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<metadesc>Book review siteExpert, with books full book reviews from most walks of literary life; fiction, biographynon-fiction, crime, cookery and children's books & self-published books plus author interviews and & top tens.</metadesc><h1 id="mf-title">The Bookbag</h1>Hello from The Bookbag, a book review site, featuring books from all the many walks of literary life - [[:Category:Fiction|fiction]], [[:Category:Biography|biography]], [[:Category:Crime|crime]], [[:Category:Cookery|cookery]] and anything else that takes our fancy. At Bookbag Towers the bookbag sits at the side of the desk. It's the bag we take to the library and the bookshop. Sometimes it holds the latest releases, but at other times there'll be old favourites, books for the children, books for the home. They're sometimes our own books or books from the local library. They're often books sent to us by publishers and we promise to tell you exactly what we think about them. You might not want to read through a full review, so we'll give you a quick review which summarises what we felt about the book and tells you whether or not we think you should buy or borrow it. There are also lots of [[:Category:Interviews|author interviews]], and all sorts of [[:Category:Lists|top tens]] - all of which you can find on our [[features]] page. If you're stuck for something to read, check out the [[Book Recommendations|recommendations]] page.
There are currently '''{{PAGESINCATEGORY: Reviews}}'''Read [[:Category:New Reviews|new reviews by genre]]at TheBookbag. '''<br>
Want to find out more [[About Us|about us]]? __NOTOC__ ==The Best New Books== '''Read [[:Category:New Reviews|new reviews by category]]. '''<br> '''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].'''<!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Martin WalkerFyodor Dostoyevsky|title=White Nights|rating=5|genre=Short Stories|summary=As always in Dostoyevsky, the character work is sublime. One is never left wondering what a character is thinking or feeling because Dostoyevsky lays bare their innermost dispositions and temperaments with remarkable clarity.|isbn=0241619785}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008385068|title=The Dying Season: A Bruno Courreges InvestigationMidnight Feast|author=Lucy Foley
|rating=4.5
|genre=CrimeThrillers|summary=It's said that you should never meet your heroes but Bruno Courrèges, chief of police of midsummer on the sleepy Dordogne town of St Denis, has no such thoughts when heDorset coast and guests gather at The Manor. It's invited to the 90th birthday their opening weekend and splendid celebrations of the man who has been his hero since he was a childare promised. Marco Desaix is a war hero, flying ace and a man with high level political connections in France, Russia and Israel - and heIt's known as ''The Patriarch''all headed up by Francesca Meadows. The party - if you can use such a mundane word Manor was her ancestral home and she's converted it into an impressive retreat for an occasion which includes a fly past by the air force - went wellwealthy and famous. Her husband, Owen, with only one minor disruption when an old family friend accosted one of was the daughters architect and work is still ongoing on parts of the Desaix family site. The heat is oppressive and was disinclined to let goamongst the guests are enemies as well as friends. Still, Old scores are going to be settled and it was well known that he was an alcoholic and no one seemed surprised when Gilbert was removed without ceremony by the gamekeeperwon't be long before a body is found.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848664052</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Silvia BorandoJames Baldwin|title= Black Cat, White CatGiovanni's Room|rating= 4.5|genre= For SharingLiterary Fiction |summary='Black Cat, White Cat' made me laugh out loud. In a lifetime of consuming literature greedily, I can count on one hand the number of books that have had this effect on me. I couldnGiovanni's Room''t wait to read it with someone else to share follows the joke. Given that the humour relies on narrator David, an element of surpriseAmerican man living in Paris, as he navigates his torturous affair with Giovanni, I'm torn about how much an Italian bartender he meets in a gay bar. While David is engaged to reveal here soHella, who is travelling in Spain, for the moment, Ireal tension in the novel arises not from his infidelity but from the deeper conflict within himself. It is David'll tell you a bit more about the books crippling shame and denial of his sexuality that ultimately dooms his relationship with Giovanni.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1406363162</amazonuk>0141186356
