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==The Best New Books==
'''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].'''
{{Frontpage
|author=Louie StowellPaul B Preciado|title=Loki: A Bad God's Guide to Being GoodDysphoria Mundi
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident ReadersPolitics and Society|summary=Meet Loki. The trickster god has got into trouble again, so the other gods have decided there's only one thing for it – he must be banished. And transformed – for Loki 'It is spending a month both in exile and in never too late to embrace the physical form revolutionary optimism of a middle-school kid here on Earth. Hechildhood''s guarded by a giant Through this hybrid text, consisting of arias, letters, essays and a god in disguise as autofiction, Preciado expresses his parentsown hybrid self, and Thor has come along brings forth a new sensorium as well, an offering to be the more suavenew generation, more popular and more successful brother a new feeling mechanism in which detachment is not considered a sign of the twopolitical apathy. Loki has a month to redeem his reputationRather, and get his moral compass pointing it is the right way again, or elseproportional, and valid response to prove it he has to write ''the text epistemological and political crack we read in a sentient notebookare living through, and the tension between emancipatory forces and conservative resistances that characterize our present'' which Preciado calls ''dysphoria mundi''. The whole text is able framed against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic as that which has catalysed this revolution, when dysphoria began to cry foul of his liesemerge on a global scale, and judge his progressor as ''pangea covidica''. But Loki is the kind Rather than taking this extreme dysphoria as a sign of god who insists he can do anythingweakness, so surviving a bit more virtuously or mistaking detachment or withdrawal for a month is going political paralysis, Preciado urges his readers to be a walk in the park..''use dysphoria as your revolutionary platform''.right?|isbn=14063997521804271454
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{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=0008454442Samantha Harvey|title=A Flicker in the Dark|author=Stacy WillinghamOrbital|rating=4.5|genre=ThrillersGeneral Fiction|summary=ItIn 2024, Samantha Harvey won the Booker Prize for ''Orbital''s May 2019 and Dr Chloe Davis, a medical psychologist, is completing compact yet profound work that unfolds over a session with single day in the lives of a new patient. Lacey is suffering mentally but Chloe has hopes group of getting her through astronauts aboard the traumaInternational Space Station. You see, Chloe knows what itThrough a narrative lens that mirrors the astronauts's like to have a traumatic childhood. Her father is Richard Davisorbital perspective, the man who murdered six girls some twenty years ago. Their bodies have never been found but Chloe found some jewellery belonging Harvey invites readers to the girls - trophies taken from their bodies - tucked away see our planet in a cupboard at home and she and her mother handed it to the police. Dick Davis is in the Louisiana State Penitentiary and Chloie has had nothing to do with him for the last twenty years. Her mother is in a care homewholly new light.|isbn=1529922933
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{{Frontpage
|authorisbn=Christopher Edge295967572X|title=Escape RoomPale Pieces|author=G M Stevens|rating=35|genre=Confident ReadersLiterary Fiction|summary=IOur unnamed narrator is about to begin a train journey with his companion Django. Where they've seen junior variants re going and what the purpose of this journey is, is uncertain. Django found the tickets 'Choose Your Own Adventure' format cover escape rooms – on the process by which a character or characters start by being trapped in a specific location, floor somewhere'' and have to solve problems in order has persuaded our narrator to get their way outaccompany him. What I've Why not done (alongside experience one for myself – for that would require actual friends) ? Not much else is seen a prose book describing people clear either - but we are probably in such an adventure, with the regular second person narrative replaced by past as the first. Here, Ami and four other tweenagers, all new pair travel to each other the station by coach and booked into the game without any of their friends, are train is a team – starting out at the game's main offices, where they're told they and their quest for The Answer are a world-changersteam locomotive. But could watching people engage with such a pastime, despite the ramped-up threat levels, change much in the world of literature?|isbn=1788007964
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{{Frontpage
|isbn=17328987310008551324|title=The Boy Who Loved Boxes: A Children's Book for AdultsDevil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Michael Albanese Neil Lancaster
|rating=4.5
|genre=LifestyleCrime|summary=There was a Boy who loved boxesIt's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police. He had a box Neither side likes or has any respect for everything the other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he 's prepared to tell the police where the body of a missing person is buried and who was meticulous about storage: his parents probably couldn't believe their luck! responsible for her death. It began with art suppliesThis person, he promises, stuffed toys is someone big and it will be worth the like: all the things which most children have in abundancepolice doing what he wants. The Boy's delight was in And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the sense remainder of order in his room: it made him feel happysentence and to get an early parole date. As he grew up and became a ManNot much to ask, his life became more complicated is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and he dealt with this by getting bigger and better boxes. Look carefully at she's even prepared to do the pictures other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and youanyone who works with him is kept well away from what'll see that one of them has a padlock..s happening.
