just a love story though, and actually it's really just Pab's story, about the journey he takes in his life via his meet-up with Leanna Smart.|isbn=0349003459}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1609809319|title=Long-Haired Cat-Boy Cub|author=Etgar Keret, Aviel Basil and Sondra Silverston (translator)|rating=5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=One day a boy is in the zoo with his father, when the man gets called away on urgent business. The boy isn't hustled into a cab and taken home first, though, no – he's given hot dog money, and taxi money, and told to just stick around on his own and enjoy himself. Well, it's no surprise that the orphan-for-an-afternoon sensation the lad feels doesn't make him happy, and so he thinks of a species name for himself, and curls himself up into an empty cage, as if he were a new exhibit. And it's then the drama begins… }}{{Frontpage|isbn=1785785516|title=Fucking Good Manners|author=Simon Griffin|rating=4|genre=Lifestyle|summary=Manners maketh man, they say. It certainly makes life easier if everybody abides by a set of conventions, some of which are ages old and other which have evolved over time. Manners are not about how much to tip or how you should behave if you get an invitation to Buckingham Palace, they have nothing to do with class or financial status: they're about getting the basics right before we try to deal with more difficult matters. Of course we all have more relaxed manners when we're with family and friends, but it's best if we learn to distinguish between our public and private lives and to act appropriately. ''Fucking Good Manners'' aims to help us on the way.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008324859|title=Fowl Twins|author=Eoin Colfer|rating=5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Relax, everyone – our old friend Artemis may be off planet, but the baddies aren't getting away with skulduggery any time soon because they now have not one but two members of the Fowl family to contend with. Those cute little twins are now eleven (and, frankly, cute no longer) and in this, their first independent adventure, they meet a troll and without even trying manage to make two deadly enemies: a nobleman obsessed with immortality whatever the cost (to other people), and an unusual interrogator-nun. The boys are chased, kidnapped, arrested and even killed (though not for long), all with the help of one trainee fairy.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1472255798|title=The Bad Fire (Bob Skinner)|author=Quintin Jardine|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=Nine years ago local councillor Marcia Brown took her own life after being accused of shoplifting from a local supermarket. It's always been assumed that she couldn't live with the shame. People were surprised that she committed suicide just before the court case when she had been adamant that she would fight to clear her name. She said that she'd been set up because she was hot on the trail of corruption in the council. Her ex-husband has contacted Alex Skinner, Solicitor Advocate as well as retired Police Constable Bob Skinner's daughter, and asked that she look into clearing Brown's name: it's something which he feels that he has to do in memory of his son who was murdered recently.}}

{{Frontpage|isbn=B07X6GLQ3Q|class-"wikitable" cellpaddingtitle=See Them Run|author="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->Marion Todd<!-- Kazan -->|rating=4|-genre=Crime| stylesummary="widthD I Clare Mackay is still relatively new to St Andrew's: 10%; verticalshe was previously at Maryhill Rd station in Glasgow. She's left quite a lot behind including a relationship that wasn't going anywhere after Tom failed to support her when the chips were down. She also left a nasty situation, of her own making but not her fault, and St Andrew's is a fresh start. Not long into the job she's faced with a hit and run death and there's little doubt that it wasn't accidental -align: top; textthe card with the number five suggests murder. Andy Robb was married to Sandra. You could say that they had an open marriage but there seemed to be a lot of the 'open' and very little of the 'marriage' left -align: center;"on both sides, but would she want him dead?}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1786540991|title=The Impossible Boy|author=Ben Brooks[[image:0749024801|rating=4.jpg5|genre=Confident Readers|linksummary=http://www''Oleg and Emma entered their den to find a cardboard spaceship standing where they usually sat. Slowly, the front door opened.amazonSmoke billowed out.coAnd out stepped a boy, dressed in a long coat with an even longer scarf, wound around his neck.uk/dp/0749022132/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]''

| style=''"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;My name's Sebastian Cole,"|===[[The Phoenix of Florence by Philip Kazan]]===the boy said, "But you already know that."''