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Hsukung Liu and Xinlin Wang (translator)Ashley Hickson-Lovence|title=The Only Pupil in the SchoolWild East|rating=4.5|genre=For SharingTeens|summary=On the first day of the school term only one pupil appeared and the teachers began to worry about losing their jobs. So they made their minds up that they would make their only pupil the best Written in the schoolverse, which - when you think about it - wasnthis is Ronny't going s story, a young black fourteen year old boy from Hackney who suddenly has to be ''all'' that difficultmove to Norwich and start at a mostly white school. They began The move is initiated by trying to persuade her to come to Ronny's mum who is worried for Ronny'their'' classes s safety after a tragic event, and when that didn't persuade her they began fighting amongst themselves so Ronny finds himself trying to settle in a new town, a new school, and didn't notice our heroine creeping awaykeep himself out of trouble. She went He listens to the forest music constantly, and met an old man who taught her lots about the flowers and the insectshas always dreamed of being a rapper. A chef showed her how But now, in this new school, his teacher encourages him to make soup - it was delicious and warming - and then she had lots be part of fun (a poetry writing workshop group and exercise) with a dog she met in , slowly, Ronny begins to see the park. The further she lookedconnections between rap and poetry, the more she learned and at the library she drew a book about what she had seen - power of creativity and it was there that the teachers found hercrafting your words.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0993215416</amazonuk>0241645441
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Laura Andersen1635866847|title=The Boleyn Reckoning (Anne Boleyn Trilogy)Lavender Companion|author=Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci
|rating=4.5
|genre=Historical FictionLifestyle|summary=SPOILERS FOR BOOKS 1 & 2 AHEADIt's strange, the things that make you ''immediately'' feel that this is the book for you. Before I started reading ''The Lavender Companion'', I visited the author's [https: //www.pinelavenderfarm.com/ website] and there's a picture of a slice of chocolate cake on the homepage. I don't eat cakes and desserts - but I wanted that cake viscerally. Henry IX is still (There's a recipe in love the book, which I'm avoiding with his childhood sweetheart Minuette some difficulty!!) Then I started reading the book and is determined I was told to marry her, despite being betrothed to Princess Elisabeth make a mess of France for political reasonsit. Notes in the margins are sanctioned. What he still doesn't realise is that Minuette is married You get to fold down the third member of their childhood trio, his trusted advisor Dominic, Duke corners of Exeterpages. Meanwhile there are some who feel You suspect that Henry's sister Princess Elizabeth smears of butter would make not be a better ruler than heproblem. Then thereI ''s his half-sister, Lady Mary, who is starting to realise what sheloved's given up for Henry's futurethis book already. The beginning of the end has started… but whose end/ends will it be?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091956501</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jessica SouhamiJenny Valentine|title=Rama Us in the Before and the Demon KingAfter|rating=45|genre=For SharingTeens|summary=Rama was a brave Elk and good princeMab are best friends, the king's favourite son. He loved his wifeor more than that even, Sita and his best friend was his brother Lakshmantheir friendship is a once in a lifetime connection. Everyone loved him, except for They meet as children one person. His stepmother was jealous and she was determined to day on a trip out but unfortunately they don't get rid of Rama. Long ago she had saved the kingeach other's life and he had promised to grant her any wishcontact details at the time. She asked that he send Rama into the forest for fourteen years But then chance brings them back together, and although the king was horrified he had to keep his promisethey are inseparable. Rama was sent into the forest Something has happened though, but he did not go alonesomething terrible and tragic, as Sita and Lakshman went with him now they must work through their grief, and for a while all was well. They fought off the demons who first appeared and then built a house and led a simple life among the forest animalstheir friendship, together.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1847806600</amazonuk>1471196585