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{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=B09MN1526W|title=Blood Games Jon Fosse and Damion Searls (DS Nikki Parekh 4translator)|authortitle=Liz MistryVaim
|rating=4
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=''All was strange''... This haunting phrase encapsulates the pervading sense of otherworldliness which permeates this story set in Vaim, a fictional fishing village in Norway which paradoxically could not feel more real for Jatgeir and Eline, two of the protagonists caught in its melancholic current.
|isbn=1804271829
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{{Frontpage
|isbn=1035043092
|title=The Killing Stones (Jimmy Perez)
|author=Ann Cleeves
|rating=5
|genre=Crime
|summary=ItI can's t have been the third murder in the space of only person who was sad when Inspector Jimmy Perez [[Wild Fire (Shetland, Book 8) by Ann Cleeves|left Shetland]] to start a few weeks and they've all been because of machetes used new life on teenagersOrkney. DS Nikki Parekh It's been seven years since we heard from him, but he's now living with Willow Reeves and DC Sajid Malik are amongst their young son, James, as well as Cassie, the first to arrive on the scene at Chellow Dene Reservoir on the outskirts daughter of Bradfordhis former partner. Only, this time, itWillow's going to be different. The body appears to Nikki to be that of her beloved nephew, Haqibalso his boss, and she has a very public meltdown. It isn't Haqib: there are similarities 'should'' be on maternity leave, but when the body of a popular islander, Archie Stout, is clad found, in designer clothes and comes from an obviously monied backgroundthe aftermath of a storm, she can't resist getting involved. What it does mean though is that Nikki is going to be on sick leave for some time He'd been battered about the head with anxiety and depressiona Neolithic stone - one of a pair - which had been stolen from a museum.
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{{Frontpage
|author=Ally WilkesThea Lenarduzzi|title=All the White SpacesThe Tower|rating=45|genre=HorrorLiterary Fiction|summary=In post-WWI England''How unctuous are the fats of another's life, Jonathan Morgan stows away on an Arctic expedition led by the famous Australis Randallhow dizzying their sugars in our bloodstream''. For Jonathan, In this adventure represents a chance for a fresh startcompelling novel, and Thea Lenarduzzi assumes the opportunity to live life as his authentic self and true genderidentity of T, without the disapproval and constraints protagonist of his parentsthis tale. HoweverJust as T's story is being told, Jonathan isn't the only one fleeing story of a second protagonist is unveiled: Annie, the confines daughter of his past and a wealthy family in the shadow 19th century, who died of the war hangs like tuberculosis after being locked in a funeral shroud over the expeditiontower, captures T's imagination. GuiltAnnie's fate is, mistrust and grief stalk the party andabove all, when disaster strikes and they are forced an enticing story to overwinter on land, a menacing presence waits to prey on their darknessT. If Jonathan It is to make it out of the Arctic winter alivea story which she consumes avariciously, he will have to face his demons once both in a quest for truth and for allknowledge, or risk making the barrenand in service of myth, icy landscape his tombfable and fantasy. |isbn=17890978351804271799
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{{Frontpage
|author=Dean KoontzClaire-Louise Bennett|title=QuicksilverBig Kiss, Bye-Bye |rating=24.5|genre=ThrillersLiterary Fiction|summary=Meet Quinn QuicksilverEverything in this book, however sweet or seemingly innocent, is steeped in anguish and distortion. He's not had the chance to get to be Even a mercurial character yetkiss, for he's lived in usually a nun-run orphanage since he was a three-day old foundlingsymbol of intimacy and closeness, and now is starting a career on a needless magazine's staffbecomes evidence of love lost. But when this book starts he IS now When the narrator cries out internally, ''subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mindcome over here and kiss me,'', for something – call it unearthly intuition, call it mind-control, call it is less an invitation than a supernatural urge – has demanded of him that he go desperate attempt to a derelict diner, find a gold coin worth a fortune, cash the value of it out confirm her emotional numbness. The imagined recipient of his bank and prepare for going on the lam. And all this plea is just in time for two of those typical Men in Black types to turn up and suggest he's of interest to them. Helped to escapeXavier, he finds his flight is interrupted by other instances of him acting without being in controlher ex-partner, the discovery that he is not unique in having some kind of burgeoning power – and a whole lot more besidesghost she conjures to test her detachment.|isbn=15420198851804271934
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{{Frontpage
|isbn=00084416180008405026|title=Other ParentsA Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Sarah StovellJane Casey
|rating=5
|genre=Women's FictionCrime|summary=Jo Fairburn knew that she was under intense pressure as the new head of West Burntridge First School: if she didnIt't live up to s sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her retired predecessor there could well be a house price slump in that part of the townbed one summer night. The school had an active Parent Teacher Association She was never found and the funds which they raised were investigation ground to a considerable benefit to the schoolhalt. There was one difficultyNow, though - they were ''devastatingly shockable''her mother, with two membersHelena, and her father are dead in particular, causing problems for the headtheir bed. Laura Spence and Kate Monroe objected to JoInitially, it looks like a straightforward murder/suicide but there's restrictions on something about the toys children could bring in on Toy Day but positioning of the bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. What looked as though it was just going to be an open-and-shut case is now a warm-up act for their real gripecomplex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that the explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: LGBTQ educationothers (such as Derwent's boss, Una Burt) are less convinced.
