Changes

From TheBookbag
Jump to navigationJump to search

Newest General Fiction Reviews (view source)

Revision as of 15:11, 5 June 2019

3,689 bytes added ,  15:11, 5 June 2019
no edit summary
{|class-"wikitable" cellpadding="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->
<!-- Bowden McGee -->
|-
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
[[image:B07FRH481F0241365953.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07FRH481F0241365953/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
===[[American Royals by Katharine McGee]]===
 
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
 
Two and a half centuries ago, America won the Revolutionary War and General George Washington was offered the crown. Today, the House of Washington still sit on the thrown with Princess Beatrice next in line. Beatrice's whole life has been building up to her ruling the United States and the time for her reign is imminent. [[American Royals by Katharine McGee|Full Review]]
<!-- Mulligan -->|-| style===''width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;''|[[The Amber Maze by Christopher Bowden]]image:1784742716.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1784742716/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
Hugh Mullion goes away | style=''vertical-align: top; text-align: left;''|===[[Train Man by Andrew Mulligan]]=== [[image:2.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]] I came to Dorset for this book thinking I knew just what to expect, even though it is [[:Category:Andy Mulligan|the weekend and, while waiting for his wife author's]] debut in the adult novel market (hence the more mature name – he used to be an Andy). I thought it simple to arrivesum up, finds the tale of a mysterious key down middle-aged man who knows too much about train travel having his life turned around in the back of an antique chairmost pleasant way. The grubby I hadn't opened it when I'd shelved it alongside [[:Category:Chris Cleave|Chris Cleave]], and torn label to which is attached reads[[:Category:David Nicholls|David Nicholls]]. I expected some whimsy, some warmth and some affirmative loveliness. More fool me. [[The Amber Maze Train Man by Christopher BowdenAndrew Mulligan|Full Review]]
<!-- Hajaj Coleman -->
|-
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
[[image:17860739431785032461.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/17860739431785032461/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
===[[The Water Thief Girl at the Window by Claire HajajRowan Coleman]]===
[[image:4star5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Literary FictionParanormal|Literary FictionParanormal]]
Nick Trudy Heaton is in going home, to a house where her roots burrow back through the middle of wedding preparations when he decides centuries and to leave his fiancée behind in London and take up a post in some un-named west African country providing engineering support mother she hasn't spoken to for sixteen years. Home, her refuge, Ponden Hall, where she can heal herself and try to come to terms with the building traumatic loss of a children's hospitalher husband. He has no idea what he She needs to build bridges with her mother and convince her grieving son that his father is getting himself intodead. Where better than the house full of light and shadow, that nurtured her throughout her childhood? [[The Water Thief Girl at the Window by Claire HajajRowan Coleman|Full Review]]
<!-- Melissa Leet -->
|-
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
[[image:19438263310008291845.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/19438263310008291845/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
===[[Landslide We Are Not Okay by Melissa LeetNatalia Gomes]]===
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General FictionTeens|General FictionTeens]], [[:Category:Women's General Fiction|Women's General Fiction]]The area where Jill and Susie lived wasn't highly populated so it was fortunate that they became such good friends, despite the fact that Susie was a year older than Jill. Susie lived with her mother, an alcoholic, and Jill lived with ''her'' mother, who dedicated herself to her garden. Jill's father was Jay Tutle, the photographer, but he spent much of his time working away - often for months on end. In reality there was little difference between the two families: Mrs Smith's alcoholism caused serious illness whilst Susie was still young. Joy and tragedy would visit Jill's home. ''Landslide'' is the story of how what happened determined the course of Jill's life and how great tragedy can breed resilience and hope. [[Landslide by Melissa Leet|Full Review]]