[[image:5starAnd indeed they do.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]]Ever since the summer, [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] Deep in the Tuscan countryside of fifteenth century Italywhen their friend Sarah's mother had moved her away, Onoria survives Oleg and Emma have been unable to find a massacre that destroys new friend to take her family and homeplace. Alone in the forest, she meets a band of soldiers who, believing her to be a boy train and develop her – and the determined Onoria becomes a mercenary – desperate to avoid any situation in which she may feel vulnerable again. Along }}{{Frontpage|isbn=1447281357|title=Salvation Lost|author=Peter F Hamilton|rating=4|genre=Science Fiction|summary=In the way, she meets extwenty-soldier Celavinithird century, whose journey to Florence sees him investigating two brutal murdershumanity is enjoying a comparative utopia. As he digs further and uncovers links Yet life on Earth is about to his own family historychange, Celavini must revisit forever. Feriton Kane's investigative team has discovered the past he shares with Onoriaworst threat ever to face mankind – and we've almost no time to fight back. The supposedly benign Olyix plan to harvest humanity, in order to carry us to their god at the hope that they can lay end of the ghosts of universe. And as their shared history agents conclude schemes down on earth, vast warships converge above to gather this cargo. Some factions push for humanity to restflee, before to live in hiding amongst the stars – although only a chosen few would make it's too lateout in time.But others refuse to break before the storm.As disaster looms, animosities must be set aside to focus on just one goal: wiping this enemy from the face of creation. Even if it means preparing for a future this generation will never see. [[The Phoenix of Florence by Philip Kazan|Full Review]]}}<!-- Watson and Hagan -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1471186393| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Photographer of the Lost|author=Caroline Scott[[image:1526600862.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co4.uk/dp/1526600862/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Historical Fiction| summary===[[Watch Us Rise by Renee Watson and Ellen Hagan]]=== [[image:4starMay 1921.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]  Jasmine and Chelsea go to Edie receives a high school with an excellent reputationphotograph through the post. There is no letter or note with it. It places strong emphasis There is nothing written on extra curricular activities and all pupils are encouraged to join clubs and associationsthe back of the photograph. But Jasmine It is fed up with a picture of her drama group because she's always typecast in the loudhusband, "hysterical" roles (Jasmine is black and resents the angry black woman trope)Francis. And Chelsea is fed with poetry club because the only poetry it ever covers was written by men who lived and died Francis has been missing for four years ago. So Technically, along with friends Isaac and Nadinehe has been "missing, they start believed killed" but that is not something that a new group called Write Like a Girlyoung widow can believe. [[Watch Us Rise by Renee Watson and Ellen Hagan|Full Review]] <!-- Rachel Lynch --> She hangs on the word 'missing', disbelieving the word killed. }}|-{{Frontpage| styleisbn="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|1783784350[[image:B07KTQTW1L.jpg|linktitle=httpThis Golden Fleece://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07KTQTW1L/refA Journey Through Britain's Knitted History|author=nosim?tagEsther Rutter|rating=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"History|summary===[[Bitter Edge (D I Kelly Porter) by Rachel Lynch]]=== [[image:4starIt was December and Esther Rutter was stuck in her office job, writing to people she'd never met and preparing spreadsheets.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] The girl had once been a promising athlete, but injury and then addiction to prescription painkillers changed The job frustrated her and even her knitting did not soothe her completelymind. Eventually she January was driven going to commit suicide in the most gruesome way - by throwing herself off a cliff in be a time for making changes and she decided that she would travel the length and breadth of the Lake District. It worried DI Kelly PorterBritish Isles with occasional forays abroad, but she had no reason to investigate, although several of her cases keep bringing her back to discovering and telling the girlstory of wool's school history and how it had made and a darker story emergedchanged the landscape. One of the pupils goes missing at She'd grown up on a sheep farm in Suffolk - '' a free range child on the local fair: her best friend is the girl who has accused a teacher of luring farm'' - and learned to spin, knit and weave from her to his flat mother and then sexually assaulting hermother's friend. It seems that the teacher also has paedophilia on his computer, but the downloading eerily coincides with the girl's visit to his flat. What is going on, but - most importantly - where is Faith? [[Bitter Edge (D I Kelly Porter) by Rachel Lynch|Full Review]]This was in her blood.