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{{Frontpage
|author=Sarah Ann JuckesAnnie Ernaux and Alison L. Strayer (translator)|title=The Hunt for the NightingaleOther Girl|rating=4.5|genre=Confident ReadersAutobiography|summary=Jasper is a little boy who has some struggles, and whilst we're 'We were born from the same body. I've never told why exactly, we can see that he has anxiety and panic attacks, and has difficulty dealing with change and big emotions. His big sister, Rosie, has been a huge support really wanted to him, talking him down when things were difficult, encouraging him, and writing a book with him, all think about birds, that he can read when he gets scared to help him calm downthis. His parents seem completely caught up in their business, and so it '' Ernaux's work is Rosie he always turns to. Even though she has gone away to University nowvery candid and her tone transparent, she has promised him that she will still but this raw epistolary text must be there when he needs her. But now he canone of the most intimate accounts I't find Rosieve read. She hasn't come home when she said she wouldErnaux writes in direct address to her sister, however, and she isn't answering this letter will never reach her phone. His parents wonWhy? Because Annie Ernaux't speak to him or when they dos sister died of diphtheria at 6 years old, he doesn't understand or take a few months before the vaccine was made compulsory in what they're saying. Nothing seems to be rightFrance, and 2 years before the only way he feels he can find any peace is if he can find Rosie, author was even born. The large and if they can find instant void created by the nightingale and listen jarring concept of writing to its songan imaginary recipient emphasises Ernaux's process of reckoning with this giant absence in her life, as they do together every Springan absence that she has always felt but often denied.|isbn=13985108901804271845
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{{Frontpage
|author=Antoine Laurain, Le Sonneur Maxim Gorky and Jane Aitken Bryan Karetnyk (translator)|title=Red is My HeartReminiscences of Tolstoy, Chekhov and Andreyev
|rating=3.5
|genre=Literary Fiction Biography|summary=[[:Category:Antoine Laurain|Antoine Laurain]] books have always been black and white Biographies are often seen as the form of life-writing which offers less colour; it can be seen as more objective and read in my houseless personal. And so was this one, although I could have spelled think that more accurately – Gorky completely rejects this one wasperspective, and offers a vibrant, subjective yet informed portrait of three of his literary contemporaries. In the first section of this book, Tolstoy complains to his friend Gorky that: ''you write not of real life as it is, black and white and redbut of what you yourself imagine it to be. YesWhom would it help to know how I see this tower, he has an artistic collaborator on this piecethat sea, and I think or that Tartar - why should it interest anyone? Of what use is it?''s possible . Well, Maxim Gorky shows exactly what can be gained from a subjective account, giving us access to say not how he saw Tolstoy, Chekhov and Andreyev in such privileged detail that one page lacks the influence almost feels unworthy of some striking visual ideasit.|isbn=19135471831804271977
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{{Frontpage
|isbn=15291355671529077745|title=One Step Too FarThe Dark Wives (D I Vera Stanhope)|author=Lisa GardnerAnn Cleeves
|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=It's five years since A man walking his dog in the early morning discovered the body of a man in the stag weekendpark near Rosebank, a care home for troubled teens. Five The dead man was Josh - one of them had set out: Tim (the groom) and his four groomsmen, Scot, Miguel (care workers who was usually called Miggy), Neil and Joshdue to work a shift the night before but who had never turned up. The first night they had plenty D I Vera Stanhope is called in to investigate the murder - but her only clue is the disappearance of one of alcohol the residents, fourteen- too much really year- and in the night Scot managed to wander offold Chloe Spencer. The remaining four searched for him in vain and it was decided Some people believe that Tim, who Chloe was experienced in survival techniques, would go responsible for help. When help didn't come the remaining three finally made their way back to town. Scott followed soon after death but there was no sign of Tim. Every year, TimVera thinks this is unlikely as the girl's father, Martin, and the four friends have been back diary makes it clear that she adored Josh. She knows that she has to find Chloe to discover what happened to continue the search although they do now acknowledge that they're looking for 'remains' rather than for TimJosh.