Set in a typical American town, ''We Are Not Okay'' tells the story of four teenage girls facing the difficulties brought on by high school and growing up as a girl in today's society. The novel is told from four different perspectives, those of Lucy, Ulana, Trina and Sophia, whose friendship statuses vary from BFFs to sworn enemies. The reader is presented with a glimpse into each of their lives, but more importantly their minds, and at times the thoughts of those characters could have been taken directly from my own. Gomes has created a heartbreakingly real and relevant novel that focuses on prominent topic areas which are becoming ingrained in our society, particularly in relation to the ''Me Too Movement''. ''We Are Not Okay'' reminds the reader of the importance of phrases like ''I'm With Her''. [[We Are Not Okay by Natalia Gomes|Full Review]]  <!-- Wilson Kate Tough -->
|-
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
[[image:1786496038034914365X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786496038034914365X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
===[[Aftershocks Keep Walking Rhona Beech by A N WilsonKate Tough]]===
[[image:34.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary General Fiction|Literary General Fiction]], [[:Category:General Women's Fiction|General Women's Fiction]]
In Life has just hidden behind a country very much like New Zealand, but at the same time most avowedly not, two women will find lovecorner and stuck a foot out as Rhona Beech came past. Strong love too, She and Mark had been together for our narrator will say that her first attraction for her partner nine years and it was the only thing beginning to make sense of all those exaggerated songs shefeel ''settled''. Then Mark announced that he'd heard, got a job in Canada and books he was going whether Rhona wanted to come with him or not. The ''not'' bit of the sentence was the way it worked out and poems Rhona was left on her own. Well, shewasn'd read, and plays t completely on her own: she'd acted in – works of art that had until then seemed sheer hyperbole. It was entirely unrequited love for quite some timefriends and family, but it does burgeon, or so we're promised from s not the offsame as having that special someone in your life, because that someone who makes you part of something quite drastic – a major earthquake very much like couple. So Rhona had to start again, rejoining a world that bore little resemblance to the one that hit Christchurch, but at she'd left nine years ago - and there's a lot of difference between being in the same time most avowedly not. This book then is the combined exploration middle of the lovers your twenties and the story middle of the quakeyour thirties. [[Aftershocks Keep Walking Rhona Beech by A N WilsonKate Tough|Full Review]]
<!-- Laura Solomon Varenne -->
|-
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
[[image:93868972960857058738.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/93868972960857058738/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
===[[Hell's Unveiling Equator by Laura SolomonAntonin Varenne and Sam Taylor (translator)]]===
[[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Short StoriesHistorical Fiction|Short StoriesHistorical Fiction]], [[:Category:General Literary Fiction|General Literary Fiction]], [[:Category:FantasyGeneral Fiction|FantasyGeneral Fiction]]
A little while ago I really enjoyed [[Marsha's Deal by Laura Solomon|Marsha's Deal]] and I was delighted by It strikes me that nobody can speak well of the opportunity to read Wild West outside the sequel, ''Hell's Unveiling''. It's probably not much walls of a spoiler to say that Marsha bested the devil in ''Marsha's Deal'', but the devil is not one to take defeat lying downtheme park. He's out Our agent to wage war on Planet Earth and particularly on Marsha (see how bad it was here is Pete Ferguson, who's thought bristles at the indignity of as a white man against Native 'goody two shoesIndian' , who spends days being physically sick while indulging in Hell). Although a strong personbuffalo hunt, she's vulnerable where her foster children are concerned. Daniel is framed for a crime he didn't commit and sent to juvenile detention who hates the way man – and refused permission to return to live with Marsha. Thenwoman, of course there are all – can turn against fellow man at the bat of an eyelid. But this book is about so much more than the other children who are not only targeted1870s USA, but - worst of all - subverted to and the devil's evil endsattendant problems with gold rushes, pioneer spirits and racial genocide. Hefinds himself trying to find this book's out version of Utopia, namely the Equator, where everything is upside down, people walk on their heads with rocks in their pockets to prey keep them on their fears the ground to counter the anti-gravity, and weaknesses and as with many foster childrenwhere, who knows, their self esteem is very fragilethings might actually be better. This But that equator is no small-scale operation, either - the devil has set up a training complex on earth, complete with an elevator to Hell. long way away – and there's a whole adventure full of Mexico and Latin America between him and it… [[Hell's Unveiling Equator by Laura SolomonAntonin Varenne and Sam Taylor (translator)|Full Review]]
