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==The Best New Books==
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{{Frontpage
|isbn=B0CYV674G21786482126|title=Swanton Morley The Janus Stone (John TannerDr Ruth Galloway)|author=David BlakeElly Griffiths|rating=34.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=It seemed like Builders were demolishing an open-and-shut case. A man, covered old house in mud and blood Norwich - and carrying a knife, comes into the police station shouting that he hasnsite was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury't killed the man. A body at apartments - when they discovered the bottom bones of a freshly dug grave at Swanton Morley church - he's been stabbed to deathchild beneath a doorway. There was no skull. DCI John Tanner is just back from his honeymoon Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, which coincided Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with the birth of his daughter SamanthaDCI Harry Nelson. You would think he It'd be grateful for an easy answer s difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn't, that she is pregnant with his child as a result of the words 'perverse' and 'John Tanner' were made for each otherone night they spent together some three months ago. He's sleep-deprived Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to the point sudden bouts of falling asleep at work but he's determined to keep going - probably because he can't get any sleep at homesickness.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=17873331750008551375|title=You Don't Have to be Mad to Work HereWhen Shadows Fall (D S Max Craigie)|author=Benji WaterhouseNeil Lancaster|rating=4.5|genre=Popular ScienceCrime|summary=I was tempted to read ''You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here'' after enjoying Adam KayLeanne Wilson's first book {{amazonurl|isbn=1509858636|title=This is Going to Hurt}}body was found at the bottom of a Scottish mountain, a glorious mixture of insight into seemingly the workings result of the NHS, humour and autobiographya tragic accident. She''You Don't Have to be Madd looked so happy, too, when she posted her intentions on Facebook. Her friends were relieved as she was just out of an unpleasant relationship, but it looked like she was living her best life now.Then it emerged that five other women had died in similar circumstances in the last year.'' promised the same elements but moved from physical problems to mental illness All were experienced climbers, properly equipped for what they were doing and sensible people. None of the work of 'what a psychiatriststupid thing to do' explanations applied. I did wonder whether it was acceptable to be looking for humour in this setting but the laughter They were all alone when they died: DS Max Craigie is directed at certain there's a situation rather than a person and it is always delivered with empathy and understandingkiller on the loose.
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Onyi NwabineliPaul B Preciado|title=Allow Me to Introduce MyselfDysphoria Mundi
|rating=4.5
|genre=General FictionPolitics and Society|summary=Anuri spent her childhood on display ''It is never too late to embrace the world, thanks to her step-mother Opheliarevolutionary optimism of childhood''s increasingly popular presence on social media Through this hybrid text, where she posted every step consisting of Anuri's childhood for sponsorships and influencer deals arias, letters, essays andautofiction, basicallyPreciado expresses his own hybrid self, monetary gain. Now Anuri is in her twenties and she is slowly trying brings forth a new sensorium as an offering to regain her confidence and to get her life backthe new generation, suing her step-mother to take down the content about hera new feeling mechanism in which detachment is not considered a sign of political apathy. Anuri Rather, it is battling alcoholismthe proportional, failing valid response to start her PhD''the epistemological and political crack we are living through, undergoing therapy and secretly abusing people online the tension between emancipatory forces and receiving money from them for doing soconservative resistances that characterize our present'' which Preciado calls ''dysphoria mundi''. Most importantly, she is desperately worried about her little sister, who The whole text is framed against the new focus backdrop of Opheliathe Covid-19 pandemic as that which has catalysed this revolution, when dysphoria began to emerge on a global scale, or as ''pangea covidica''s online empire. Can she save her sisterRather than taking this extreme dysphoria as a sign of weakness, and perhaps herself and her relationship with her father at the same time?or mistaking detachment or withdrawal for political paralysis, Preciado urges his readers to ''use dysphoria as your revolutionary platform''. |isbn=08615468731804271454
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=David ChadwickSamantha Harvey|title=Headload of NapalmOrbital
|rating=4.5