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{{Frontpage
|authorisbn=Gunnar StaalesenB0FK5LHKD9|title=Bitter FlowersThe Colour of Memory|author=Christopher Bowden|rating=3.54|genre=CrimeGeneral Fiction|summary=Varg Veum is It's been three years since we last reviewed a Norwegian Private Investigator who has just finished book by favourite regular Christopher Bowden, so we were very glad to see a stint in rehab and is now returning to worknew novel arrive here at Bookbag Towers. HoweverLike all Bowden's stories, there's a mystery at the quiet job heheart of ''s supposedly taken on caretaking someoneThe Colour of Money''. We like this running theme in an author's house quickly turns into a murder investigation, and work - take a mystery around a missing woman. Varg finds himself not only investigating these, but also looking into an old, cold case of an eight year old girl who disappeared one night give it different flavour and was never foundatmosphere each time. Somehow, these disparate cases appear to be linked, but what is the link, and how can Varg possibly unravel the truth?|isbn=191319308X
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{{Frontpage
|author=Kia AhankoobOlga Tokarczuk|title=House of Day, House of Night|rating=5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=''What's the good of a world that keeps changing like that? How can one go on calmly living in it?'' The Gold Lion and title of this spellbinding work, ''House of Day, House of Night'', somewhat reflects this notion of shifting realities - the Tournament of Sentinelssmall, subtle changes which govern our lives, like the shift from day to night, however quotidian, causing chaos. But, the constant in that image is the house, stoic against the ancient diurnal cycle which nonetheless controls how it is perceived.|isbn=1804271918}}{{Frontpage|isbn=henleyA|title=Ultimate Obsession|author=Dai Henley
|rating=4
|genre=Graphic NovelsCrime|summary= When Myriad created Duniva he endowed his children with different powersEx-DCI Andy Flood has been a Private Investigator for some time now, each with its own strength and weakenesshe should be doing quite well financially. Unfortunately, in the hope they would complement each other and collaborate, creating his daughter's defence against a dynamic and prosperous societymurder charge drained his savings. Each power is contained within a magical ring belonging His wife, Laura, has been trying to persuade him to one of eight countries led by Myriadretire - ''maybe go travelling or go on cruises. That's what 'ordinary people do','' He's children and not been entirely up front about the state of their descendantssavings. But When Jack Durban tries to persuade him to take his case, it didn't quite work out like that. Rivalries developed. Enmities grew out s the thought of them and the eight countries went to war. Having fought themselves into an endless and ruinous stalemate and finding the cost of war too high, a solution money he could make that convinces him that this is proposed. Each of the eight countries will send their greatest warriors, known as sentinels, to a single combat tournament. The winner will take possession miscarriage of all the rings and become the supreme ruler of Dunivajustice that he really should put right.|isbn=B09MMQJFPV
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{{Frontpage
|authorisbn=Alastair Chisholm and Eric Deschamps1836284683|title=Dragon Storm: Tomas and IronskinThe Big Happy|author=David Chadwick|rating=4.5|genre=Confident ReadersDystopian Fiction|summary=Meet Tomas. Happy to work with his father in the blacksmith's forgeWell! This is a murder mystery unlike any other! I do love it when I open a book, heit's almost of the age nothing like I expected it to become a full apprenticebe, and help with the new batch of dragonswords is certainly neededit takes me on a wild ride. Not And that there are any dragons, of course – they vanished centuries agois just what happened with ''The Big Happy''. Except... Strange signals from within the forge furnace, and I don't want to ruin a peculiar invite to become an apprentice clerk instead, are things similar experience for Tom any of you reading but I'll have to puzzle over – until it all comes out in at least set the washscene. Once that's done, that yes dragons do still exist in I think you should simply experience this world, and that Tom is rare in the ability to summon them, share magical attributes, and ride with them..wonderfully original story for yourself.|isbn=1839940026