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Maudie Smith1787333175|title= The Cake, the Wolf and the WitchYou Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here|author=Benji Waterhouse|rating= 5|genre= Confident ReadersPopular Science|summary= Max doesnI was tempted to read ''t believe in happy endings. How could he, when lovely, brave, caring Mum got killed climbing a mountain? He doesnYou Don't like heights or small dark spaces and he doesnHave to be Mad to Work Here't like silly fairy stories. He absolutely hates being dressed in knickerbockers, silk slippers and a cape for Dad and Ilona's wedding, and in fact, the only thing thatafter enjoying Adam Kay's worse, in his opinion, first book {{amazonurl|isbn=1509858636|title=This is the fact that once it's over he'll have Going to share his home with Hurt}}, a horrible new brother glorious mixture of insight into the workings of the NHS, humour and sisterautobiography. I mean, come on, people! Nettle is a total grouch who ''You Don's clearly never cracked a smile in her whole life, and little Wild is just t Have to be Mad. . . well, '' promised the same elements but moved from physical problems to tell mental illness and the truth, he's plain daftwork of a psychiatrist. He prances about I did wonder whether it was acceptable to be looking for humour in this setting but the place like laughter is directed at a situation rather than a demented butterfly, person and it is always delivered with empathy and he never takes his baseball cap off, even to go to bedunderstanding. How's Max supposed to get along with that pair?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444015605</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Rose Lagercrantz and Eva ErikssonMariana Enriquez|title=When I Am HappiestA Sunny Place for Shady People
|rating=5
|genre=Emerging ReadersShort Stories|summary=If Dani leaves Mariana Enriquez writes horror that is disturbingly real, achieving this uncanny familiarity by basing her paranormal plots on gritty realities: her school for the summer holidays with one souvenir, it will either be the memories settings include an abandoned field full of the fabulous friendship she formed with Elladisused refrigerators due to an urban planning mishap, who struck a chord in [[My Happy Life by Rose Lagercrantz an overcrowded homeless shelter and Eva Eriksson|book one]] then moved away, or it will be a book she has written and compiled to remind her of crime-ridden neighbourhood where safety meetings are routine - all the happiness she has encountered along the waywithin Argentina. That is not quite finished, for the following day is to be the great end The circumstances of year party, and her classroom decorations characters are complete and her dress has been bought new specially. But not all of life is happiness and jollity – and Dani is removed from so plausible that the classroom to face very bad newssupernatural or otherworldly horror which seeps into these spaces adopts a similarly tangible texture. What ending is in store, for her book and for ours?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1927271894</amazonuk>1803511230
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Christopher FranceschelliOnyi Nwabineli|title= DinoblockAllow Me to Introduce Myself|rating= 4.5|genre= For SharingGeneral Fiction|summary= As befits a book about dinosaursAnuri spent her childhood on display to the world, thanks to her step-mother Ophelia'Dinoblocks increasingly popular presence on social media, where she posted every step of Anuri' s childhood for sponsorships and influencer deals and, basically, monetary gain. Now Anuri is suitably chunky. Not monstrously large but enticingly substantial in a 'pick me up her twenties and she is slowly trying to regain her confidence and read me' kind of wayto get her life back, suing her step-mother to take down the content about her. Inside this board book Anuri is battling alcoholism, twenty plus beasts are on paradefailing to start her PhD, undergoing therapy and secretly abusing people online and receiving money from them for doing so. If you don Most importantly, she is desperately worried about her little sister, who is the new focus of Ophelia't know your Triassic from your Jurassic step this way…s online empire. Can she save her sister, and perhaps herself and her relationship with her father at the same time?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1419716743</amazonuk>0861546873
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Vaughn EntwhistleDavid Chadwick|title= The Dead AssassinHeadload of Napalm|rating= 4.5|genre= Crime (Historical)Thrillers|summary=LondonIt's September 1973 in Hicks, 1895California. Arthur Conan Doyle Hicks is summoned to the scene a Mojave desert town of a mysterious crime – few thousand people with its nearest neighbours of LA and Las Vegas both a senior member of the Government lies murderedsignificant drive away. Close by, the body of the attacker is found, riddled with bulletsNot much happens in Hicks. The dead assassin is identified, however, as A silver mine and a man who was hanged several weeks previously. Mystified by defence contractor are the strange incident, Arthur Conan Doyle calls on a friend for advice – Oscar Wilde. Togethermain local employers but otherwise, the two there's not much of them are swept up into a bizarre investigation – one that threatens their lives, their families, note other than dive bars and the very establishment itselfJoshua trees. It seems that someone Life is reanimating corpsesquiet, and programming them for murder…until....|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1783292687</amazonuk>B0D321VJ76
