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[[Category:General Fiction|*]]
[[Category:New Reviews|General Fiction]]==General fiction==__NOTOC__{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Kerry YoungOnyi Nwabineli|title=PaoAllow Me to Introduce Myself|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=In Anuri spent her Costa Prize shortchildhood on display to the world, thanks to her step-listed first novelmother Ophelia's increasingly popular presence on social media, Kerry Young brings together a huge number where she posted every step of elements that make up a good story. Set in JamaicaAnuri's childhood for sponsorships and influencer deals and, the time period covers 1938 to almost present daybasically, monetary gain. it Now Anuri is in her twenties and she is the political backdrop of independence slowly trying to regain her confidence and control over Jamaica's assets that informs much of to get her life back, suing her step-mother to take down the story. But while the politics of Jamaica resound throughout the book, it's also a very personal story content about the life of the eponymous Yang Paoher. Issues of race Anuri is battling alcoholism, classfailing to start her PhD, loveundergoing therapy and secretly abusing people online and receiving money from them for doing so. Most importantly, familyshe is desperately worried about her little sister, ambition and business philosophy - Pao's guiding light who is Sun Tzu's ''The Art the new focus of War'' - are skilfully woven into the mix to make this a great book to curl up with on a cold winterOphelia's nightonline empire. Can she save her sister, and perhaps herself and her relationship with her father at the same time?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>140881207X</amazonuk>0861546873
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Gavin James Bower1529153298|title=Made in BritainThe List of Suspicious Things|author=Jennie Godfrey|rating=25
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=The settings of the intertwined tales of RussellIt's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister. (A woman? I mean, honestly...) She's not what's worrying Miv's family, the working class swot trapped by his conditionsthough. Women have been disappearing. Well, Charliethey've been murdered, but to have 'disappeared' doesn't sound quite so frightening. Miv's upset because she's overheard that her father wants to move the heroic family 'ladDown South' who gets caught in the drugs scene and Hayley the naïve wannabee with . When you're from Yorkshire, Down South is a single parent father are frightening, foreign place, best avoided. For Miv, the school rooms and backstreetsmove would mean leaving her best friend, flatsSharon, pubs and clubs of Every Town, she'll do anything to prevent that. She's not worried about the vision of twentydangers or that her Mum's stopped talking -first century deprivation that Bower conjures. Or rather fails to conjure, for the device of making the 16 year olds tell the story from their own first person narrative deprives the reader of a genuine sense of the physical reality in which this story unfoldsanyone.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0704372290</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Laura Wilkinson1035906708|title=BloodminingDiva|author=Daisy Goodwin|rating=34.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Although Wilkinson has placed her story We tend to think of Maria Callas as Greek, but she was born to Greek parents in the near futureManhattan, for the most partNew York, you wouldnin December 1923 and only moved to Athens when she was thirteen. Her original surname was Kalogeropoulos but her father changed it to 'Callas't necessarily be aware of that factto make it more manageable in the States. Personally, I When she was back in Athens - supposedly so that she could get appropriate training for her voice - she was delighted as I'm not raised under the Nazi occupation by a fan mother who mercilessly exploited her and made no secret of futuristic fictionher preference for her elder sister, Jackie.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907335145</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Kerry JamiesonAlexander McCall Smith|title=The Forgotten LiesPerfect Passion Company
|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=In The Perfect Passion Company is a dating agency in Edinburgh, run by Ness and operating as an alternative to all the mid-thirtiesonline apps in providing a more personal, tailored service. Ness has asked her younger cousin Katie if she could come and look after the golden age of Hollywoodbusiness, three aspiring starlets shared as Ness is planning to take a studio house on Lantana Drive as they waited trip to hear if they were going Canada to have get away for a career in while. Katie is coming out of a break up with a bad boyfriend, and so jumps at the movies – or notchance to come home to Edinburgh. Charlotte (soon And so begins this new story from Alexander McCall Smith, bringing us to be Carlie for acting purposes), Verbenaan Edinburgh we already love, known thanks to her friends (and ''only'' her friends) as Bee 44 Scotland Street and Ivy were desperate for the role of Isabel Dalhousie novels, but with some new characters who quickly begin to charm. Katie has no experience in running a lifetimebusiness, which would put their name or in lights. There was an added appeal. Whoever won would star opposite Liam Malone – good lookingmatch-making, but Ness has full confidence in her abilities, charismatic and there''s always her very'' married with six children. It wasn't just helpful (and rather handsome) neighbour, William, to lend a case of being able to act. Their lives would be under intense scrutiny.hand…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0141026049</amazonuk>1846976596