}} <!-- Angela Marsons -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1401286208| styletitle="widthBlack Canary: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Ignite|author=Meg Cabot and Cara McGee[[image:1786817721.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co3.uk/dp/1786817721/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Confident Readers|===[[Dead Memories (D I Kim Stone) by Angela Marsons]]==summary= [[image:4Meet Dinah Lance.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] Someone is recreating every traumatic event Frustrated that her policeman father will not allow her to try and follow in Kim Stone's pasthis footsteps, starting and seemingly lumbered with the death of being a cheerleader at school, she is desperate to find her twin when she was six years oldvoice. Some But it's actually more a case of the eventsher voice finding her, as when she gets frustrated or plain dissed at least the details of themschool her vocal outcry can shatter glass better than any opera singer. You could almost call it a weapon, are not public knowledgeor a power. But in order for her to call herself a superhero, but whoever is behind this there has to be a wealth whole path of information and is using it steps for her to evil intent. That might seem bad enough, but the brutal truth take – one of the matter is that people - innocent people - are dying so that these dramas can which will be recreated. Stone probably - well, certainly - shouldninto her past…}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1789017977|title=Ronnie and Hilda't be on the case, but who has better knowledge of what happened to her than she does? If her boss can just turn s Romance: Towards a blind eye to the effect it's having on her for long enough, she can sort it out... Or can she? [[Dead Memories (D I Kim Stone) by Angela MarsonsNew Life after World War II|Full Review]] <!-- Hurwitz -->author=Wendy Williams|-rating=4| stylegenre="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|History[[image:071818548X.jpg|linksummary=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/071818548X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Out of the Dark by Gregg Hurwitz]]=== [[imageRonnie Williams was the son of Thomas Henry Williams (known as Harry) and Ethel Wall. There's some doubt as to whether or not they were ever married or even Harry's birthdate:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] 1997he claimed to have been born in 1863, but he was already many years older than Ethel and he might well have shaved a few years off his age. Evan Smoak is 19 years For a while the family was quite well-to-do but disaster struck in the 1929 Depression and five-year-old ''trained up, mission readyRonnie had to adjust to a very different lifestyle. And yet untested.'' He's in a foreign city on an officially unofficial mission, which One thing he executes did inherit from his father was his need to be well-turned-out and this would stay with all the impeccable training that him throughout his youth belieslife. Evan Smoak is Orphan XHe joined the army at eighteen in 1942. [[Out of the Dark by Gregg Hurwitz|Full Review]]}}<!-- Jewell -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1542015421| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"The Royal Baths Murder|author=J R Ellis[[image:178475627X.jpg|linkrating=http://www3.amazon.co.uk/dp/178475627X/ref5|genre=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Crime| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; text-alignWhen Damian Penrose was murdered there was no shortage of suspects: left;"|===[[Watching You by Lisa Jewell]]=== [[image:4he was a deeply unpleasant man.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] A teenage boy spies on In fact the only surprising thing was that there wasn't more of a teenage girl from his bedroom windowqueue waiting to do the dirty deed. Down the road, What was a woman is convinced she knows bit of a man in the village headline maker was that Penrose was a crime writer and that he is following herwas strangled in the midst of Harrogate's crime writing festival. Meanwhile, He went for a young woman has moved back home after some time abroad, swim at the Royal Baths and develops a fascination with her new neighbour. The man's wifenever returned, meanwhile, engages his body being found by the services of receptionist. DCI Jim Oldroyd was the young woman's husband in some work around man tasked with investigating the housecrime. Oh, and that teenage boy? He's her son. And It would not be the woman with only death, and it was only because of the conspiracy theories? Shequick actions of his sergeant, Andy Carter, that Oldroyd's the mother was not one of the girl he's spying onthem. Plus, the man she thinks is out to get her is the woman's husband (and }}{{Frontpage|author=Daniel Kraus|title=Blood Sugar|rating=4|genre=General Fiction|summary=This is also a difficult read. And not because of the new headteacher at her daughterdark subject matter – that's school). Whichever ll come later – but because of the way you look at in which it, there's told. This might put a lot of watching going on in this book. [[Watching You by Lisa Jewell|Full Review]] <!