Forthcoming Publications

2 MARCH

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Review of The Hidden Fires by Merryn Glover Travel It is always about the book, not the writer, but there are times when the author's hinterland is also the background to the book and so it is necessary to understand that context, in order to appreciate the book. Merryn Glover is of Australian parentage, was born in Kathmandu, grew up in the Annapurna and Himalayan and now lives in Badenoch in Scotland. I can think of no-one better a combination to give us a re-appraisal of Nan Shepherds work than the first Writer in Residence in the Cairngorms National Park. Merryn walks, not so much in the shadow of Shepherd, but in her spirit. I think the two would have gotten along famously. Full Review

Review of The Close (DS Maeve Kerrigan) by Jane Casey Crime It was because of Rula Jacques that DS Maeve Kerrigan and DI Josh Derwent were living together in Jellicoe Close. If you're a regular reader of the Maeve Kerrigan series you'll have read that sentence twice and wondered if it's a massive spoiler because there is a delicious sexual chemistry between the two which seems very, very real. But (there's always a 'but', isn't there?) Josh has a partner and he dotes on her son, even if the relationship with Melissa can be a little rocky. As for Maeve, she's just come out of an abusive relationship which has left her more than a little uncertain. Full Review

9 MARCH

Review of The First-Time Gardener: Container Food Gardening by Pamela Farley Home and Family If you've ever thought how good it would be to be able to pop out into the garden and pick some fruit and vegetables for a meal – but realised that you wouldn't know where to start, this is the book you need. It's comprehensive: you'll cover everything from why you should grow your own food, what you're going to grow, what you'll grow it in (both containers and soil), where you'll put these containers, how you'll water and fertilise them and you finish the main part of the book with a handy section on troubleshooting. There's also a good glossary. So, is it any good? Full Review

16 MARCH

Review of Beautiful Shining People by Michael Grothaus Literary Fiction But fearing something and having it come to pass are two different things. And I'm willing to bet most of what we fear will never happen, or we can take steps to change it. Beautiful Shining People revolves around the question of identity and acceptance. Of what it means to be human. Of what is real and what is artificial, and whether the development of technology is exciting or frightening. Full Review

28 MARCH

Review of Her Deadly Game by Robert Dugoni Crime Patrick Duggan & Associates has been the life's work of Patsy Duggan – rather charmingly nicknamed 'The Irish Brawler' due to his reputation for no holds barred courtroom performances in defence of his clients. Along with an indisputable talent for the law, Patsy also has a gift for drinking himself to oblivion and inevitably the latter was beginning to overshadow the former. Enter Keera Duggan, former competitive chess prodigy and proven Seattle Prosecutor who finds herself in the hideous position of asking her father for a job at the family firm because a romantic entanglement with a senior colleague, Miller Ambrose, had gone, rather spectacularly, south. Full Review

30 MARCH

Review of The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz Thrillers Roza Vallo. Anyone in the world of publishing knows the name. Writers want to be her, agents want to represent her. She's something of a legend with an impressive, if compact, back catalogue of works that started with her breakthrough novel, published when she was barely out of childhood. Alex, a writer-slash-editor, is more than a little obsessed with Roza, and is stunned when, following a series of unexpected events, she is invited to be part of her month-long writers' retreat. Full Review

Review of Different for Boys by Patrick Ness and Tea Bendix Teens Ant is in Year Eleven at quite a standard school, and is surprised to find his geography class (within which it seems absolutely nothing about geography is ever learnt) has been restructured, so his desk is one of four with both his best buddy from the football team, and two other old muckers – in fact they all go back to primary school days together. As they're all fired up, straining at the leash only a single-sex school can form, the talk in class and out often turns to sex. Which is confusing for Ant, as he doesn't know what his score is, where his achievements in that regard lie. He's had a casual relationship, a secret one, for several months now, and so has effectively progressed up the ladder headed by 'experienced', but whether that's set in stone, he can't be sure. And that's mostly because of who he's been having the relationship and the sex with. Full Review

Review of The Sins of Our Fathers: A Rebecka Martinsson Investigation by Asa Larsson and Frank Perry (Translator) Crime Lars Pohjanen has only a few weeks to live but he's determined that Rebecka Martinsson is going to investigate the case of a body found in a freezer at the home of a deceased alcoholic. The problem is that the case has long passed the statute of limitations. Raimo Koskela disappeared without a trace in 1962. He was the father of Olympic boxing champion Borje Strom. Rebecka wants nothing to do with a fifty-year-old case on which she can take no action: the problem is that this is a dying man's wish. The situation changes when a post-mortem establishes that Henry Pekkari, the dead alcoholic, was also murdered. Is there a connection between the two deaths? Full Review

13 APRIL

Review of Atalanta by Jennifer Saint Literary Fiction I was as worthy as any one of them. I would get on board that ship, I vowed. I would take my place, not just in the name of the goddess. It was for the sake of my name, too. Atalanta Princess. Warrior. Lover. Hero. Abandoned at birth for being born a daughter rather than a son, Atalanta is raised under the protective eye of the goddess Athemis and fashioned into a formidable huntress, one who longs for adventure. When the opportunity comes – to join the Argonauts, a fierce band of warriors, descendent from the Gods themselves – Atalanta seizes the chance to fight in Artemis' name and carve out her own legendary place in history. What follows is a whirlwind of challenges and discovery and through it, Atalanta must remember Artemis' fatal warning: that if she marries, it will be her undoing. Full Review

11 MAY

Review of Thirst for Salt by Madelaine Lucas Literary Fiction Love, I'd read, was supposed to be a light and weightless feeling, but I had always longed for gravity Told from a retrospective view, a young woman unravels the year-long relationship that once defined her. Overlaid with later wisdom, the narrator relives the affair with a man twenty years her senior from its inception – the summer after finishing university – to its sorrowful end the summer after. Set against the backdrop of an isolated Australian coastal town Thirst for Salt details the 24-year-old narrator's deepening relationship with her older lover, depicting its all-consuming nature, how it changed her perspective on both romantic and familial relationships and how it altered her irrevocably. Full Review

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