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Conny BraamDean Koontz|title=The Cocaine SalesmanBad Weather Friend
|rating=4.5
|genre=Historical FictionParanormal|summary=Picture Benny is having a world of hellish exclusionterrifically bad day. He loses his job, nightmarish noise and imageshe loses his fiancee, and horrid violencehis house gets trashed. Picture one person trying Oh, and someone has delivered a really weird, disturbing coffin-sized object to live through the sleepless nightshis home, and it's possible that whoever or whatever was inside is the isolation among thing that has trashed his peershouse! The thing is, Benny is the permanent sense of dreadful threatvery last person to deserve all this bad luck. He is a nice person. Picture him needing drugsA really nice person. His best So fortunately for Benny it turns out that the delivery to his house is a new friend, a bad weather friend might even be called CharlieSpike, who has been sent to help him since Benny is clearly under attack from nefarious forces for being a good person. But donSpike is going to take care of Benny, and will certainly take care of Benny't picture an inner city slums enemies, 2012if he, but Benny, and Harper (a man on the front in World War Onewaitress slash Private Investigator who finds herself roped into Benny's wild adventure) can figure out who exactly they are.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1907822054</amazonuk>1662500491
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Rachel ConnorKatherine Howe|title=SisterwivesA True Account|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=When I first read the title (I hadn't yet read the back cover blurb) I glibly thought that it was about two sisters Hannah Masury is living in Boston, having been sent to live with a family who run an inn, and their marriagesbeing made to work there from a young age. Wrong. This debut novel by Connor When she hears there is about two very different women (one is no more than to be a girl really) who just happen hanging of some pirates in the town, she decides to 'marry' the same mango and watch. I use Enthralled and horrified in equal measure, Hannah finds herself embroiled in a young boy's death at the word marry very loosely indeedhands of two vicious pirates. Their communityShe hides away, so that they don't find and kill her too, their rulesand then to escape them completely she runs away to sea, their descriptions etc can be rather quirkydressing as a boy and joining the notorious Ned Low's pirate ship as a cabin boy. Marriages She soon finds herself in the thick of things when there is a mutiny on board, and from there we are normally called 'sealings'caught up in her rip roaring tale of life on the ocean waves.'|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0946745587</amazonuk>0861547438
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Neil Forsyth1471180158|title=Why Me? The Very Important Emails of Bob ServantMaybe Tomorrow|author=Penny Parkes|rating=34.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Catchy title and catchy front cover graphicsJamie Matson works in an upper-class grocery store, for a man who's a control freak with all the subtlety of a half brick. WhatJamie's not to like? It takes a lot to make me laugh generallyson, but as I had an initial flick through this bookBo, things looked promising'has his problems'. And I was also thinking He's asthmatic and the more you read, the more you'll suspect that ithe's on the autistic spectrum. Sometimes Jamie needs to take time off at short notice - she's a pleasant change frequent flier in the local A&E and sometimes Bo's not fit enough to see another location (other than perhaps go to school. Missed shifts or the predictable Glasgow need to be away on time to pick Bo up from school are occasions when Jamie can be controlled and Edinburgh) get an airingput in the wrong. It was going to come to a head.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780270097</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=D. J. ConnellB0CKD1L5JL|title=Sherry Cracker Gets NormalRadio Free Olympia|author=Jeffrey Dunn|rating=54
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Whilst it's wrong to judge a book Petr is an orphan. Rescued by its coverthe strange, reclusive Bear, he is brought up far from bustling cities and busy human society, a mere sight in the forests of D. J. ConnellWashington's second novel 'Sherry Cracker Gets Normal' is enough to make me smileOlympic Peninsula. The title is amusing; After Bear dies and a brief sojourn in human company, and armed with only a pirate radio transmitter, Petr goes on a journey through the forest, broadcasting the colourful design enticing strange, wild and the effusive praise for Connell's debut 'Julian Corkle is a Filthy Liar' encouragingrarely heard voices he encounters.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>000733219X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Gavin JamesSarah Marsh|title=Ariadne's ThreadA Sign of Her Own