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{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1529346541Sally Rooney|title=Something to Hide: An Inspector Lynley Novel|author=Elizabeth GeorgeIntermezzo|rating=4.5|genre=CrimeGeneral Fiction |summary=It's late July Sally Rooney has studied the chessboard of life and Deborah St James is something of a grandmaster at a meeting with Dominique Shawputting it into words. Her dialogue is gripping and so brilliantly frustrating, as her characters never quite say exactly what they feel. Among the many relationships woven into this story, Undersecretary the central one for readers to unravel is the school systemfraternal connection—or lack thereof—between Ivan and Peter Koubek. Ivan, a representative from the NHSsocially awkward chess prodigy, Mr Oh from Barnardos, someone from Orchid House whose name she didn't catch but would later turn out to be Zawadi and Narissa Cameroncontrasts sharply with his older brother Peter, a filmmakersuccessful lawyer living in Dublin. It follows on from the success of DeborahFollowing their father's book ''London Voices'': passing after a long battle with cancer, the meeting is an exploration of the possibility of the idea behind the book being used to highlight an area which is causing concern in some communities. Deborahbrothers's uncertain about quite how successful she could be as the problem seems to occur in Nigerian and Somali communities as she relies on getting the trust of the people she speaks to and photographsalready strained relationship faces new trials.|isbn=0571365469
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{{Frontpage
|isbn=B09Q3P283Y1036916375|title=ShadebringerJust a Liverpool Lad|author=Grayson W HooperPeter McArdle
|rating=4
|genre=FantasyAutobiography|summary=Clyde Robbins signs up for the US Army during the Vietnam War. He's not really that invested in the fight against Communism, nor 'Just a Liverpool Lad '' is he particularly interested in a career collection of memories and reflections from the years Peter McArdle spent growing up in and around Liverpool. Some are factual, such as the military. If he's honest family history of a sea- which Clyde usually isgoing family, with himself at least the docks dominating lives. Other stories blend seamlessly into the what- he hasnmight-have-been. It't got many choices s a book to settle into and this oneallow your mind to roam across your childhood memories, at leastto think of simpler times when life seemed less constrained, gets him out of despite the rut heblitz that was a constant factor in McArdle's inearly years. He I's good in training d never heard of parachute mines before - but they were almost soundless and is quickly put onto a non commissioned officer training course. He's chuffed with himselfcould appear after the all-clear was sounded.
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{{Frontpage
|authorisbn=Lucy Strange and Pam Smy1836285493|title=The Mermaid in the MillpondDouble Life of a Wheelchair User|author=Rob Keeley|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=There Will is no mermaid in the millpond. That at least is what Bess is telling herself. Neither will there be a keen player of video games, a conscientious student, a slightly annoying brother and a supportive friend for her in amongst . But most of all the other kids, who have had their entire childhoods sold to the mill-owners by the London workhouse they used to call homehe is an aspiring writer. Bess knows there English is no time for friendship in a hand-to-mouthhis favourite lesson at his school, Marlowe Park, every man for himself kind of existenceand one at which he excels. But despite herself Bess does find This hasn't gone unnoticed by his headteacher, Mrs Howarth, and she has suggested to Will and his mum that he spends a bit couple of afternoons a week at a kindred spirit in the slight little Dotdifferent school, and despite everything that life has taught her about betrayal and how befriending people only leads to harmStation Road, there where his ability might be a glimmer of companionship in the tired-out mill workersbetter extended. But surely that doesn't mean there is any truth in the existence of the mermaid?|isbn=180090049X
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{{Frontpage
|isbn=17856330741009473085|title=Staggering HubrisThe Conservative Effect 2010 - 2024|author=Josh BerryAnthony Seldon and Tom Egerton (Editors)|rating=4.5|genre=HumourPolitics and Society|summary=Members of Parliament like us Sometimes it's simpler to believe explain a book by describing what it ''isn't'' and that the country is run by politicians, headed by the Prime minister applies to ''The Conservative Effect: 2010-2024 - 14 Wasted Years?''. If you're looking for an easy read which will deliver the inside story about what ''really'primus inter pares'happened on certain occasions, then this isn' (t the book for you. If that's what you're looking for, I don't think Anthony Seldon's book, {{amazonurl|isbn=B0BH7SKG2S|title=Johnson at 10}}, can be bettered for those of you tumultuous years. It's a compelling read and should be compulsory for anyone who are Eton and Oxbridge educated) but the reality is that the thinks Johnson should return to politics. ''The Conservative Effect'prime'is an entirely different beast. It' movers are s the special advisers - seventh book in a series which looks at the SPADS impact a government has made and co- who are editor Sir Anthony Seldon regards this as the driving force behind the governmentmost important. We are in This book follows the privileged position well-established format: a series of having access to experts from various fields review the memoirs state of Rafe Hubris, the man who was behind nation when the skilful control of coalition took over in 2010, the Covid crisis which was completely contained by changes that occurred and the end of 2020. You might not know the name now but he will certainly be the man to watchsituation in 2024.