-- Cooch -->|-| style="width: 10%readers off, and to be honest it'd be hard to blame them. Kraus tells the story in a distinctive voice unlike any other I've read; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0578444305an erratic dialect with heavy and frequent slang.jpg|link=http://wwwThe immediate effect is disorientating and distracting, and it takes some time to feel natural.amazon.co.uk/dp/0578444305/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Fish Seeking Bicycle by Kate Cooch]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]] This novel is set about a hundred years into the future. The world has been decimated by nuclear conflict and what's left of the old United States is run from Center City. Women run this world and it is very proud of having defeated the old patriarchy. Men must behave appropriately and deferentially at all times and, if they don't, are medicalised to keep their baser instincts under control. And if that doesn't work, they're sent to work camps, away from open society, or even worse: expelled to the wilderness beyond the Central Authority's borders. [[Fish Seeking Bicycle by Kate Cooch|Full Review]] <!-- James Atkinson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:B07ML4Q55J.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07ML4Q55J/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Home Workout for Beginners: 6 Week Fitness Program with Fat Burning Workouts for Long Term Weight Loss by James Atkinson]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]] James Atkinson has all the qualifications which you need in a workout instructor and he looks the part. He's been actively involved in the health and fitness arena for more than twenty years and he spent nine years as a member of 9 Parachute Regiment, Royal Engineers. He has another qualification which means a lot to me: he's been on the other side. There was a time when he was overweight and not particularly strong. As a child he was slow to develop. This means that he ''understands'' what it's like and he knows how his clients feel: it's much more helpful than the twenty-something who was born super-fit and with an attitude problem. [[Home Workout for Beginners: 6 Week Fitness Program with Fat Burning Workouts for Long Term Weight Loss by James Atkinson|Full Review]] <!-- Adrian Cull -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1999308719.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1999308719/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Live Forever Manual: Science, ethics and companies behind the new anti-aging treatments by Adrian Cull]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]], [[:Category:Popular Science|Popular Science]] For many years now I've (half) joked that I intended to live forever and that so far, it was working out OK. Time has passed though and although I'm a great deal fitter and healthier than most people of my age there were a few nagging health problems which were tipping my life out of balance. It was time to look for a new approach and as so often happens, the reviewing gods brought me the book I needed. ''Live Forever Manual: Science, ethics and companies behind the new anti-aging treatments'' seemed like the answer to my problems - only you get so much more than just 101 tips. [[Live Forever Manual: Science, ethics and companies behind the new anti-aging treatments by Adrian Cull|Full Review]] <!-- Anders -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1785653199.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785653199/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The City In The Middle Of The Night by Charlie Jane Anders]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]] January is a dying planet. It wasn't exactly pleasant to begin with. One half is scorching sunlight, pure, blazing heat, and totally uninhabitable. The other half is pure darkness and ice, where a creature can freeze to death in seconds, and totally uninhabitable. In the middle is a brief twilight that is barely survivable. Life is a knife-edge, stray too close to one side you die, to close to the other, you die and yet the heat from the sun and the water from the ice are necessary for life. Life for the inhabitants of January is long, and hard, and arduous, will anything ever change? [[The City In The Middle Of The Night by Charlie Jane Anders|Full Review]] <!-- Laws -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1789016851.