|rating=3.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=''Ariadne's Thread'' is the story After a bout of Elena Avgoulas who decided in May 1941 that she would have to leave Chiosscarlet fever as a child, the Greek island where she was born, until the war was overEllen Lark loses her hearing. German soldiers had occupied the island and whilst they were there it would not be home to herSuddenly plunged into a world of silence, everything about her mother and sister and brotherslife changes. The brothers were Living in a time when the Greek army. Her mother would run the family bakery and her sister would support their mother. Elena use of sign language was seen as something only savages do, Ellen is sent to a medical student in Athens and had a nursing qualification; school where she decided that is taught to lip read, but physically restrained from signing. From here, she would make use of this ends up in another school studying under Alexander Graham Bell who has been teaching the war effortdeaf and using a system called Visible Speech. And so began a journey that would take her to CyprusAt the same time, PalestineBell is working on other inventions and ideas, Egypt, Italy and Germany Ellen finds herself unwittingly caught up in the course a complicated tangle of the warespionage.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>B005FRG8P4</amazonuk>1035401614
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Javier MariasB0BC3YTCMR|title=While the Women are SleepingGood Girls Die|author=Ayura Ayira
|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=As Holmes embarks on a journey towards the Northern Isles, we are treated to a comprehensive background of the ways of witches all over the world; all points are pertinent and the history ''This story is fascinating as well as necessarynot for everyone. The introduction to the ways of witchcraft demonstrates the worldwide links that will become highly significant later. Revill weaves in the relevant history and all its complications with ease, and the novel flows in spite of having to accommodate this.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780920091</amazonuk>}}''
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Ernest Cline1472263936|title=Ready Player OneThe Figurine|author=Victoria Hislop|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=A short while agoIt was in 1968 that Helena McCloud made her first trip to Greece. She was alone: her mother, I stumbled across a highly enjoyable film called ''Fanboys''Greek by birth, about a bunch of ''Star Wars'' fans trying had left the family home and refused to break into George Lucasreturn, but Mary and Hamish (Helena' mansion to get s parents) felt that it would be a sneak preview of the new filmpity if Helena grew up without knowing her grandparents or understanding her Greek heritage. I didn't pay much attention Her trip to the name family apartment in up-market Kolonaki would be the first of several annual visits. She grew to love her grandmother and the writer, until I came across Ernest Clinefamily's author bio in ''Ready Player One'' maid, Dina, but was wary - and realised it frightened - of her grandfather, retired general Stamatis Papagiannis. He was written by proud of his close connections to the same personJunta and expected his family to uphold his values but saw no reason to accommodate them. This immediately gave me high hopesHis prejudices included Helena's red hair and green eyes - inherited from her father's Scottish ancestors.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846059372</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Robert HarrisDean Koontz|title=The Fear IndexAfter Death|rating=43
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=With the FTSE recording its biggest quarterly drop Michael Mace, Head of Security, at a top secret biological research facility, is among 55 people who die when a virus is released in a bio-hazard accident. Finding himself in a makeshift mortuary, covered in yearsplastic, he has a sense that something very, turmoil on the bond markets very bad has happened to him – and only him – as he sits up and looks around at the prospect shrouded bodies of economic meltdown his dead friends and the possible disintegration of the euro zoneformer colleagues. As he recovers his senses, Robert Harrishe realises that there is something different about him; he can '' new thriller couldnfeel'' everything. ''Everything''. Michael isn't be more timely''Michael'' anymore.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0091936969</amazonuk>1662500467}} {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Tom BaleB0BVDC2VWH|title=Blood FallsThe Grave Listeners|author=William Frank