<!-- C M Taylor Jane O'Connor -->
|-
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
[[image:0715653377B07GLCDXZL.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0715653377B07GLCDXZL/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
===[[Staying On Needlemouse by C M TaylorJane O'Connor]]===
[[image:4star5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women's Fiction]]
Tony Metcalfe is a Yorkshireman through We first meet Sylvia Penton on her birthday and through and being honesther boss, the Prof, Yorkshire's where he'd really like is taking her out to belunch. You suspect that Scarborough would be perfect This is her favourite day of the year, but henot because it's living in a mountain village just beyond her birthday but because of the Costa Verde and running a pub. The Viva Espagñe isn't flourishing: Tony would really like special time she gets to sell it and return to the UK, what spend with the uncertainty of Brexit man she loves. He's told her that he and everything, but there are a couple of problems. First off, his wife are going to divorce - Laney Martha is apparently having an affair - refuses to go back to and Sylvia is convinced that the UKProf will then declare his love and they can be together. Shehasn't fully constructed 'together'd have you believe that in her own mind - she's not wellenvisages it as romantic, but thereher imagination hasn's a backstory there thatt yet progressed to the sexual part of the relationship. There's not being talked about. Then theretime though - she's only been the pub, which isn't doing well enough to sell. In fact Tonyprof's cleaning the swimming pools of expats who have left Spain and returned home, in order to make a bit of money to try and make ends at least come in sight of each other, even if they never meetPA for fifteen years. [[Staying On Needlemouse by C M TaylorJane O'Connor|Full Review]]
<!-- Tanoh Laurain -->
|-
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
[[image:19121455611910477672.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/19121455611910477672/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
===[[The Day of the Orphan Vintage 1954 by Dr Nat TanohAntoine Laurain, Jane Aitken (translator) and Emily Boyce (translator)]]===
[[image:4star4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
Saga is eighteen Vintage 1954 starts by thrusting several completely different characters upon us, before deciding to run with them andformulate a plot. So we have an American biker, like many eighteen-year olds, just landing in Paris but unfortunately not with the wife who shared his prime concerns are listening to what his mum calls ''hop-hip'', eating copious amounts dream of food, and learning about girlsvisiting the city together. Living in We have a goth girl who everyone recognises from an affluentAmerican crime show, liberal and protected suburbbut actually is a humble restorer of antiques. We have a cocktail barman, he has infatuated with the goth girl. We also have a man ruling the roost over a good lifewhole suite of individual apartments fabricated from the Haussmann-era mansion his family once owned. HoweverFinally something conspires to get them together, and drinking from the suburb is in Africasame bottle of a rare 1954 red wine. Only, where childhoods can be snatched one of them has a bizarre incidence in an instant. When his friends and family are dragged into history that also features the conflict raging around same plonk – where a grandfather imbibed, and walked out the dictatorship that Saga lives underdoor one rainy morning, he is forced never to become an unlikely revolutionarybe seen again. Can chubby Saga really stand up to a murderous regime? And can he stay one step ahead But of the soldiers desperate to stop himcourse nobody will be doing any disappearing now, though – will they? [[The Day of the Orphan Vintage 1954 by Dr Nat TanohAntoine Laurain, Jane Aitken (translator) and Emily Boyce (translator)|Full Review]]
<!-- Lock McLean -->
|-
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
[[image:17871982431786076071.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/17871982431786076071/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
===[[Murmuration The Van Apfel Girls are Gone by Robert LockFelicity McLean]]===
[[image:3star4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General FictionThrillers|General FictionThrillers]], [[:Category:Historical General Fiction|Historical General Fiction]]