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789016851/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Exit Day: Brexit; An Assassin Stalks the Prime Minister by David Laws]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] At the time of my writing this, there is one thing uniting Britain, and this is hatred of 'Brexit'. Not just Brexit, but use of the word 'Brexit'. Yes, people hate the people that instigated it then disappeared, and/or the people who just can't seem to get their fingers out and complete it, but they also hate the use of the word. This biggest turn-off has made people who have never so much as tutted in their life slam down their tea-cups in high dudgeon and leave the room until it's safe to return, when all mention of it has subsided. I mention this in relation to this book because it is partly about Brexit, but because it too seems to get to the actual Brexiting in a very protracted manner. Just as we have to wade through dirges from Europe to get anywhere, it seems, so the reader of this book has to get through a lot from Europe before the title's theme really arises. Here, at least though, the author's delaying tactics are much more forgiveable. [[Exit Day: Brexit; An Assassin Stalks the Prime Minister by David Laws|Full Review]] <!-- Chamberlain -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1786076446.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786076446/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Hidden by Mary Chamberlain]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] When Barbara Hummel arrives, determined to identify the mysterious woman whose photograph she has found among her mother's possessions, Dora and Joe find their worlds upended – and are swiftly forced to confront their pasts. Revisiting their time on the Channel Islands during World War II, Dora remembers a time when she concealed her Jewish identity, and Joe, a Catholic Priest, remembers a time when he hid something very different. In this story of love, loss and betrayal, it remains to be seen whether a speck of light can diffuse the darkest shadows of war… [[The Hidden by Mary Chamberlain|Full Review]] <!-- Stephen John Hartley -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1999811402.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1999811402/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Painting Snails by Stephen John Hartley]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]], [[:Category:Lifestyle|Lifestyle]] It's very difficult to classify ''Painting Snails'': originally I thought that as it's loosely based around a year on an allotment it would be a lifestyle book, but you're not going to get advice on what to plant when and where for the best results. The answer would be something along the lines of 'try it and see'. Then I considered popular science as Stephen Hartley failed his A levels, did an engineering apprenticeship, became a busker, finally got into medical school and is now an A&E consultant (part time). I found out that there's an awful lot more to what goes on in a Major Trauma Centre than you'll ever glean from ''Casualty'', but that isn't really what the book's about. There's a lot about rock & roll, which seems to be the real passion of Hartley's life, but it didn't actually fit into the entertainment genre either. Did we have a category for 'doing the impossible the hard way'? Yep - that's the one. It's autobiography. [[Painting Snails by Stephen John Hartley|Full Review]] <!-- Lelic -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:B07GXSB6N2.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1444947605/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[The Haven: Book 1 by Simon Lelic]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] When Ollie and Nancy, the police officer tasked with guarding our young hero, are abducted in the middle of the night, things take a dangerous turn. Rescued by Dodge, Ollie is taken to the Haven, a secret underground community based in a network of underground tunnels that the London above ground knows nothing about. Here, children work together to battle great evils. And there is an immediate enemy to fight. Ollie would have been the hundredth victim of Maddy Sikes had he not been rescued. And Maddy intends to destroy the city. [[The Haven: Book 1 by Simon Lelic|Full Review]] <!-- Kennedy -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0993202349.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0993202349/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[The Things That are Lost by Alan Kennedy]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]  The final novel in Alan Kennedy's WW2 trilogy sees Captain Alex Vere taken off active duty and banished to Scotland, providing trade craft spy training. It's stifling and suffocating and feels as much like a prison to Alex as anything the Germans would provide. And where is Justine? Alex hasn't seen her since he went to ''that'' disastrous meeting with John Cabot, instigator of the disinformation campaign, and returned to find her missing. A failed mission is one thing but no Justine is quite another. Alex can't get Justine out of his head. Has she left the service? Does she know too much? Is she even still alive? [[The Things That are Lost by Alan Kennedy|Full Review]] <!-- Douglas Lindsay -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1473696917.