|genre=ThrillersGeneral Fiction|summary= ItIn 2024, Samantha Harvey won the Booker Prize for ''Orbital''s September 1973 in Hicks, California. Hicks is a Mojave desert town compact yet profound work that unfolds over a single day in the lives of a few thousand people with its nearest neighbours group of LA and Las Vegas both a significant drive away. Not much happens in Hicksastronauts aboard the International Space Station. A silver mine and Through a defence contractor are narrative lens that mirrors the main local employers but otherwise, thereastronauts's not much of note other than dive bars and Joshua trees. Life is quietorbital perspective, until...Harvey invites readers to see our planet in a wholly new light.|isbn= B0D321VJ761529922933
}}
{{Frontpage
|authorisbn=Tom Percival295967572X|title=The Wrong ShoesPale Pieces|author=G M Stevens
|rating=5
|genre=Confident ReadersLiterary Fiction|summary=Will's life Our unnamed narrator is difficult, in about to begin a multitude of waystrain journey with his companion Django. He is bullied because he has Where they're going and what the wrong shoes'purpose of this journey is, he has is uncertain. Django found the wrong shoes because his dad cantickets 't work and doesn't have enough money for even on the most basic of things like food, and his dad canfloor somewhere''t work because he lost his job at the college, was working a cash-in-hand job on a building site and had an accidenthas persuaded our narrator to accompany him. Throw into that mix the fact that his mum and dad Why not? Not much else is clear either - but we are separated, and Will's life seems bleak probably in every direction. And yet, he still has a tiny amount of hope. He is good at art, the past as the pair travel to the station by coach and clings to the moments of joy when he train is drawing, that feel like a light at the end of a long, dark tunnelsteam locomotive.|isbn=1398527122
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{{Frontpage
|authorisbn=Sylvie Cathrall0008551324|title=A Letter to the Luminous DeepThe Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster|rating=4.5|genre=Science FictionCrime|summary= There are few greater joys than a book which lives up It's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police. Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he's prepared to tell the police where the body of a compelling premisemissing person is buried and who was responsible for her death. This person, he promises, is someone big and it will be worth the police doing what he wants. And this what he wants is one to be transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of themhis sentence and to get an early parole date. Not much to ask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's even prepared to do the other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening.|isbn= 0356522776
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=0008517061Jon Fosse and Damion Searls (translator) |title=Death in a Lonely Place|author=Stig AbellVaim
|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
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1035043092
|title=The Killing Stones (Jimmy Perez)
|author=Ann Cleeves
|rating=5
|genre=Crime
|summary= Former Metropolitan Police detectiveI can't have been the only person who was sad when Inspector Jimmy Perez [[Wild Fire (Shetland, Jake Johnson, has settled into his rustic Book 8) by Ann Cleeves|left Shetland]] to start a new life at Little Skyon Orkney. There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about It's been seven years since we heard from him, but he's now living with Willow Reeves and their young son, James, as well as Cassie, the future daughter of his life with former partner. Willow's also his vet girlfriendboss, Livia and her daughter Dianashe ''should'' be on maternity leave, as moving in together would mean but when the body of a lot of compromise: does Jake give up his off-grid and relaxing life to move popular islander, Archie Stout, is found, in with Livia or does Livia move to Little Sky despite her reservations about whether or not this is the future aftermath of a storm, she wants for herself and her daughter? For can't resist getting involved. He'd been battered about the moment they’re enjoying life in the present and putting the future on the back burnerhead with a Neolithic stone - one of a pair - which had been stolen from a museum.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1786482126Thea Lenarduzzi|title=The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly GriffithsTower|rating=4.5|genre=CrimeLiterary Fiction|summary=Builders were demolishing an old house ''How unctuous are the fats of another's life, how dizzying their sugars in Norwich - our bloodstream''. In this compelling novel, Thea Lenarduzzi assumes the identity of T, the site was going to hold seventy-five protagonist of this tale. Just as T'luxury' apartments - when they discovered s story is being told, the bones story of a child beneath second protagonist is unveiled: Annie, the daughter of a doorway. There was no skull. Was this wealthy family in the 19th century, who died of tuberculosis after being locked in a ritual killing or murder? Inevitablytower, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelsoncaptures T's imagination. ItAnnie's difficult as Ruth knowsfate is, but Nelson doesn'tabove all, that an enticing story to T. It is a story which she is pregnant with his child as consumes avariciously, both in a result quest for truth and knowledge, and in service of the one night they spent together some three months agomyth, fable and fantasy. Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of sickness.|isbn=1804271799