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{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=B09MYXSRV4Jenny Valentine|title=Otter's Coat: The Real Reason Turtle Raced Rabbit: A Cherolachian Tortoise Us in the Before and Hare|author=Cordellya SmithAfter|rating=45|genre=For SharingTeens|summary=When the world was madeElk and Mab are best friends, the animals were given gifts. Bear was given strength so or more than that he could become even, their friendship is a protectoronce in a lifetime connection. Water Spider received They meet as children one day on a strong web that even fire could not burn. Owl had excellent sight so that he could see the present ''andtrip out but unfortunately they don't get each other' s contact details at the futuretime. Rabbit developed intelligence - butBut then chance brings them back together, and they are inseparable. Something has happened though, unfortunatelysomething terrible and tragic, not the ability to use it well. He liked to trick other animals. He was also jealous which was how he came to be in a race with Turtle. You might think that's not a fair contest but wait and see. Things are not always as now they seem. I'll tell you how it came aboutmust work through their grief, and their friendship, together.|isbn=1471196585
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{{Frontpage
|authorisbn=Giovanna Fletcher1787333175|title=Walking on SunshineYou Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here|author=Benji Waterhouse|rating=45|genre=Women's FictionPopular Science|summary=MikeI was tempted to read ''You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here'' after enjoying Adam Kay's wife, Pia, who he was with for seventeen years, has died. And whilst he first book {{amazonurl|isbn=1509858636|title=This is dealing with his griefGoing to Hurt}}, so are their best friendsa glorious mixture of insight into the workings of the NHS, Vicky humour and Zazaautobiography. But Pia left them all some 'rules' You Don't Have to follow, knowing that she was dying and that they would need help to carry on livingbe Mad... Whilst some of '' promised the rules are around practicalities such as clearing out her wardrobe, another one that Mike discovers one day encourages him same elements but moved from physical problems to take one mental illness and the work of their trips away, and Vicky and Zaza, struggling with their grief and their own life troubles, decide a psychiatrist. I did wonder whether it was acceptable to drop everything be looking for humour in their own lives, this setting but the laughter is directed at a situation rather than a person and go along it is always delivered with himempathy and understanding.|isbn=140593560X
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{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1529393930Mariana Enriquez|title=Making a Living: How to Craft Your Business|author=Sophie RochesterA Sunny Place for Shady People
|rating=5
|genre=CraftsShort Stories|summary=''Starting a creative business has never been easier.'' ''If not nowMariana Enriquez writes horror that is disturbingly real, when?'' I know that I'm not alone in having wondered whether or not I could turn my hobby into a business. There's a lot achieving this uncanny familiarity by basing her paranormal plots on gritty realities: her settings include an abandoned field full of motivation disused refrigerators due to do so: I make more items than we can sensibly use an urban planning mishap, an overcrowded homeless shelter and there a crime-ridden neighbourhood where safety meetings are a lot routine - all within Argentina. The circumstances of people who have been delighted to accept what I make as gifts. Selling would offset her characters are so plausible that the costs, supernatural or otherworldly horror which can be quite considerable and it could be fun to do, couldn't it? But where to start? What do I need to think about? Well, the first thing anyone who is considering turning a crafting hobby seeps into these spaces adopts a business should do is to read ''Making a Living''similarly tangible texture.|isbn=1803511230
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{{Frontpage
|rating=4.5
|genre=CookeryCrime|summary=EmotionallyFor a little while, I am a veganit looked as though Sir Max Bruce, the country's most famous living artist, was not going to show up for the opening of his retrospective at the Royal Academy. MentallyStill, he arrived in the nick of time, complete with his two wives and six children, I am a veganone of whom filmed what happened. I read [[How Being an influencer, you tend to Love Animals in do things like that, but it was fortunate that there was a Human-Shaped World by Henry Mance]] and was appalled by record of the way in which we treat animals in our search for (preferably cheap) foodprotest. PracticallyLexi Williams, an intern at the RA, I am not grabbed a spray can of blue paint from under a veganchair and proceeded to spray Bruce in the face, whilst shouting ''Stop the War''. It worked for a while apart from the odd blip with regard seemed to cheese but then a perfect storm be part of an ongoing series of those events which you hope don't occur too often in your lifetime tempted me back to animalblue-based proteinface' attacks, but this was different. It wasn't the taste - I know that I The can get plant-based food that tastes just as good as anything plundered from the animal kingdom - it had been laced with cyanide, and Sir Max Bruce was the ease of being able to get sufficient protein when meals were often snatched in a few spare momentsdead.