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Caroline MooreheadTom Percival|title=Village of SecretsThe Wrong Shoes|rating=3.5|genre=HistoryConfident Readers|summary=Will''Village s life is difficult, in a multitude of Secretsways. He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes' is an account of resistance (with a small , he has the wrong shoes because his dad can'rt work and doesn') t have enough money for even the most basic of things like food, and rescue in his dad can't work because he lost his job at the college, was working a series of small villages scattered across the Vivaraiscash-Lignon plateau in Vichy France. Residents of these villages harboured -hand job on a number of people, many of them children, many of them Jews, seeking to avoid deportation to concentration camps, at great personal riskbuilding site and had an accident. There have been other accounts of this chapter in French history Throw into that mix the fact that his mum anddad are separated, of courseand Will's life seems bleak in every direction. And yet, he still has a great many books about Vichy France in generaltiny amount of hope. However He is good at art, ''Village and clings to the moments of Secrets'' joy when he isdrawing, perhaps, that feel like a light at the most detailed, much end of it based on primary sources (interviews with both rescuers and the rescued, or their families)a long, backed up by extensive documentary researchdark tunnel.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>009955464X</amazonuk>1398527122
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Eva RiceSylvie Cathrall|title=Love Notes for FreddieA Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating=45|genre=General Science Fiction|summary=Marnie is an innocent, mathematical genius schoolgirl who, unfortunately, gets expelled from her fancy boarding school. Julie is her teacher, formerly There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a dancer, rigorously private about her pastcompelling premise. Freddie And this is the boy that both one of them fall .|isbn= 0356522776}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1786482126|title=The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly Griffiths|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=Builders were demolishing an old house in love withNorwich - the site was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the bones of a child beneath a doorway. There was no skull. Revealed through the eyes of two of the three main characters, Was this is a slow-movingritual killing or murder? Inevitably, but rather beautifully told, love storyDr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. It has the same vintage feel that Eva Rice used so well in 's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn'The Lost Art t, that she is pregnant with his child as a result of Keeping Secrets'' and it cleverly winds its way through Marnie's story in the 1960's as well as Julie's past in pre-WW2 New Yorkone night they spent together some three months ago. Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of sickness.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782064486</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Sophie McKenzie Joan Didion|title=All My Secrets The Year of Magical Thinking
|rating=4.5
|genre=TeensAutobiography|summary=Fifteen-year old Evie This book is a normal teenager until a solicitor from Scotland appears on her doorstep with news Joan Didion's heartbreaking autobiographical account of a £10 million inheritance and a secret that turns the grief she endured following her world upside down. Ithusband's little wonder she struggles to cope and ends up being enrolled on a summer programme for troubled teens on the remote island of Lightseasudden death. Little does she suspect Books that her troubles shed light on taboo topics like death are only just beginning. At the same time as coping with her burgeoning attraction such a beautiful and necessary resource to two of the boys on the programme, she discovers the island is linked to her family secrethelp people feel less alone. Evie is determined to get to the bottom of the mysteryDidion unpicks unpleasant feelings surrounding death like self-pity, unaware of the dangers that this will bring for both her denial and delusion and her new friendsmakes them utterly normal, lends them a human face to wear.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1471122212</amazonuk>0007216858