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=0008551324Claire-Louise Bennett|title=The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil LancasterBig Kiss, Bye-Bye
|rating=4.5
|genre=CrimeLiterary Fiction|summary=It's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police. Neither side likes Everything in this book, however sweet or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie seemingly innocent, is struggling steeped in prison anguish and he's prepared to tell the police where the body distortion. Even a kiss, usually a symbol of a missing person is buried intimacy and who was responsible for her deathcloseness, becomes evidence of love lost. This personWhen the narrator cries out internally, he promises''come over here and kiss me, is someone big and '' it will be worth the police doing what he wants. And what he wants is to be transferred to less an open prison invitation than a desperate attempt to serve the remainder confirm her emotional numbness. The imagined recipient of his sentence and to get an early parole date. Not much to askthis plea is Xavier, her ex-partner, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and a ghost she's even prepared conjures to do the other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happeningtest her detachment.|isbn=1804271934
}}
{{Frontpage
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{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=0571379877Annie Ernaux and Alison L. Strayer (translator)|title=The Kellerby CodeOther Girl|rating=4|genre=Autobiography|summary=''We were born from the same body. I've never really wanted to think about this.'' Ernaux's work is always very candid and her tone transparent, but this raw epistolary text must be one of the most intimate accounts I've read. Ernaux writes in direct address to her sister, however, this letter will never reach her. Why? Because Annie Ernaux's sister died of diphtheria at 6 years old, a few months before the vaccine was made compulsory in France, and 2 years before the authorwas even born. The large and instant void created by the jarring concept of writing to an imaginary recipient emphasises Ernaux's process of reckoning with this giant absence in her life, an absence that she has always felt but often denied.|isbn=1804271845}}{{Frontpage|author=Maxim Gorky and Bryan Karetnyk (translator)|title=Jonny SweetReminiscences of Tolstoy, Chekhov and Andreyev
|rating=3.5
|genre=Biography
|summary=Biographies are often seen as the form of life-writing which offers less colour; it can be seen as more objective and less personal. I think that Gorky completely rejects this perspective, 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, but of what you yourself imagine it to be. Whom would it help to know how I see this tower, that sea, or that Tartar - why should it interest anyone? Of what use is it?''. Well, Maxim Gorky shows exactly what can be gained from a subjective account, giving us access to how he saw Tolstoy, Chekhov and Andreyev in such privileged detail that one almost feels unworthy of it.
|isbn=1804271977
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1529077745
|title=The Dark Wives (D I Vera Stanhope)
|author=Ann Cleeves
|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=Edward Jevons is A man walking his dog in the early morning discovered the body of a working-class young manin the park near Rosebank, obsessed with his upper-class friends, Robert and Stanzaa care home for troubled teens. Robert's The dead man was Josh - one of the care workers who was due to work a theatre directorshift the night before but who had never turned up. He's also selfD I Vera Stanhope is called in to investigate the murder -obsessedbut her only clue is the disappearance of one of the residents, demanding, handsome and entitled and uses Edward to run errands fourteen-year-old Chloe Spencer. Some people believe that Chloe was responsible for himthe death but Vera thinks this is unlikely as the girl's diary makes it clear that she adored Josh. Edward She knows that she has to find Chloe to discover what happened to Josh.}}{{Frontpage|isbn= B0FK5LHKD9|title=The Colour of Memory|author=Christopher Bowden|rating=4|genre=General Fiction|summary=It's been in love with Stanza three years since their university days - and he's drunkenly confided how he feels we last reviewed a book by favourite regular Christopher Bowden, so we were very glad to Robertsee a new novel arrive here at Bookbag Towers. Most men in RobertLike all Bowden's position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a relationship had begun between them but hestories, there's not like most men: Edward is left to stumble upon a mystery at the two heart of them kissing ''The Colour of Money''. We like this running theme in an author's work - take a dark passagewaymystery but give it different flavour and atmosphere each time.