''Murmuration'' follows When Tikka Molloy was eleven and one-sixth years old, the Van Apfel sisters disappeared. In the lives long hot summer of a host 1992, in an isolated suburb of characters from 1863 to Australia surrounded by Bushland, the girls vanished during the school's Showstopper concert at the present dayriverside amphitheatre. From a risqué comic to a fortune tellerDid they run away? Were they taken? While the search for the sisters united the small community, we see the birth of Blackpool and its steadily fading glamourthey were never found. There is a hint Returning home years later, Tikka must make sense of mysticism to the tale, with the mesmerising dance that strange moment in time – of starlings over the pier acting as an anchor throughout the distinct narratives heresummer that shaped her, drawing together disparate stories of lives captivated by and the seagirls she never forgot. [[Murmuration The Van Apfel Girls are Gone by Robert LockFelicity McLean|Full Review]]
<!-- Laurain AMS -->
|-
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
[[image:19104775401408711265.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/19104775401408711265/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
===[[Smoking Kills The Department of Sensitive Crimes by Antoine Laurain and Louise Rogers-Lalaurie (translator)Alexander McCall Smith]]===
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
Meet Fabrice ValantineLong-time followers of The Bookbag will know I'm a die-hard fan of AMS. He's So you can imagine my excitement at reading a brand new book in a headhunterbrand new series, and described by the author himself as Scandi Blanc (as opposed to Scandi Noir)! Here we meet a successful one toonew detective named Ulf Varg, who works in an office in Paristhe Department for Sensitive Crimes, solving those crimes that perhaps fall outside the usual police parameters. All around him however his world This particular book deals with crimes including someone who is changing – yes, there is a new ban on smoking stabbed in all workplaces. Goaded by his non-smoking wifethe knee, even though they met over the disappearance of an ashtrayimaginary boyfriend, and a case of sorts, he sees a hypnotist who had success with a mutual friend in stopping their nicotine habitpotential werewolves. The session seems to have been successful, however he faces They're the prospect of having such a change crimes that perhaps nobody else would bother to his own personalitydeal with, his imbued habits and lifestyleI rather enjoyed them, especially the stabbing where you find that actually, you identify with fearthe person who committed the crime, when he realises it will never again grant him any pleasure. He needs this pleasure when further changes at work come about – but it's what he replaces rather than the habit with that will surprise the mostvictim. [[Smoking Kills The Department of Sensitive Crimes by Antoine Laurain and Louise Rogers-Lalaurie (translator)Alexander McCall Smith|Full Review]]
<!-- Bennett Kennedy -->
|-
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
[[image:14714075350993202349.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/14714075350993202349/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
===[[The Island by M A Bennett]]===
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] ==[[:Category:Teens|Teens]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General FictionThe Things That are Lost by Alan Kennedy]]===
A contemporary take on the savage classic ''Lord of the Flies''[[image: a group of mismatched, modern-day teenagers must fight to survive on a deserted island. Link is a fish out of water. Newly arrived from America, he is finding it hard to settle into the venerable and prestigious Osney School. Who knew there could be so many strange traditions to understand? And what kind of school ranks its students by how fast they can run round the school quad - however ancient that quad may be? When Link runs the slowest time in years, he immediately becomes the butt of every school joke. And some students are determined to make his life more miserable than others..4star. jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[The Island by M A Bennett:Category:General Fiction|Full ReviewGeneral 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]] <!-- Cullen Schienmel -->
|-
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
[[image:07181891400349003289.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/07181891401492667242/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
===[[The Lost Letters of William Woolf A Danger to Herself and Others by Helen CullenAlyssa Sheinmel]]===
[[image:5star4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General FictionTeens|General FictionTeens]], [[:Category:Literary General Fiction|Literary General Fiction]]
William Woolf is a letter detective''They needed someone to blame, working in and I was the only available scapegoat. Their daughter was my best friend. Playing the scapegoat was the least I could do under the Dead Letters Depot circumstances.'' Seventeen year old Hannah Gold was born mature – or so her parents tell her. She has dined in East London. He spends his days deciphering smudged addressesfancy restaurants, tracking down mysterious people and reading endless letters explored the most sophisticated corners of love, guilt, death, hope, the globe and everyday lived a lifeof luxury. [[The Lost Letters of William Woolf A Danger to Herself and Others by Helen CullenAlyssa Sheinmel|Full Review]]