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{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=suppl_staflAriel Saramandi|title=Supply Chain 20/20: A Clear View Portrait of an Island on the Local Multiplier Effect for Book Lovers|author=Kim StaflundFire
|rating=4.5
|genre=ReferencePolitics and Society|summary=SoIn this powerful collection of essays, you've finished writing your book and you think the hard work is all done? You're convinced that all you need Saramandi seeks to do now is get it published and intradermally dissect the money will start rolling in? Wrong and wrong again. You presumably wrote sociopolitical fabric of Mauritius, tunneling deep into the book because you wanted to - wounds left by colonialism and you had a talent for delivering the written word. You knew your subject back slavery to frontexpose how these legacies still shape modern life. Now you're going to have to get to grips with the book supply chain, which even parts of Saramandi describes the publishing industry believe to be wrong but it's too difficult to change and no country at one wants to be the first to try. Then, when you stage as ''finallyrotting'' have , a copy blunt yet apt metaphor for the systemic decay brought about by the malignant forces of the book racism, patriarchy, environmental degradation and governmental dysfunction. Each essay in your handsthis collection serves as a kind of diagnostic, you're going to have to work out how to sell it - because it ''is'' going to be down to youcharting the various diseases afflicting the island state.|isbn=1804271616
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{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1398706906Pekka Harju-Autti|title=The Lost|author=Simon BeckettLoveVortex and the Drakor's Curse
|rating=4
|genre=CrimeFantasy|summary=The disappearance of Metropolitan police firearms officer, Jonah ColleyIt's young sonthe eighteenth century, Theoa time of discovery and Britain is expanding its foreign trade. Captain Julius Hawthorne, just about finished himan experienced Scottish sea captain, particularly as he blamed himself for what had happened. He'd fallen asleep is sent to the Andaman Islands in the park whilst Theo was playing and when he woke, Theo had gone. It cost him his marriage and his homeendeavour. Ten years later he's largely come through it and he's out Along with his team when he gets son, Peter, and their cat, Michi, they set off on a phone call from DS Gavin McKinney. Gavin used perilous voyage to be his best friend but it's a long time since they've spokenthese faraway lands. He's obviously in some difficulty now - Jonah can hear it The islands are beautiful and stunning in his voice - their scenery and he asks Jonah to meet him at Slaughter Quay. ''There's no one else I can trust'the islanders'leader, Aarav, he saysis keen to establish good relations.|isbn=B0DS1VGHH3
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{{Frontpage
|author=Amanda MasonHelene Bessette and Kate Briggs (translator)|title=The Hiding PlaceLili is Crying|rating=34.5|genre=HorrorLiterary Fiction|summary=Needing an escape First published in 1953 in French, this novel is a timeless text which wrenches the hearts of its readers just as Bessette wrenches words and sentences from their turbulent lifeproper position on the page and positions them elsewhere, disjointed, Nell Galilee takes truncated. Like the lives of her husband and stepdaughter to Whitbycharacters, where they rent a cliffside holiday cottage by the name of Elder Houseare often left tragically incomplete. She hopes that it will be the perfect place to sort things out. But there's something not quite right about Elder House. The atmosphere is unsettling and off – and before long Nell starts to suspect that she and her family aren't alone there…|isbn=18387719641804271675}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Paul CleaveTom Percival|title=The Quiet PeopleWrong Shoes
|rating=5
|genre=CrimeConfident Readers|summary= I am not a fan of "the Prologue". Most books are the worse for them. In this case I might make an exception. We start with Luca Pittman who Will's life is difficult, in a hurrymultitude of ways. He has to hurry is bullied because he has children that 'the wrong shoes', he should not has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and doesn't haveenough money for even the most basic of things like food, and when his dad can't work because he hurrieslost his job at the college, when he bundles things was working a cash-in-hand job on a building site and had an accident. Throw into that mix the back of fact that his car mum and tries to run dad are separated, and then hears sirens behind himWill's life seems bleak in every direction. And yet, which he should not hear because this still has a tiny amount of hope. He is New Zealand good at art, and that clings to the moments of joy when he is not how they do things theredrawing, he takes that feel like a light at the end of a risk. It ends badlylong, dark tunnel.|isbn=19131939421398527122
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{{Frontpage