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Jo CallaghanOlga Tokarczuk|title=Leave No TraceHouse 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 title of this spellbinding work, ''House of Day, House of Night'', somewhat reflects this notion of shifting realities - the small, 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=Crime
|summary=When Ex-DCI Andy Flood has been a man is found crucified on the top of a hill in NuneatonPrivate Investigator for some time now, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the case alongside her sidekick, the AI detective Lockand he should be doing quite well financially. ItUnfortunately, his daughter's their first live case togetherdefence against a murder charge drained his savings. His wife, Laura, having previously has been very successful with several cold casestrying to persuade him to retire - ''maybe go travelling or go on cruises. But when there is a second body found crucified a few days laterThat's what 'ordinary people do', Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a lot '' He's not been entirely up front about the state of unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing projectsavings. Will they be able When Jack Durban tries to persuade him to solve the take his case in time, or will Kat find herself taken off it's the case and, potentially, out thought of the money he could make that convinces him that this is a career?|isbn=139851120Xmiscarriage of justice that he really should put right.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=13996130731836284683|title=Moral InjuriesThe Big Happy|author=Christie WatsonDavid Chadwick
|rating=4.5
|genre=ThrillersDystopian Fiction|summary=Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for Well! This is a quarter of murder mystery unlike any other! I do love it when I open a century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitiousbook, which is a bonus when you aim it's nothing like I expected it to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is a perfectionist , and it takes me on a trauma doctorwild ride. Anjali And that is the free spirit of the group and she becomes a GP. When we first meet them theyjust what happened with ''The Big Happy're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it's going to end in tragedy. We I don't know who suffered the tragedy or want to ruin a similar experience for any of you reading but I'll have to at least set the consequencesscene. Twenty-five years later there will be an eerily similar event Once that will impact the three friends. This time, it's their teenage children who are involveddone, I think you should simply experience this wonderfully original story for yourself.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=0241636604Sally Rooney|title=The Trading Game: A Confession|author=Gary StevensonIntermezzo
|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Sally Rooney has studied the chessboard of life and is something of a grandmaster at putting 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, the central one for readers to unravel is the fraternal connection—or lack thereof—between Ivan and Peter Koubek. Ivan, a socially awkward chess prodigy, contrasts sharply with his older brother Peter, a successful lawyer living in Dublin. Following their father's passing after a long battle with cancer, the brothers' already strained relationship faces new trials.