<!-- Laura Solomon Cohen -->
|-
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
[[image:19792174401409179826.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/19792174401409179826/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
===[[Marsha's Deal Louis and Louise by Laura SolomonJulie Cohen]]===
[[image:4star5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]]
Marsha didnWhat would you be like, right now, if you't d been born a different gender? Would it simply be a matter of genetics, and your life would still have an easy ride unfolded in life the first time around. same way? She'd Or would the way you had been afflicted with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibrodysplasia_ossificans_progressiva fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva]raised affect who you became in life? This latest novel by Julie Cohen looks at all of the above, a rare disease which turned parts covering the stories of her body to bone when they were damaged. Finally she was unable to stand her life any longer Louis and went to DignitasLouise, born on the Swiss euthanasia clinic. She'd thought that would be same day, to the endsame parents, but after cremation her body went straight to hell in one storyline Lou is a boy, and she found herself face-to-face with in the devilother a girl. And Does it really make a difference, the gender box that was is ticked when she made the pact. we arrive in this world? In exchange for details about some of those who had We all know that men and women are treated differently, but this story really highlights how things have been close in the past, how they still are, and prompts you to her - their strengths and weaknesses - she would think about how they could be reborn on the same day to the same parents, but would live her life free of disease... [[Marsha's Deal Louis and Louise by Laura SolomonJulie Cohen|Full Review]]
<!-- Novik O'Reilly -->
|-
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
[[image:1509899014147367235X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1509899014147367235X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
===[[Spinning Silver M for Mammy by Naomi NovikEleanor O'Reilly]]===
[[image:5star4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Teens|Teens]]
Miryem comes from The Augustts are, like all families, a long line of moneylenders bit complicated. A loving irish family, their love binds them together – but her Father isn't all express that in very good at it at alldifferent ways. Lending freely and rarely collectingHowever, he leaves when misfortune strikes the family on they are forced to work together in order to understand each other again, as with a family as complicated as the edge of poverty, until Miryem must step Augustts it's not always what is spoken that makes the most sense. Things are shaken up further when Granny Mae-Anne moves inand takes charge. Hardening her heart Full of stern words and collecting what is owed from local villagerscommon sense, she becomes 's a person force of great interest when she borrows a pouch of silver pennies from nature who must try her Grandfather and returns it full of gold, soon becoming entangled with an array of strange creatures, from hardest to hold the dark beings that haunt the wood through to a King who's eager to exploit Miryem's talents – she soon becomes aware that her skills may be more trouble than they're worth… family together. [[Spinning Silver M for Mammy by Naomi NovikEleanor O'Reilly|Full Review]]
<!-- Jones Hogan -->
|-
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
[[image:14736804091473669065.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/14736804091473669065/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
===[[Four Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel by Andy JonesRuth Hogan]]===
[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]]
Friends are niceTilda returns to Brighton, and couple friends are doubly niceto tidy away the remains of her mother's life after her death. Whilst there, giving you like minded people she returns to spend time withthe Paradise hotel, a haven for eccentrics and misfits. A pair of pairsplace where people can be themselves, or a couple and let go of couplesthoughts that torment them elsewhere. Married couple Sally and Al have known Mike Little wonder that Tilda cannot forgive her mother for ages – Sally banishing her as a child, from universitythis place of wonder. With the help of Queenie Malone, caring, Al through work. His new girlfriend Faye completes their foursome and though she doesn't have their shared historygregarious, Tilda begins to pick apart the tricky and uncertain relationship she's a lot of fun – a bit younger than the rest of them, an actress had with her sometimes cruel and so ondistant mother. [[Four Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel by Andy JonesRuth Hogan|Full Review]]