|author=Will CarverSylvie Cathrall|title=Psychopaths AnonymousA Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating=3.5|genre=ThrillersScience Fiction|summary=Maeve is There are few greater joys than a high functioning alcoholic, drinking continuously and also, curiously, addicted book which lives up to attending numerous AA groups. She is also a self-acknowledged psychopathcompelling premise. Whilst analysing and critiquing the AA steps she And this is mainly using the groups to find targets...targets for sexual encounters, targets to feed her desire to hear of people's misery, and targets for her violent behaviour. Yet she also seems to be searching for others who think as she does, and when she's unable to find like-minded people in any one of the groups she decides to set up her own, hoping to encounter others who share similar obsessions, and thus Psychopaths Anonymous is bornthem.|isbn=19131937560356522776
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{{Frontpage
|isbn=15294181001786482126|title=Bruno's Challenge and Other Dordogne TalesThe Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Martin WalkerElly Griffiths|rating=4|genre=Short Stories|summary=I'm not usually a fan of short stories - I find it all too easy to put the book down between stories and forget to pick it up again - but I am a fan of Martin Walker's [[Martin Walker's Commissar Bruno Courreges Mysteries in Chronological Order|Bruno Courreges Mysteries]] so the temptation to read ''Bruno's Challenge'' was hard to resist and I'm rather glad that I didn't even try. For those new to the series, there's an excellent introduction that will tell you all you need to know about who's who and the background to why Bruno is in St Denis.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=B09GJW49GF|title=Buried Lies (Gaby Darin Book 5)|author=Jenny O'Brien|rating=4
|genre=Crime
|summary=Hannah Thomas Builders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the site was having her first night away from her songoing to hold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the bones of a child beneath a doorway. There was no skull. Hunter had diabetes and Was this was controlled by a pump attached to his stomach, so her over-protectiveness was understandable, but her fiance, Ianritual killing or murder? Inevitably, was pestering her to get married and she thought it would be a good idea for him to find out what parenting was ''really'' likeDr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. Her friend, Milly, had arranged to take her boyfriend, LiamIt's difficult as Ruth knows, for a night in a posh hotel but then he dumped her and she couldnNelson doesn't get the money back, so Hannah was offered that she is pregnant with his child as a result of the opportunity to go in his placeone night they spent together some three months ago. She would return home Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to find Ian dead and five-year-old Hunter missingsudden bouts of sickness.
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{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=B09GV3WS1QGuadalupe Nettel and Rosalind Harvey (Translator)|title=Without a Trace|author=Jane BettanyThe Accidentals|rating=4.5|genre=CrimeShort Stories|summary=Life hadn't been easy for Ruth PrendergastThis collection was truly enchanting in all senses of the word: she'd just come through a divorce spellbinding with its fantastical, magical elements and charming in its gentle portrayal of nature and right now it was raining hardhuman relationships. All she wanted was to get back to Guadalupe Nettel writes intelligently and precisely, her new home and settle down for stories structured by a quiet evening. It wasn't going wisdom that appears to want to be though: when she went into her bedroom she found a dead man on her bed with a knife in his chest. She'd no idea who he wasteach us something about the world.|isbn=1804271470
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{{Frontpage
|isbn=18387748230008551375|title=Her Majesty the Queen Investigates: A Three Dog ProblemWhen Shadows Fall (D S Max Craigie)|author=S J BennettNeil Lancaster|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=ItLeanne Wilson's 2016 and body was found at the Queen's Private Secretarybottom of a Scottish mountain, Sir Simon Holcroft has decided that too much good claret and too little exercise is putting seemingly the result of a strain on his waistbandtragic accident. SwimmingShe'd looked so happy, he decidestoo, is the way to go and he can use the Buckingham Palace pool which is how he came to be there early one morning and discovered the body of Cynthia Harris at the side of the poolwhen she posted her intentions on Facebook. There Her friends were relieved as she was broken glass - a crystal tumblerjust out of an unpleasant relationship, by the look at but it - probably one of the young royals being careless - and looked like she was living her best life now. Then it looked as though Mrs Harris had slipped and cut herself so badly emerged that she five other women had bled outdied in similar circumstances in the last year. StillAll were experienced climbers, it was properly equipped for what they were doing and sensible people. None of the 'what a stupid thing to do' explanations applied. They were all alone when they died: DS Max Craigie is certain there's a shock for Sir Simonkiller on the loose.
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