|isbn=0571365469
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1036916375
|title=Just a Liverpool Lad
|author=Peter McArdle
|rating=4
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=If you were to bring up an image of ''Just a city banker in your mind, youLiverpool Lad ''re unlikely to think is a collection of someone like Gary Stevenson. A hoodie memories and jeans replaces reflections from the pin-stripe suit years Peter McArdle spent growing up in and his background is around Liverpool. Some are factual, such as the East Endfamily history of a sea-going family, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injusticethe docks dominating lives. There was no posh public school on his CV Other stories blend seamlessly into the what-might-have- but he had been to the London School of Economics. Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - It's a book to settle into and he has a facility with numbers which most allow your mind to roam across your childhood memories, to think of us can only envy. He also realised simpler times when life seemed less constrained, despite the blitz that most rich people expect poor people to be stupid. It was his ability at what was, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with Citibankconstant factor in McArdle's early years. Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a traderI'd never heard of parachute mines before - but they were almost soundless and could appear after the all-clear was sounded.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=10350218031836285493|title=The Antique Hunter's Guide to MurderDouble Life of a Wheelchair User|author=C L MillerRob Keeley|rating=3.5|genre=CrimeConfident Readers|summary=It's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to the English country village where she grew up. She's back now because Will is a keen player of video games, a request for help from her beloved auntconscientious student, Carole. Freya's former mentor a slightly annoying brother and Carole's close a supportive friend. But most of all, Arthur Crockleford, he is dead and the circumstances seem suspicious, to say the leastan aspiring writer. Arthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to the village: ArthurEnglish is his favourite lesson at his school, she feelsMarlowe Park, let her down badlyand one at which he excels. Even though they were in business together as antique huntersThis hasn't gone unnoticed by his headteacher, Mrs Howarth, and she has not felt able suggested to be near the man or pursue the profession she loved. After the split, she worked in Will and his mum that he spends a couple of afternoons a week at a cafedifferent school, met and married James (on the rebound from the love of her lifeStation Road, who was murdered) and Freya and James have now divorcedwhere his ability might be better extended.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover1009473085|title=All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that DisruptThe Conservative Effect 2010 - 2024|author=Benjamin Greenaway Anthony Seldon and Stephen Oram Tom Egerton (Editors)
|rating=5
|genre=Science FictionPolitics and Society|summary=Sometimes it's simpler to explain a book by describing what it ''isn't''Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things and that applies to come''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'' Ihappened on certain occasions, then this isn've heard it said t the book for you. If that 'technology' is s what happens after you're eighteenlooking for, I don't think Anthony Seldon's book, {{amazonurl|isbn=B0BH7SKG2S|title=Johnson at 10}}, can be bettered for those tumultuous years. Well, I must confess that there have been more than It's a few decades of technology in my lifetimecompelling read and should be compulsory for anyone who thinks Johnson should return to politics. I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but IThe Conservative Effect'm left with the feeling that it's all getting away from me. Some of it is - frankly - quite frighteningan entirely different beast. Of course, I could research It's the possibilities and seventh book in a series which looks at the probabilities impact a government has made and end up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they're talking about or co-editor Sir Anthony Seldon regards this as the latest conspiracy theoristmost important. I needed people I knew I could trust This book follows the well-established format: a series of experts from various fields review the state of the nation when the coalition took over in 2010, the changes that occurred and who could deliver information the situation in a way I could understand2024.
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Sunny SinghJenny Valentine|title=Hotel ArcadiaUs in the Before and After|rating=3.5|genre=Thrillers Teens|summary=The Hotel Arcadia Elk and Mab are best friends, or more than that even, their friendship is a luxury hotel once in an unnamed city that has suddenly been violently taken over by a terrorist grouplifetime connection. Hiding from the terrorists who are rampaging through, killing everyone They meet as children one day on site, there is Sam, a wartime photographer and Abhi, trip out but unfortunately they don't get each other's contact details at the hotel managertime. As Abhi continues to try to care remotely for the residents who But then chance brings them back together, and they are still alive in the hotelinseparable. Something has happened though, he forms a bond with Sam who refuses to be cowed by eventssomething terrible and tragic, and keeps on venturing out of her room to try to capture what's happened now they must work through her photography. Although they only ever talk over the phonetheir grief, and their friendship grows as Abhi tries to help her keep safe and they both wait to see if they will be rescued before they are discovered by the terrorists, together.|isbn=086154742X1471196585
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=15291532981787333175|title=The List of Suspicious ThingsYou Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here|author=Jennie GodfreyBenji Waterhouse
|rating=5
|genre=General FictionPopular Science|summary=ItI was tempted to read 's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister. (A woman? I mean, honestly...) She's not whatYou Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here''s worrying Mivafter enjoying Adam Kay's familyfirst book {{amazonurl|isbn=1509858636|title=This is Going to Hurt}}, a glorious mixture of insight into the workings of the NHS, thoughhumour and autobiography. Women have been disappearing. Well, they've been murdered, but to have 'disappeared' doesnYou Don't sound quite so frighteningHave to be Mad... Miv's upset because she's overheard that her father wants promised the same elements but moved from physical problems to move mental illness and the family 'Down South'work of a psychiatrist. When you're from Yorkshire, Down South I did wonder whether it was acceptable to be looking for humour in this setting but the laughter is directed at a situation rather than a frightening, foreign place, best avoided. For Miv, the move would mean leaving her best friend, Sharon, person and it is always delivered with empathy and she'll do anything to prevent that. She's not worried about the dangers or that her Mum's stopped talking - to anyoneunderstanding.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1398524085Mariana Enriquez|title=Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?|author=Nicci FrenchA Sunny Place for Shady People
|rating=5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=Mariana Enriquez writes horror that is disturbingly real, achieving this uncanny familiarity by basing her paranormal plots on gritty realities: her settings include an abandoned field full of disused refrigerators due to an urban planning mishap, an overcrowded homeless shelter and a crime-ridden neighbourhood where safety meetings are routine - all within Argentina. The circumstances of her characters are so plausible that the supernatural or otherworldly horror which seeps into these spaces adopts a similarly tangible texture.