<!-- Collishaw Cookson -->
|-
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
[[image:17871988120955489059.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/17871988120955489059/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
 ===[[The Man Who Came to London by A Child Called Happiness by Stephan CollishawS Cookson]]===
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
Mazowe Valley''In 1948, 2011 – Natalie hears a sharp cry that she thinks at the first might be set of Caribbean nationals arrived in Great Britain on a birdship called "Empire Windrush". They struggled to find housing. They worked as labourers. They faced open discrimination, but turns out forcing them to be quickly form their own community. Decades later, Freddy makes the same journey.'' ''Does he find a babyplace to live? Does he face stereotypes? Has Britain moved forward?'' Freddie arrives in London in the early 2000s, abandoned to answering the birds call for teachers. He thinks about his own Jamaican education, based on the kopjeBritish system, and the way he was taught English nursery rhymes and about the River Thames. She is there with her uncle He thinks about the love of cricket and they take football, shared by both countries. And he thinks of the generations of the child, back diaspora who came before him. Freddy does well in his job in East London but he does have to face down some stereotypical attitudes from his farm initially and then pupils - all Jamaicans smoke weed, don't they? Everybody knows that! [[The Man Who Came to a local village where it is taken inLondon by A S Cookson|Full Review]] <!-- Rubin -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0718187091.jpg|link=http://www.amazon. They do not report it to the policeco. uk/dp/0718187091/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[A Child Called Happiness Liberation Square by Stephan CollishawGareth Rubin]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Full ReviewHistorical Fiction]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
In an alternate 1952, Soviet Troops control British Streets. After D-Day goes horribly wrong, Britain is first occupied by Nazi Germany – only to be rescued by Russian soldiers from the East, and Americans from the west. Dividing the nation between them, London soon finds itself split in two, a wall running through it like a scar. When Jane Cawson's husband is arrested for the murder of his former wife, Jane is determined to clear his name. In doing so, Jane follows a trail of corruption that leads her right to the highest levels of the state – and soon finds herself desperate to stay one step ahead of the murderous secret police… [[Liberation Square by Gareth Rubin|Full Review]] <!-- Syson Mary Adkins -->
|-
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
[[image:Syson_Peacock1473673313.jpg|left|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/17857618621473673313/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
===[[Mr Peacock's Possessions When You Read This by Lydia SysonMary Adkins]]===
[[image:4star4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category: Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]], [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
On a remote volcanic island off Smith Simonyi and Iris Massey worked together for four years, during which time Iris left her husband at the coast of New Zealandaltar on their wedding day. Smith, meanwhile, relied on Iris, a family of settlers struggle but his attention was on making enough money to make such an unforgiving place a cover his mother's nursing homefees in Wisconsin, running the branding agency in New York and losing money gambling when the pressures got too much for him. When He was devastated when Iris developed a ship appears, they feel terminal cancer and died at the age of thirty three. He was surprised too when he discovered that their wishes have Iris had been granted and their community reinvigorated – but high hopes are swiftly dashed when writing a vulnerable boy disappears. As both settlers and newcomers come together blog in the search for last six months of her life and her final request of Smith is that he gets the child, they uncover far, far more than they were looking for – discovering dark secrets about both the island and those who inhabit itblog published as a book. [[Mr Peacock's Possessions When You Read This by Lydia SysonMary Adkins|Full Review]]
<!-- Parkin Laura Solomon -->
|-
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
[[image:17871984051512235857.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/17871984051512235857/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
===[[Underwater Breathing Vera Magpie by Cassandra ParkinLaura Solomon]]===
[[image:5star4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] ''I have murdered three husbands.''