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=I read The village is isolated and reviewed Balepoor. It's [[Terror's Reach surrounded by a Witching Forest. And the villagers subsist largely by Tom Bale|Terror's Reach]]farming Uphegia plants - its bread-like fruit provides nutrition and enjoyed itits blossom provides herbal medicines. What would I think The black wood of his latest? Joe is doing his level best to live an unremarkable (almost invisible) life in Bristol. He uses his brawn to pay his modest bills for rentthe forest provides heat and warmth, food etc. But you could sayroofs on homes, once a copperand even gallows, always a copper so his brain if needed. The fear of being buried alive is not idle, it's in constant use. Whirring away an existential superstition in the background village and it's just as well. Joe soon senses imminent danger when that is the reason Volushka, a couple drunken, self-indulgent, lazy lout of blokes stroll by, stop and ask his gaffer a couple of questions. Joe needs to be somewhere else - and fastman is tolerated.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184809325X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=John O'ConnellB0BYF82CXT|title=The Baskerville Legacy: A NovelSemi-Detached|author=Deborah Stone
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=1900, ''Bill and Amanda are living in a man on semi-detached house, stuck in a ship coming back from the Boer War to edit the Daily Express meets one depressing rut of his heroes boredom and disappointment, when Terry and Fiona – glamorous, successful and very much in love – move in the form of Arthur Conan Doylenext door. With similar experiences and interests yet Despite their different enough to bounce off outlooks on life, the couples befriend each other they take up the idea of collaborating on a plotand life appears to improve for both pairs. When they do fix on time to do so, But all is not what it leads to literary prospectsseems, which lead to a week's research together on Dartmoor, which leads to and their increasingly interconnected relationships are fated for tragedy.''The Hound of the Baskervilles''. But perhaps in a way that only one of them intended.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907595465</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Syd MooreShalini Boland|title=The Drowning PoolSilent Bride|rating=43
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=The book opens with Alice and Seth are a group of young women out on the townmatch made in heaven. He is everything she has been searching for; handsome, accomplished, clever, letting their hair down funny; total and having funutter husband-material. Moore describes She is all of them he could possibly want in a fresh wife; beautiful, successful, confident… and modern voice which I really likedso the inevitable proposal is eagerly accepted by Alice and the wedding is planned and set. It came across as a breath of fresh air. The storyWhen the much-anticipated day arrives, Sarah's story Alice is told walked down the aisle by Sarah herself. But ither father, beaming with pride and excitement as she surveys the congregation – their friends assembled to celebrate this joyful day and when Seth turns to face his approaching bride, Alice's told from world implodes because she has absolutely no idea who the man at the perspective of looking back after it's all happened so there's lots of why-didn't-I-see-that-coming language. Hindsightaltar is, in a wordwho is waiting for her to become his wife.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1847562663</amazonuk>1662507089
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Guillaume Musso1787636003|title=The Girl on PaperGirls of Summer|author=Katie Bishop|rating=3.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=This is a modern book for modern timesIt was the summer when Rachel Evans turned eighteen that she and Caroline went backpacking around Greece and arrived on the island. I loved the reader-friendly layout with bigRachel wasn't exactly innocent but she was, perhaps, bold type letting the reader know exactly where we werenaive, so when thirty-four-year-old Alistair Wright started to take an interest in terms her, she was flattered rather than wary. It was quite a while before he made any sort of storyline physical approach to her and locationby that time she was obsessed by him. But Alistair worked for Henry Taylor, looking after his interests on the story itself does jump about a lot island and I suspect Musso wants to give a sense of urgency, a sense of frenetic energy at timesin particular in the bar where all the girls either worked or partied.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908313056</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Victoria HislopAmanda Craig|title=The ThreadThree Graces|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=I read and enjoyed HislopFew styles of contemporary fiction interest me like the state-of-the-nation novel. There's 'The Island' something so I was looking forward to reading this book. The Prologue is May 2007 utterly compelling about any writer who can catch hold of the atmosphere of the day and readers are treated to a vivid coastal description capture it, crafting an image of the area which country as it stands in one particular moment. To say that Amanda Craig is to play such a big part in skilled at doing this would be embarrassingly inadequate: she's practically synonymous with the novelgenre of contemporary social fiction at this point. Lines She has such as 'With a gift for weaving the lifting haze, Mount Olympus gradually emerged far away across ongoing issues of the Thermaic Gulf and day into the restful blues lives of sea her characters in a way that feels natural and sky shrugged off their pale shroudlived-in, never making them ciphers for social commentary but instead fully realised people, grappling with issues far larger than themselves.'|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0755377737</amazonuk>140871468X