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Noel Streatfeild 0008551324|title=Ballet Shoes The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster|rating=4.5|genre=Confident ReadersCrime|summary=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'Ballet Shoes'' tells s prepared to tell the police where the story body of three adopted orphans – Paulinea missing person is buried and who was responsible for her death. This person, Petrova he promises, is someone big and Posy Fossilit will be worth the police doing what he wants. Brought And what he wants is to be transferred to 1930s London as babies by an eccentric explorer (Great Uncle Matthew, otherwise known as Gum), open prison to serve the girls have a comfortable life until the family begin remainder of his sentence and to run out of moneyget an early parole date. Luckily they are all given places at the Children Not much to ask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's Academy of Dancing and Stage Training and soon start even prepared to earn their own way as child performers on do the stageother thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141359803</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Kat Gordon1739526910|title= Artificial Anatomy of ParksWhere I've Not Been Lost|author=Glen Sibley|rating= 4.5|genre= General Fiction|summary=''One morning in 2002, twenty-one year old Tallulah Park is woken in her depressing bedsit by the phonecall announcing her fatherafter a suicide attempt blows apart musician Brian O’Malley's heart attacklife, he arrives in an unfamiliar Devon town to recover. From this bleak beginning springs Kat Gordon's gripping debut novel Living with an unexpected housemate at his former manager’s holiday home, he dreams of a dysfunctional upper middle class family reconnecting with a history of papering over the cracks and ignoring the uncomfortable and unfitting. Tallulah everything he has been doing her fair share of powering on and pretending things don't exist, but it seems like this might turn out to be the time to stop running awaylost. With the reluctant help of two auntsBut as those tentative plans falter, an old family friend and her own imperfect recollections, and with he becomes swept up in a vivid imagining of her late grandmother as the voice local world of conscienceunlikely friendships, Tallulah sets out to answer some long-standing questions about her family mobile discos and her own pastsurprising romantic possibilities.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785079867</amazonuk>''
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=0008405026|title= Mary Higgins Clark A Stranger in the Family (editorMaeve Kerrigan 11)|titleauthor= Manhattan Mayhem – New Crime Stories from the Mystery Writers of AmericaJane Casey|rating= 5|genre= Crime|summary= I It's sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was unsure how never found and the investigation ground to open this reviewa halt. I heart Manhattan Now, her mother, Helena, big timeand her father are dead in their bed. I am always attracted to any work set in ManhattanInitially, it looks like a straightforward murder/suicide but I don’t want to pigeonhole this remarkable collection there's something about the positioning of stories into a slot the bodies that says 'only for Manhattan lovers'makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. Far from it – What looked as though it was going to be an open-and-shut case is now a superb collection featuring complex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that the highest standards of both mystery writing and the form of short storyexplanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's boss, Una Burt) are less convinced.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>159474761X</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Jodi Picoult1529077745|title= Leaving TimeThe Dark Wives (D I Vera Stanhope)|author=Ann Cleeves|rating= 4.5|genre= Women's FictionCrime|summary= How do you find someone A man walking his dog in the early morning discovered the body of a man in the park near Rosebank, a care home for troubled teens. The dead man was Josh - one of the care workers who doesn't want was due to be found? For Jenna, it's work a shift the night before but who had never turned up. D I Vera Stanhope is called in to enlist investigate the services murder - but her only clue is the disappearance of a fallen-from-grace psychicone of the residents, and a fallenfourteen-fromyear-grace former cop turned PIold Chloe Spencer. Can Some people believe that Chloe was responsible for the death but Vera thinks this mismatched threesome uncover is unlikely as the truth of girl's diary makes it clear that she adored Josh. She knows that she has to find Chloe to discover what really happened all those years ago?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444778161</amazonuk>to Josh.