A tumble-down Edwardian house As an opening line that will sooner rather than later tumble down the mud cliffs and away into must take some beating, but Vera's telling us the sea is where we meet Jacob and Ellatruth. They share The first two husbands, Gary and Harry were abusive, but Larry was a bathroom in the turrettreasure, a keeper, old and cold it's difficult to understand why Vera would have killed him, particularly when she was likely to get found out very quickly and not really supposed to be used…but this is where they hide away from the shouts of their parentsnow she' argumentss in prison with a mandatory life sentence. Here they play the Underwater Breathing gameHer only friend is Shirley, a lesbian, submerging themselves in the water holding their breath for as long as they canbut Vera's not one to let herself be a victim. For sixteen year old Jacob itShe's just not keen on having a way sexual relationship with Shirley (she wouldn't risk the security of drowning out her life in prison for the arguments…but for Ella it is more than that. She is terrified sake of the seaa fling), of the fact that it will come but she is keen on getting an education and swallow their house. She needs to know that she can survive under water. She has to practice's studying for a degree in English Literature. [[Underwater Breathing Vera Magpie by Cassandra ParkinLaura Solomon|Full Review]]
<!-- Makkai Laura Solomon -->
|-
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
[[image:0708899137938689713X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0708899137938689713X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
===[[The Great Believers Black Light by Rebecca MakkaiLaura Solomon]]===
[[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:LGBT General Fiction|LGBT General Fiction]]
Jim is a university student and, as the saying goes, he hasn't got his troubles to seek. His father committed suicide when he was young and somehow he'The Great Believerss never really managed to connect with his step-father. His younger brother would be kindly described as having learning difficulties: if you were being honest you'd just say that he was very difficult, but Jim does his best with and for him. Jim' follows s in love with a group of friends whose lives are devastated by woman, but she finds him repulsive and you can understand why: the AIDS crisis in Chicago during looks, the late 1980’s. Beginning in 1985attitude, the reader follows Yale (lack of) conversational ability and his friends as they come to terms with the increasingly virulent illness spreading throughout their community, alongside their demonisation at the hands of clothing all leave a conservative Americalot to be desired. Thirty years later Fiona, a devoted friend Despite all that's he's not about to Yale, is searching for her estranged daughter on the streets of Paris, trying sit back and allow his life to rebuild a relationship beset by memories drift: he's actually writing ''two'' novels and old hurthe reads excerpts from these to his friends in the pub. [[The Great Believers Black Light by Rebecca MakkaiLaura Solomon|Full Review]]
 <!-- Koomson Chase -->
|-
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
[[image:178089600X1789010098.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/178089600X1789010098/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
===[[The Brighton Mermaid Redemptor Domus by Dorothy KoomsonGamelyn Chase]]===
[[image:4.5star4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]]
In 1993, two teenagers stumble across a horrific scene A young boy arrives at an exclusive faith school on the beach as they're sneaking home after an un-authorised night out: a body of a young womanscenic North Wales coast, partially stripped, totally deceasedsent far from his family in the Far East. The find hits As the girls in different ways. Nell becomes obsessed with finding boy travels to the identity of school, a family tragedy causes the girl – who she calls ''boy to arrive at the Brighton Mermaid'' because of school a distinguishing tattoo – whereas Jude just wants to forget it ever happenedvulnerable orphan, with an uncertain future. Fast forward 25 years Plunged into a school full of danger and Nell betrayal, the boy is still haunted seen as a trophy by what happened that nightfriends and enemies alike. With few leads them locked into their scheming and plotting, it comes to go on, the Police closed boy to attempt to clean up the case without cracking it, and so it remains one pit of those unsolved mysteries filth that the school has become part of local folklore, but Nell struggles to let sleeping dogs, or even sleeping mermaids, lie. As for Jude, well no one knows if the discovery still haunts her because no one knows where she is. Shortly after that fateful night, she too disappeared, never to be seen or heard from again. There's more to Brighton than Stag Dos and Gay Pride, it seems. [[The Brighton Mermaid Redemptor Domus by Dorothy KoomsonGamelyn Chase|Full Review]]
<!-- DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->
|}
Retrieved from "http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/Special:MobileDiff/150103...152080"

Navigation menu