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=William Giraldi152915118X|title=Busy MonstersPineapple Street|author=Jenny Jackson|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Charles Homar loves his Gillian''Pineapple Street'' is the story of three women: Sasha, Darley and Georgiana. HeDarley and George are sisters and Sasha is married to their brother Cord. They's proved it to us, if not to herre Stocktons, only Sasha isn't a Stockton by going after her possessive, jealous state trooper of an ex with birth so she isn't readily accepted into the intent to kill - if only ended up rescuing a cat insteadtribe. But lo and behold, sheThe problem's declared sheexacerbated when the clan matriarch, Tilda, asks Cord and Sasha if they's off d like to discover move into the real love of her life - the giant squidPineapple Street property. Failing Tilda and Chip have renovated and downsized to stop thisanother property, Charlie spends too long with a Nessie obsessivestreet or so away, then goes on a hunt which they own. They won't need any of his own - for Bigfoot, all the whilefurniture from Pineapple Street, chapter by chapterso Sasha and Cord can move straight in. Nominally, sending his narrative of they had a choice but that wasn't the reality. Darley and Georgiana start to call Sasha 'the same gold digger'. She's living in ''their'' family home. They use it so often that they abbreviate it to a magazine as essays for one of those autobiographical, frivolous columns'the GD'.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0393079627</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Nicholas SparksEmily Critchley|title=The Best of MeOne Puzzling Afternoon
|rating=4
|genre=General FictionCrime|summary=Since watching 84 year old Edie has lived in the film of 'The Notebook' years ago I've always fancied reading some Nicholas Sparks books same small town for almost her whole life, but never quite got around now she is facing a move as her son wants to move to another house and bring Edie to it until I saw thislive with his family, his newest offeringas Edie is starting to lose her memory. Here we have However, Edie is tormented by the tale memory of two her childhood sweethearts whose love friend, Lucy, who went missing over 60 years ago, and the worry that there was always threatened by a secret she was keeping for Lucy that somehow might be the fact thing that they were from opposite sides reveals the truth of what happened all that time ago. After 'seeing' Lucy in the tracks - he from the roughhigh street, poor family that is forever on just as she was the wrong side of the lawlast time she saw her, and she from one starts to find pockets of memories coming back to her. And yet as she remembers the betterpast, respected families she is forgetting more and more in the town. After her day to day life forces them apart they go on to live very different lives, but it seems that neither one has ever forgotten that early passion. Drawn back together for Will she uncover the funeral of an old friend they are both forced to look at the choices theytruth about Lucy've made in their lives s disappearance before her move, and where they go to from here.before her memories are gone forever?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1847443206</amazonuk>1804181250
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Madelaine Lucas
|title=Thirst for Salt
|rating=5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary= ''Love, I'd read, was supposed to be a light and weightless feeling, but I had always longed for gravity''
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=S G Browne0008506337|title=FatedThe Garnett Girls|author=Georgina Moore
|rating=5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Clever The love affair between Margo Garnett and very funnypoet Richard O'Leary was all-consuming, this is the sort of book where you immediately feel apparently on both sides. Margo was just sixteen when they fell in safe handslove. S Richard was twenty-one and described by Margo's mother as 'an older man'.G Her parents worried that Richard's influence would take her away from what they felt she could achieve - going to Oxford and having a glittering career. Browne has gone to town (New York) In the event, satirising just about every aspect they eloped and Richard took her away from the Isle of modern lifeWight. Margo did go to Oxford and went on to become a well-respected journalist. The couple had three children: Rachel, Imogen and my reading Sasha. Life was continually interrupted by bells clanging loudly lived in recognition London and holidays were spent at Sandcove, the family home on the Isle of Wight. Even then the doubts about Richard's drinking were never far from Margo's mind: ''she would never be able to leave him in my headcharge''.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749954728</amazonuk>Then Richard left them.