|isbn=1803511230
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1529934753
|title=The Protest
|author=Rob Rinder
|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=Charlotte Salter was expected at her husbandFor a little while, it looked as though Sir Max Bruce, the country's fiftieth birthday party but never turned most famous living artist, was not going to show upfor the opening of his retrospective at the Royal Academy. Her childrenStill, sons Niallhe arrived in the nick of time, Paul complete with his two wives and Ollie and her daughtersix children, Ettyone of whom filmed what happened. are all worried but - strangely - her husband Being an influencer, Alecyou tend to do things like that, is notbut it was fortunate that there was a record of the protest. Shortly afterwardsLexi Williams, Etty an intern at the RA, grabbed a spray can of blue paint from under a chair and Gregproceeded to spray Bruce in the face, find whilst shouting ''Stop the body of GregWar''s father, Duncan Ackerley, in the river. It was seemed to be part of an easy assumption for the police to make that Duncan had murdered Charlie and then committed suicide when he couldnongoing series of 'blue-face't stand the guiltattacks, but this was different. The Salter children are not convinced but there's little else they can do but get on had been laced with their lives cyanide, and wonder about what really happenedSir Max Bruce was dead.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1035906708Ariel Saramandi|title=Diva|author=Daisy GoodwinPortrait of an Island on Fire
|rating=4.5
|genre=General FictionPolitics and Society|summary=We tend to think In this powerful collection of Maria Callas as Greekessays, but she was born Saramandi seeks to Greek parents in Manhattanintradermally dissect the sociopolitical fabric of Mauritius, New York, in December 1923 tunneling deep into the wounds left by colonialism and only moved slavery to Athens when she was thirteenexpose how these legacies still shape modern life. Her original surname was Kalogeropoulos but her father changed it to Saramandi describes the country at one stage as ''rotting'Callas' to make it more manageable in , a blunt yet apt metaphor for the systemic decay brought about by the Statesmalignant forces of racism, patriarchy, environmental degradation and governmental dysfunction. When she was back Each essay in Athens - supposedly so that she could get appropriate training for her voice - she was raised under the Nazi occupation by this collection serves as a mother who mercilessly exploited her and made no secret kind of her preference for her elder sisterdiagnostic, Jackiecharting the various diseases afflicting the island state.|isbn=1804271616
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{{Frontpage
|author=Christopher EdgePekka Harju-Autti|title=Black Hole Cinema ClubLoveVortex and the Drakor's Curse
|rating=4
|genre=Confident ReadersFantasy|summary=Lucas and his friends are all booked in for a movie marathon at their local cinemaIt's the eighteenth century, a place that has the nickname time of 'The Black Hole'discovery and Britain is expanding its foreign trade. All big movie fansCaptain Julius Hawthorne, they're looking forward an experienced Scottish sea captain, is sent to lots of exciting films, and many, many snacks! However, as the movie startsAndaman Islands in his endeavour. Along with his son, they very quickly realise that something about this new film format is very differentPeter, and they are swept up into an adventure they couldn't even imagine. But as they lurch from one film genre to the nexttheir cat, Michi, can they figure out what set off on earth is going on? Will they ever get back a perilous voyage to these faraway lands. The islands are beautiful and stunning in their scenery and the cinemaislanders' leader, Aarav, and is keen to their real lives?establish good relations.|isbn=1839942738B0DS1VGHH3
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{{Frontpage