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473696917/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Song of the Dead (DI Westphall) by Douglas Lindsay]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] A man walked into a police station in Estonia. He told a tale of having been held prisoner, used as a donor for organ harvesting and sperm donation. X-rays and medical examination bear out this part of his story, but this man, or the man he says he is - John Baden - died twelve years ago. His body was identified by his partner, Emily King and by his parents - and then the body was buried. So, who is this man? DI Ben Westphall is sent to Estonia because of his background in MI6, but that brings some baggage with it too. Westphall cannot, will not, get on a plane. His last experience of flight was more than enough for one lifetime. [[Song of the Dead (DI Westphall) by Douglas Lindsay|Full Review]] <!-- Michelle Harrison --> |-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1471124290.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1471124290/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[A Pinch of Magic by Michelle Harrison]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]] ''No Widdershins girl has ever been able to leave Crowstone. If we do, we'll die by the next sunset. '' ''A Pinch of Magic'' follows three sisters – Betty, Fliss and Charlie – who have lived on the isle of Crowstone, infamous for its surrounding marshes and the neighbouring inescapable prison, for their entire lives. The middle sister, Betty, has longed for adventure for as long as she can remember and she is determined that nothing and no-one will prevent her from seeing everything that the world has to offer. But in setting out to do just that, she and her sisters discover a deadly curse which has haunted their family for generations. From their ancestors, as well as a lifetime trapped on Crowstone, they have each inherited a magical object – an old carpet bag, a set of wooden nesting dolls and an antique handheld mirror – all of which are more than meets the eye and could possibly be the key to their problem. [[A Pinch of Magic by Michelle Harrison|Full Review]] <!-- Lisa Gardner -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1780897715.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1780897715/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Never Tell by Lisa Gardner]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] Evie Carter's husband was shot dead in his own home and she was found with the gun in her hands. Was this a domestic dispute which had got out of hand? Was it pregnancy hormones running rampant? Detective D D Warren recognised Evie immediately. It might have been sixteen years ago, but there's no mistaking the teenager who had accidentally shot and killed her father: 'a tragic accident' everyone said, as there was no doubt about the love the two had for each other. D D had no worries at the time, but just how many gun accidents can one woman have - or is Evie about to get away with murder again? [[Never Tell by Lisa Gardner|Full Review]] <!-- Read -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1911490907.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1911490907/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Midnight Hour by Benjamin Read and Laura Trinder]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Confident Readers|Confident Readers]] After a big blow-up fight with her mum, Emily is left alone with her dad. Her mum has gone away on some strange job (even though Emily didn't think her mum even ''had'' a job) and so she is not quite sure what is going on. Things turn even stranger still when her dad goes off to find her mum, and then doesn't come back. She heads out to investigate and discovers a strange, secret world called the Midnight Hour, which seems to be London during Victorian times, and is full of magical beings (and monsters!) What were her parents doing here? And will she be able to find them and rescue them, so her life can go back to normal? [[The Midnight Hour by Benjamin Read and Laura Trinder|Full Review]] <!-- Kate London -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1786497956.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786497956/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Gallowstree Lane by Kate London]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] Spencer was just fifteen years old when he stepped out into a London Street and asked a complete stranger for help, begging him not to let him die. The stranger was an off-duty paramedic but even his skills were insufficient to save Spence. Just one of those things you might, think. Tragic, but teenage boys seem to It's a struggle to acclimatise to Jody's voice, to get acquainted with his mannerisms, but the story wouldn't be getting stabbed on the streets of London all the time. His friend Ryan was with Spence when he was stabbedsame without it, and somehow it works. It was Ryan who called the ambulance on the paramedicshouldn's instructiont, sobbing as he held the phone. But Ryan wasn't prepared to accept that but it was just one of those thingsdoes. He wanted revenge. [[Gallowstree Lane by Kate London|Full Review]]isbn=1789091934 <!-- DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->|}}