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Titania Hardie1914585402|title=The House of the WindDashboard Elvis is Dead|author=David F Ross|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=I loved the intriguing title of the reviewed David F Ross's book and was hoping that Hardie explains it. She does: not only that but the wind element (no pun intended) is mentioned throughout at regular intervals. A nice touch, I thought and not over-played either. The short Prologue describes a young girl on the eve of her [[There'terrible fate.s Only One Danny Garvey by David F Ross|There' But fate seems to have changed its mind at the very last minute. And this strange/weird/scary event happens at the Casa al Vento - 'The House of the Wind.'|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755346297</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Jane Sanderson|title=Netherwood|rating=4|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=The cover of Netherwood features s Only One Danny Garvey]] a bold promise - 'Perfect for fans couple of Downton Abbey'years back and remember being absolutely floored by how powerful and affecting it was. The basic features of It was a reliable 'upstairs/downstairs' saga are all present; the landed gentry enjoying their estategripping, the staff servicing it and the locals, all relying on the fortunate family for their own income.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751547638</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Khaled Hosseini|title=The Kite Runner (Graphic Novel)|rating=4|genre=Graphic Novels|summary=A confession. If there's one book I'm not likely to emotionally wounding read, and rereading my review of it's that which everyone else is reading. If it turns into a hugely popular film for all the left-wing chattering classes to rave over, then my main takeaway was that's just more grist to my mill – I'll always might not have a chance to catch up lavished enough praise on it later on, even if I never take that opportunity. I'm not alone in acting like this – see a friend and colleague's similar admission when reviewing [[White Teeth by Zadie Smith]]. But at least, through the medium of the graphic novel, the book reviewing gods have conspired to let me see just what I'm missing, with this adaptation, by Italian artists, of a hugely successful – and therefore delayable – novel.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408815257</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jennifer HaighLucy Ashe|title=FaithClara and Olivia
|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=As a ''New York Times Bestseller'' I was expecting great things from this book; coupled with the fact that I really enjoy American fiction, I was itching to get readingThe year is 1933. The story is told from the perspective of Sheila, sister to Mike and half-sister to Arthur (heplace? Sadler's normally called Art)Wells. Art is the priest Ballerinas Clara and who is at Olivia are sisters, twins no less. Identical on the centre of outside but not, we learn, on the storminside. We go back in time and discover And not on stage, either. Because there's a rather pious woman who has had lot that builds a hard start to married lifedancer. She's now left Some things that can be taught or learnt – discipline, attention to bring up her young sondetail – and some things, Artthat ''je ne sais quoi'', on her ownthat don't come from the classroom. But things pick up pretty quickly from here and as an attractive woman itA stage presence, a charm, a ''joie de vivre''s not long before she meets someone else. Two more children are born The difference between a hard-worker, and they all settle down into a normal, American family unitstar.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0007225091</amazonuk>0861544080
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jaimy GordonHeather Fawcett|title=Lord Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of MisruleFaeries
|rating=4