|author=Rachel GreenlawHelene Bessette and Kate Briggs (translator)|title=Compass and Blade|rating=3.5|genre=Teens|summary=''I can hear the song of the sea. The call of the deep, the answering beat in my heart.'' Rosevear, a remote and partially forgotten island, survives on luring ships into the rocks and plundering the wrecks. Mira, like her mother before her, Lili is one of the seven who swim out to survey the ruins – rescuing any survivors and any treasure that lies within. But when the Council Watch lays a trap to end the wrecking, they capture the island's leader and Mira's father. Desperate to save him from death, Mira makes a bargain with a wreck survivor who is as charming as he is secretive and with only coordinates to guide her, she sets off in search of a family secret that lies buried deep in the sea. With only nine days to unearth what might save her father, as her journey takes her from the watched streets of foreign islands to the heart of the smuggler's territory, Mira must be determined to stop at nothing to save the future of her home and the ones she holds most dear.|isbn=0008664730}}{{Frontpage|author=James Sherwood Metts|title=Planet Storyland|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers|summary= Things have been a bit sticky for the Earthlings. AI and automation have been proceeding apace, often replacing jobs they're paid to do and other tasks that took time to accomplish. Just as they were beginning to get used to all this technological change and starting to think of other, new ways to spend time, along came an awful pandemic. Life was pretty much shut down and, along with it, all the many daily social interactions on which they depend so heavily.|isbn=1736128426}}{{Frontpage|author=Matthew Tree|title=We'll Never KnowCrying
|rating=4.5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary= Timothy Wyndham wants nothing more than to be different from his fatherFirst published in 1953 in French, this novel is a drunk timeless text which wrenches the hearts of its readers just as Bessette wrenches words and chronic underachiever whose dreams of being exceptional at any of his artistic passions all failed miserably sentences from their proper position on the page and who had endless crises positions them elsewhere, disjointed, truncated. Like the lives of self confidence. So Tim applied himself to his studiesher characters, cultivated his abilities rather than his daydreams and set himself high but achievable ambitionsthey are often left tragically incomplete.|isbn= B0CVFXPGP81804271675
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{{Frontpage
|author=A G SlatterTom Percival|title=The Briar Book of the DeadWrong Shoes
|rating=5
|genre=FantasyConfident Readers|summary='' ThereWill's life is difficult, in a part multitude of me that wants to keep this just to myself for however long I can. This secret magic of my own, all mine, at last. I just want to enjoy it for a whileways. He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes' Within a remote mountain pass, far away from he has the world, lies Silverton; a town under wrong shoes because his dad can't work and doesn't have enough money for even the protection most basic of the Briar'sthings like food, a family of witches who protect the town and his dad can't work because he lost his job at the wider world from the Darklands. Though she has always wished for magiccollege, Ellie Briar is the first nonwas working a cash-in-witch to be born into her family for generations and as such since she was young, her training as hand job on a steward revolved around letters building site and administration rather than spells and potionshad an accident. When her grandmother suddenly dies, Ellie's cousin Audra becomes Throw into that mix the Briar Witchfact that his mum and dad are separated, the townand Will's leaderlife seems bleak in every direction. And yet, and Ellie takes her place beside herhe still has a tiny amount of hope. As challenges come her way left He is good at art, right and centre, Ellie uncovers the rare ability clings to communicate with the deadmoments of joy when he is drawing, putting her that feel like a light at the heart end of a maelstrom of chaos. Reeling from one family secret to anotherlong, Ellie must decide who to trust and determine what to do as the Briar witches' legacy, everything they have sacrificed to survive, is under threatdark tunnel.|isbn=18033645481398527122
