Book Reviews From The Bookbag

The Bookbag

Hello from The Bookbag, a book review site, featuring books from all the many walks of literary life - fiction, biography, crime, 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 author interviews, and all sorts of top tens - all of which you can find on our features page. If you're stuck for something to read, check out the recommendations page.

There are currently 16,120 reviews at TheBookbag.

Want to find out more about us?

Reviews of the Best New Books

Read new reviews by category.

Read the latest features.

The Quiet Death of Thomas Quaid by Craig Russell

Crime

Everybody liked quiet Tommy Quaid, a professional burglar who like Norman Stanley Fletcher saw arrest and imprisonment as occupational hazards and on the rare occasion he was nabbed, he'd raise his hands and come quiet. Turns out that's not what his nickname meant at all. Turns out there was a lot about Quiet Tommy Quaid that a lot of people didn't know. Even those who thought they knew him well, who thought they were his friends. Full review...

William the Conqueror: The Bastard of Normandy by Peter Rex

History

The basic facts of William I's life are inevitably as clouded as those surrounding the Norman conquest, the events and politics which led up to it, and the aftermath. As Peter Rex makes clear in his introduction, any surviving sources are inevitably very incomplete. Moreover, 'the writing of the history of the eleventh century requires the historian to attempt to provide motives and explanations for events that are only sketchily described at best'. Full review...

Out of Practice by Penny Parkes

General Fiction

In a last-ditch attempt to save her failing marriage, GP Holly Graham relocates to the charming village of Larkford with her family to work at the local practice. She finds life as a village doctor very different to her previous role in a busy city hospital, and falls in love with the close-knit community and its quirky residents. But just as Larkford is beginning to feel like home, Holly is hit by a bombshell that threatens to destroy everything she has worked so hard to achieve. Can she rise to the challenge and fight for what she loves? Maybe she will discover something about herself in the process. Full review...

In Focus: 101 Close Ups, Cross-Sections and Cutaways by Libby Walden

Children's Non-Fiction

Only recently I've had reason to applaud a children's non-fiction book for concentrating on showing its audience what they have no hope to see – in that case, the underground and underwater worlds, from the shallowest plant roots to the deepest oceanic explorations and everything in between. Other unseen worlds are all around us, however – they're what goes on on the inside of things – inside a pocket watch (remember them?), inside a yurt, a space shuttle, a volcano, a toilet… This pleasant square block of book not only gives us the outside image and a caption, but the full story of the innards, meaning the young reader is certainly going where they've never been before… Full review...

Tales of Accidental Genius by Simon Van Booy

Short Stories

A diverse, haunting and humorous collection of short fiction, Simon Van Booy offers a collection of stories highlighting how human genius can emerge through acts of compassion. With characters ranging from an eccentric film director, an aging Cockney bodyguard, the teenage child of Nigerian immigrants, a divorced amateur magician and a Beijing street vendor, Tales of Accidental Genius takes the reader on many, incredible journeys, and conveys more in a few pages than many authors would struggle to do in a whole novel. Full review...

A Dog Called Bear by Diane Fox and Christyan Fox

For Sharing

Lucy had always wanted a dog and she'd been preparing for the moment when her dreams could come true for a long time: she'd read all the books, bought doggie things and her bedroom was plastered with doggie pictures. One day she set out to make her dream come true: accosting animals and presenting her credentials (there really is no other way of explaining it...) First up, a frog, who presents the counter arguments to dog ownership and then makes his own case, adding that he would only need a bath every day. Lucy's sorry, but she only has a shower... Full review...

We Are All Made of Molecules by Susin Nielsen

Teens

After two years of pain following his mum's death, Stewart is pleased his dad has found someone else and he's 89.9% excited that he and his dad are moving in with Ashley and her mom. Ashley, however, is 110% horrified at the prospect of a new 'blended' family. She's still dealing with her parent's breakup and the revelation that her dad is gay. She's simply not prepared for a new step-dad and his geeky, socially clueless, son. Full review...