|genre=Literary General Fiction|summary=West VirginiaEmily Wilde is an expert academic scholar on faerie lore, 1970. We're at a rundown race trackand she has travelled extensively, of the dusty kind rundown horses and their rundown owner/trainers fetch up living inresearched meticulously, with the occasional race to interrupt write her life's work, the boredomvery first encyclopaedia of faeries. Into things comes a young upstart hoping Whilst she is brilliant at research and speaking to surprise all faeries, she is not so good with his four unknown quantities and make a packet before fleeingpeople. His girlfriend So when she finds herself far, far North in the small village of Hrafvsnik, having somehow offended the village matriarch, she is here too not sure what she has done, nor how to help out, redeem herself and naively eager put her final investigations for success her book back on the right track. Enter Wendell Bambleby, her dashingly handsome and knowledgeinsufferable rival who arrives unexpectedly, but old hands like Medicine Ed have seen it all beforecharm and delight, much to Emily's frustration. Also in the background are some small-time gangsters who are not too keen at for once not knowing who But why is doing he here? What does he want? And what and how races are exactly is going to be run and won.on with the faerie folk around Hravsnik?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0857386697</amazonuk>0356519120
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Alexander McCall Smith1398515388|title=Unusual Uses for Olive Oil: A Von Igelfeld NovelThe Boy and the Dog|author=Seishu Hase and Alison Watts (translator)
|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Following on from ''The 2½ Pillars First of Wisdom'' which all, it was a compilation of three shorter volumesthe earthquake, deep in the ocean floor, which created the tsunami and this book sees Professor Dr Von Igelfeld still dealing with his academic colleagues but also with the prospect of a love interest, a recently widowed ladyin turn, Frau Benzcaused the nuclear meltdown. The result was complete and utter devastation. The deaths were uncountable, who has inherited and the large Schloss in Regensburgloss of livelihoods was widespread. Is love in The fact that many pets were separated from their owners came far down the list of priorities but - six months after the air? tsunami - Kazumasa Nakagaki discovered a dog outside a convenience store. Or will He wasn't a dog person but the convenience store owner's comment that he would call Public Health prompted Kazumasa to open his arch rival, Unterholzer interfere once again?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0316027545</amazonuk>car door and Tamon the dog jumped in.
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Sophie DuffyChristopher Bowden|title=The Generation GameMr Magenta
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Do you remember ''The Generation Game'' TV show, with old Brucie and then Larry Grayson managing the mayhem? Where were you when Charles and Di got married? What about when Diana died? ThereChristopher Bowden's plenty latest novel is a patient untangling of reminiscing to be done in this book as Sophie Duffy takes us from the 1960a seemingly ordinary woman's to 2006 through the life , carried out by her nephew after she has died. The aunt who always provided a safe harbour and a little bit of her character, Philippa, in indulgence to a young nephew had had a book much more interesting life than that fleets from funny, heartwarming moments nephew Stephen had ever realised and it seems to him an obligation to real sadnessfind it all out.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1908248017</amazonuk>B0B6Z9VJDW
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Larry PontiusJennifer Mason|title=Future KingPartitions of Unity|rating=34
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=It's the near future Here at Bookbag Towers, we first met Elizabeth Cromwell, dominatrix and King Charles III has ascended the throne of the United Kingdom with Camilla as his Queen Consort. The country is unintentional detective in a mess with rampant inflation, unemployment[[Preposterous: An Elizabeth Cromwell Mystery by Jennifer Mason|Preposterous]], when she investigated and unravelled a crumbling infrastructure and riots: the people have taken to calling this time series of disappearances. In ''The TroublesPartitions of Unity'', she sets her mind to solving a murder. Such situations breed power-hungry politicians and Prime Minister Alistair Saxon has plans to become the dictator of the country. When the King refuses to give his assent to the Emergency Powers Act, Saxon and his fellow-conspirators kidnap the Royal family to prevent Charles speaking against the EPA.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1463766297</amazonuk>B09LQR9FRF
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Kirsten TranterWill Carver|title=The LegacyDaves Next Door