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{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1529900360Sylvie Cathrall|title=The Ghost Orchid|author=Jonathan Kellerman|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=It hadn't been Lt Milo Sturgis's fault that Alex Delaware had been badly injured but he felt responsible and even after Alex recovered, Sturgis was reluctant to ask for his help on difficult cases. His assertions that there were only open-and-shut cases which didn't need the help of a psychologist only worked for a while. Finally, it was Robin, Delaware's partner, who nudged Milo into asking for help again. She knew that the involvement was something that the man she loved needed. The next case did look simple, though. Two lovers were murdered in the swimming pool of a remote property in Bel Air. He was the heir to an Italian shoe empire and she is married A Letter to an extremely rich man and it's not the Italian. But which of them was the primary target?}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529395224|title=Letting the Cat Out of the Bag: The Secret Life of a Vet|author=Sion RowlandsLuminous Deep|rating=3.5|genre=Animals and WildlifeScience Fiction|summary=Siôn Rowlands fell into veterinary science accidentally. His father was There are few greater joys than a GP and Rowlands didn't want book which lives up to follow in his footsteps, particularly when he considered the strain that being on-call put on his father's lifea compelling premise. When he was seventeen he took the opportunity And this is one of doing work experience with a family friend who was a vet and was convinced this was the job for him. Before long, he was at Liverpool University. It hadn't - as with so many students - been his dream since he was a child. If anything, he'd wanted to be a professional footballerthem.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0861541774|title=A Nye of Pheasants|author=Steve Burrows|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=DCI Domenic Jejeune's close friend and former colleague, Danny Maik, has taken a short holiday in Singapore to meet up with an old ally, Guy Trueman. Maik was involved in a street brawl - he would later maintain that he was facing a man armed with a knife - and he killed a Ghurka. Initially, he faced a charge of manslaughter but evidence came to light that suggested that he might have planned to murder the man. Now he could be facing the death penalty. Domenic Jejeune can do nothing to help as any interference from another police force could provoke a diplomatic incident and wouldn't help Danny at all.0356522776
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{{Frontpage
|author=Alexander McCall SmithGuadalupe Nettel and Rosalind Harvey (Translator)|title=The Perfect Passion CompanyAccidentals
|rating=4.5
|genre=General FictionShort Stories|summary=The Perfect Passion Company is a dating agency This collection was truly enchanting in Edinburghall senses of the word: spellbinding with its fantastical, run by Ness magical elements and operating as an alternative to all the online apps charming in providing a more personal, tailored serviceits gentle portrayal of nature and human relationships. Ness has asked her younger cousin Katie if she could come Guadalupe Nettel writes intelligently and look after the businessprecisely, as Ness is planning to take her stories structured by a trip to Canada to get away for a while. Katie is coming out of a break up with a bad boyfriend, and so jumps at the chance wisdom that appears to come home want to Edinburgh. And so begins this new story from Alexander McCall Smith, bringing teach us to an Edinburgh we already love, thanks to 44 Scotland Street and something about the Isabel Dalhousie novels, but with some new characters who quickly begin to charmworld. Katie has no experience in running a business, or in match-making, but Ness has full confidence in her abilities, and there's always her very helpful (and rather handsome) neighbour, William, to lend a hand…|isbn=1846976596}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0811771741|title=InstaKnits for Baby|author=Melissa Leapman|rating=4|genre=Crafts|summary=Melissa Leapman's ''InstaKnits for Baby'' gives us a collection of knits from toys to blankets. Some will be quick knits - others are of the 'long, cosy afternoons in front of the fire' variety. The projects are divided by the time they'll take to complete - less than five hours, five to ten hours, ten to twenty hours and more than twenty hours. All the projects are attractive, modern and useable. I perhaps show my age when I wonder about 'social-media-worthy projects' but that's me being picky.1804271470
}}