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Benji Davies1399613073|title=Grandad's Island Moral Injuries|author=Christie Watson|rating=4.5|genre=For SharingThrillers|summary=Syd Olivia, Laura and his Grandad are going Anjali met on an adventure – through the door in Grandad's attic to first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a ship that will sail across an ocean quarter of rooftops a century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to be a magical tropical islandcardiothoracic surgeon. They are going to find new wonders at every turn as they explore the island Laura is a perfectionist and make lots of new friends in a trauma doctor. Anjali is the form free spirit of the animals group and birdsshe becomes a GP. In fact, When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it's such going to end in tragedy. We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the consequences. Twenty-five years later there will be an amazing place eerily similar event that Grandad decides to staywill impact the three friends. This time, it's their teenage children who are involved.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1471119955</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jeremy Clarke0241636604|title=Low LifeThe Trading Game: The Spectator ColumnsA Confession|author=Gary Stevenson|rating=4.5
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=There is If you were to bring up an image of a story that back city banker in 1997 there were three deaths at about the same time and God had taken the shift at the pearly gates your mind, you're unlikely to do the paperworkthink of someone like Gary Stevenson. Princess Diana came first A hoodie and was quickly followed by Mother Teresa. Stories of their good works flowed out jeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and God hated to admit it but his background is the East End, where he was little weariedfamiliar with violence, poverty and injustice. Still it There was the end of no posh public school on his shift... CV - but then another soul appeared. Jeffrey Bernard! It was with relief that God dashed he had been to the bar to get the first round in..London School of Economics. There might have been high jinx in heaven but back on earth ''Life'' was not so clear cut Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and even Taki Theodoracopulos was he has a little worriedfacility with numbers which most of us can only envy. He wrote ''High Life'' for the Spectator, but where would also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be without its counterpointstupid. It was his ability at what was, essentially, ''Low Life'' a card game which had been written for years by Bernard? got him an internship with Citibank. Fortunately there was an able replacement waiting in the wingsEventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0704373912</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author= John GrishamLeanne Egan|title= Gray Mountain Lover Birds|rating= 4.5|genre= CrimeTeens|summary= Gray Mountain is the latest exciting legal thriller When new girl, Isabel, moves to Lou's hometown of Liverpool from John GrishamLondon Lou immediately feels Isabel's disdain for everything around her. In this gripping book A misunderstanding between them leaves them hating each other, two small town lawyersbut Lou feels her pulse racing every time she looks at Isabel or speaks with her, Donovan Gray and Samantha Kofnerthat's definitely because Isabel makes her feel so cross, isn't it? Because Lou is straight, take on the might isn't she? Even though none of some devious coal companies who her relationships with boys have gone very well so far, and she's never played by the rules. As had a resultgood kiss with any of them? So she just finds herself watching Isabel, many of their previous employees are both dying and destitute. All they ask for is some compensation and dignity wanting to live hang out with her because fighting with for the rest of their lives. Howeverher is fun, the coal companies don’t see things the same way and are not prepared to give an inch. Will Donovan and Samantha be able to ensure that justice is doneshe definitely just hates Isabel, doesn't she? |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1444765655</amazonuk>000862657X
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jules Nilsson1009473085|title=The Hounds of FalsterboConservative Effect 2010 - 2024|author=Anthony Seldon and Tom Egerton (Editors)|rating=45|genre=For SharingPolitics and Society|summary=Sometimes it's simpler to explain a book by describing what it 'In between the beach huts'isn't'<br>'and that applies to 'Where the white sands meet the seas,'The Conservative Effect: 2010-2024 - 14 Wasted Years?'<br>'. If you'The heather meets re looking for an easy read which will deliver the sand dunesinside story about what ''<br>really''happened on certain occasions, then this isn'And long grasses dance t the breezebook for you. If that's what you're looking for, I don't think Anthony Seldon's book, {{amazonurl|isbn=B0BH7SKG2S|amazonuktitle=<amazonuk>0992708419</amazonuk>Johnson at 10}}, can be bettered for those tumultuous years. It's a compelling read and should be compulsory for anyone who thinks Johnson should return to politics. ''The Conservative Effect'' is an entirely different beast. It's the seventh book in a series which looks at the impact a government has made and co-editor Sir Anthony Seldon regards this as the most important. 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 the situation in 2024.