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=This is quite Five strangers come together in one moment as a chunky book so Tranter has given herself plenty of space and time suicide bomber prepares to build up detonate his vest on a nice level of suspense here as well as putting some flesh on the bones of her central charactersLondon tube line. The book opens - towards the end of As their fates overlap, the story. So we have firmis told in backwards order, but platonic friends, Julia and Ralph both very concerned about their mutual friend, Ingrid. She supposedly died on 9/11 - but with no remains, no burial, their grief hasn't an outlet. They need (leading up to quote that much used word) closurethe fateful moment.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0857380621</amazonuk>1914585186}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Joe SimpsonJennifer Mason|title=The Sound of GravityPreposterous: An Elizabeth Cromwell Mystery|rating=3.54
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Patrick is climbing ''A struggling poetry zine, a mom-and-pop mobile diner in the Alps with his girlfriend. They are taking an unusual and difficult ascentNorthern California redwoods, and it is winter. A storm blows up. Whilst they are camping overnighta 400-meter hurdler who just missed the 2004 Olympics, Patricka women's girlfriend loses her footing. He manages to catch her handtrack coach with a yen for bullwhips, and then she slips through his fingers and falls into a chasm. The novel details billionaire with a state-of-the days and hours -art S&M dungeon, a man serving a life sentence in the run-up to this tragedyAlabama, an enigmatic signature, K(s, x), and the aftermathon a cheap oil painting, both immediate and long terman erotic art dealer in Georgia...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224072641</amazonuk>}}''
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Philip RothB0B2N7MVYM|title=Nemesis|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=1944, Newark, New Jersey. Summer. Hot. Bucky Cantor, a young Jewish man, is gym teacher and playground attendant-cum-sports instructor for the district, helping all those interested become fit young men, able to do what his eyesight prevents him from doing - serving in the forces. Things would be fine if his girlfriend were closer at hand, if it were cooler, and if there were no polio epidemic happening. But there is, and nobody knows what is causing it. Is it flies? Is it a gang The Calculations of taunting Italian kids spreading it from neighbourhood to neighbourhood? Is it blacks, germs on money - is it in fact Cantor himself, draining all the youthful vigour from his charges under a blistering sun?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099542269</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewRational Men|author=Nina Bell|title=The Empty NestersDaniel Godfrey|rating=35
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=With their children all off to university (most from the same school year, plus an erroneous one who took a handy-for-the-sake-of-the-story gap year), itIt's all change for the parents 10th of December 1962 when we first meet Dr Joseph Marr. Just to put what happens in this book – for Clover and George, and Laura and Timcontext, and Alice. Though some of the fathers are present, as youCuban missile crisis is still very fresh in people'd expect this is s minds. The world has barely had a tale told mainly from the eyes of the motherschance to breathe out. Clover and Laura have been friends forever But for Joe Marr, while Clover and Aliceit's relationship is more recent. As for Laura and Alice, well they really donnot the missile crisis that't get on, making life a little tricky s at times for Clover, stuck somewhere in the middlefront of his mind.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751543667</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Susan Hill|title=The Shadows in the Street|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=This is the fifth novel in Susan Hill He's series about the detective Simon Serraillerbeen convicted of murder. Although you could probably follow With the story without knowing the previous books I think current state of medical knowledge, it does help 's hard to think otherwise than that the prosecution would never have some background on who all the characters arebeen brought but Joe Marr has spent his first few days in HMP Queen's Bench, a relatively new prison. I really love the way Hill weaves her story around some wonderful character studies. Simon is actually hardly in this novelHe's just getting used to his roommate, Mervyn, and learning to be wary of the focus instead is on the 'extras', with a lot of details being put into characters who will only be around for this particular novel but who live and breathe through it wonderfully wellMcArthur brothers. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099499282</amazonuk>
}}