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Gareth P JonesMax Boucherat|title=Clash The Last Life of the Rival Robots (Adventures of the Steampunk Pirates)Lori Mills|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=We learn a lot about meet Lori on the world of first evening she's got the Steampunk Pirates house to herself – no neighbour to pop in this volume of their adventures. While having had references to Britain fighting France before now, we find the location matters more than [[Attack of the Giant Sea Spiders (Adventures of the Steampunk Pirates) by Gareth P Jones|last time]]babysitter poorly, mother at work, just an avidly rule-breaking eleven year old, as we head back to Englandon her lonesome. The Pirates have been told of a way to get into the Tower of London to steal the Crown Jewels. What could possibly go wrong? We also learn Snuggled in a lot about their upbringingblanket fort, she has one main intention, if you can call it and that – certainly more than last timeis to log on to Voxminer, as we see what made them piratical in the first placeworld-building, which was critter-collecting game that is a surprise to their inventor when it happenedhit in Lori's world. But you never knowfirst Lori has a tiny inkling that this stormy night doesn't find herself entirely on her own, they may and then she finds something even more spooky. For the server she and her bestie and nobody else should be about able to face a showdown against said scientist – and, worse, his next generation enter shows signs of robotstampering. If only they perhaps had When malevolent eyes spark up on her phone screen, and her safe place in the game has been programmed doctored – well, where is a girl to avoid temptation…turn?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1847156061</amazonuk>0008666482
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Desmond SewardB0DGDJRHYD|title= Renishaw Hall: the story of the SitwellsNowhere Man|author=Deborah Stone|rating= 4.5|genre= BiographyGeneral Fiction|summary= Renishaw HallIn a quiet suburban house, DerbyshirePatrick is making his final plans. A meticulous man, has been the home he makes sure of every preparation, down to the Sitwells since 1625last detail. Though the history of the house Some last reflections, and its family go back then he says goodbye to his wife, the early Stuart eraworld, as Seward tells us and his life. It's horribly sad. At work in a few wonderfully concise chaptersher shop, it his wife Diana is really with the appearance of the eccentric Sir George Sitwell fending off yet another phone call about her ageing and his three famous children that the narrative comes into its ownailing mother, who needs extricating from yet another accident. It will be a while before Diana realises what Patrick has done.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178396183X</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Mark EllisVirginie Despentes|title=Stalin's Gold: A Frank Merlin NovelKing Kong Theory|rating=4.5|genre=CrimeAutobiography |summary=When we [[Frank Merlin: Princes Gate by Mark Ellis|last saw]] DCI Frank Merlin he was champing at the bit to enlist ''King Kong Theory'' is a hard-hitting memoir and do his bit but frustrated by the fact that he could not feminist manifesto, which can be releasedseen as a call to arms for women in a phallocentric society broken at its core. On Originally written in French, the positive side there were signs that he was recovering from the death of his wife book is a couple collection of years earlier and he's now essays in which Virginie Despentes explores her experiences as a relationship with Sonia, a refugee from Poland who's working in woman through the dress department at Swan and Edgar. The phoney war is well and truly over and London is suffering daily bombing raidscomplex prism of her varied life: the capital is a dangerous place from rape to besex work and pornography. Some people Though these discussions are taking advantage of intertwined, their placement within the situation and looting is disappointingly frequent. It's one book can feel somewhat disjointed, a reflection of the problems that have been dropped on Merlin's toestheir original form as independent essays.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>B00YSZ9G4E</amazonuk>191309734X
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Tom SperlingerAlba de Cespedes |title= Romeo and Juliet in Palestine: Teaching Under OccupationForbidden Notebook|rating= 4.5|genre= AutobiographyLiterary Fiction|summary= Towards This Italian work of feminist fiction holds an air of suspense and tension from the end of Tom Sperlinger's first bookmoment our protagonist, he says education can open people's eyesValeria Cossati, making them aware 'that we make assumptions all of the timepurchases her forbidden notebook, without even knowing they are assumptions.' ''Romeo and Juliet learns about herself in Palestine: Teaching Under Occupation'' is a fine example of this belief in learning, an assumption-shattering book that offers a new perspective on Palestinian life not seen on the news or in the papersmost intimate and revealing ways.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1782796371</amazonuk>1782278222
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Eglantine de la Fontaine et alOttessa Moshfegh|title=My Magical Oasis: Art Therapy Colouring Book for Creative MindsYear of Rest and Relaxation|rating=4.53|genre=CraftsLiterary Fiction|summary=It's not often I can review At best, this novel is a book scathing critique of modern society and mention how reveals the fragility of human relationships; at worst, it changes your brainis the cynical, but that's apparently the effect predictable and slightly trite tale of the colouring-in-for-adults phenomenonan unlikeable protagonist. There's a science behind it all that attests how alpha wavesThis unlikely heroine, a slightly more childlike, accepting, relaxed form of brain activityslim, are used by our bonces when we colour – attractive and as opposed to newly orphaned girl in her twenties is disillusioned with the braverworld, thinking, active beta waves they're something the mind could do more of, especially but resolves not to lose sleep over it: in this kineticfact, plugged-her solution lies in, 24/7 lifestyle. So whereas I normally review books to help my readers make their mind up, here I'm mentioning this volume because it allegedly would change your mindher hibernation.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0859655350</amazonuk>1784707422
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Steve Smallman and Ada GreyJo Callaghan|title= The HippobottymusLeave No Trace|rating= 4.5|genre= For SharingCrime|summary=The Hippobotymus When a man is found crucified on the top of a great romp through hill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the jungle using language to create sound and rhythm which case alongside her sidekick, the AI detective Lock. It's their first live case together, having previously been very successful with several cold cases. But when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, Kat is really fun to engage suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and read alouda very high profile case that draws a lot of unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. All Will they be able to solve the animals are having a great case in time, singing their song or will Kat find herself taken off the case and each adding their own sounds, but just what is it that Hippo didpotentially, out of a career? You’ll just have to read it to find out.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1848690517</amazonuk>139851120X
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Jeanne Willis and Jenni DesmondB0DB64PYV5|title= The First Slodge|rating= 5|genre= For Sharing|summary=The First Slodge thinks everything is his, until he finds out he might be the first Slodge, but that doesn’t make him the only Slodge. Will they learn to share? They might just have to. I found The First Slodge to be a fascinating book. I loved the ideas, and I think it’s great that a picture book is managing to tackle a number of issues all at once like this without losing its own sense of story and purpose.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848690398</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewWhite Rose|author= Karen McCombie|title= Catching Falling StarsDave Baines|rating= 4.5|genre= Confident ReadersDystopian Fiction|summary= It is 1940 and after In 2033, a year of superstorm known as the ''phoney war'' London is suffering in White Rose devastates the BlitzNorthern Hemisphere. Glory and her younger brother Rich have now been evacuated to And it's not a country village far from everything they know and lovestorm that gathers, wreaks havoc, then dissipates. When the arrangements made by their mother fall through Instead, it hovers across half the children are sent to live Earth with Miss Saundersits octopus-like tentacles, a cold and unwelcoming woman who is not popular in the village and Glory wonders if they would have been better off remaining in London despite the danger of falling bombs. The local children appear unfriendly and even in the countryside they are not completely safe from the enemy. All Glory wants is to return home to her parents but she will soon discover that her life is to change in unexpected ways giving up and she will learn that her first impressions should not always be trustednever going away.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407138898</amazonuk>
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