The Lost Swimmer by Ann Turner

Thrillers

Your boss is out to sabotage your career, your husband's having an affair, someone's trying to frame you for fraud and your dog is out of control around the friendly neighbourhood Kangaroos. It would be a lot to handle for anyone, let alone university lecturer Rebecca who is somewhat less confident that her outward persona would suggest. But there's just that slight issue of how much of it is actually factual. The signs seem to suggest some or all of this to be true, but signs can be wrong, obscured with dirt or sometimes pointing the wrong way. Full review...

The Power of Dark by Robin Jarvis

Teens

Something is brewing in the coastal town of Whitby. To best friends Lil and Verne, it just seems like a particularly bad storm. But Cherry Cherise, the last of the town's guardian witches, fears that ancient forces are work, reviving the curse of a long-lost magical artefact and a feud that has survived beyond death… Full review...

Trouble at the Cat Cafe (Poppy's Place) by Katrina Charman

Confident Readers

Trouble at the Cat Café is the second book in the Poppy's Place series about a family who adopt a number of homeless cats and decide to open a Japanese-style cat café. We meet up with Isla and her family as they are making the final preparations for their grand opening which will see their dream become a reality. There is still so much work to do, and more importantly, they still have to pass the all-important council inspection. Will everything be ready for the grand opening on Saturday? Full review...

Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley

General Fiction

Meet Ted Flask. A middle-aged, gay Los Angelino, he has the one love of his life. While the fall-out of relationships with men sends him to therapy, he can rely on Lily, the Dachshund. They've been together through thick and thin, ever since the little pup – the runt, no less – seemed to pick Ted out. Ted's sister's unusual marriage was almost marred by Lily being under the surgeon's knife, at great expense – but on the whole they have life sorted. He tries to write, but Friday night is board games, Saturday night is movie night, and Sunday night is pizza night. Oh, and yes, Lily talks to Ted, either in FULLY! CAPITALISED! EVER! EXCLAMATORY! BARKS! or in regular speech. Oh, and yes, Lily has an octopus on her head. Full review...

Falling by Julie Cohen

General Fiction

Here is the story of three women, from three generations within the same family. There is Jo, a forty year old single mother whose first husband died, and whose second husband ran off with their nanny. She is left caring for her older teenage daughter, Lydia, and her two little ones, Oscar and Iris, whilst harbouring a secret that she feels she cannot share with anyone. Her daughter Lydia is the second female character, and as well as the usual teenage angst she is also dealing with grief, still, over her father's death, anger with her mother for her second disastrous marriage, and her own very difficult secret that she is unable to talk to anyone about. Finally there's Honor who is Jo's mother in law, the mother of Jo's first husband, Stephen. Honor has a fall, breaks her hip, and is forced to move in with Jo for a time as she has no one else who can help her. She too is hiding a secret from the world, and as you read the story you begin to wonder if any of these characters actually know who the others are, and if any of them will ever start telling the truth. Full review...

The Detective Dog by Julia Donaldson and Sara Ogilvie

For Sharing

Detective dog Nell, with her great sense of smell, is a rather remarkable dog! She works very hard from Tuesday to Sunday, finding lost things, like a ball down the toilet, and solving mysteries such as where is the lost shoe by sniffing it out. It's in the shed, actually, and if you look a little more closely you might start to suspect that actually Nell might have had more to do with these lost things and mysteries than she should have! Anyway, those are her busy days, but on Mondays she goes to school with Peter, and she listens to the children reading her books. She loves all sorts of books, about dinosaurs and princes and dragons and dogs, and she loves the smell of the books. So when she goes to school one Monday and finds that all the books are missing, Detective dog Nell is the one they need to help find all the books. Full review...

Tickle My Ears by Jorg Muhle

For Sharing

Little Rabbit is getting ready for bed. It's getting late, so can you help him? He's going to need to get his pyjamas on, and his pillow needs fluffing, and he might need a little stroke on his back, or for his ears to have a tickle. What a sleepy little rabbit he is! Full review...

The End of the World Running Club by Adrian J Walker

Thrillers

When the end of the world as we know it comes, Edgar is totally unprepared. Still slightly drunk from drowning his sorrows, and in a panic, he throws random items, including his daughter, down into his cellar, and then he and his family eke out a nightmarish existence in the dark until their supplies run out. Fortunately they are lucky, and they are rescued from the cellar. As they emerge back into the world they see the ruin and disaster around them, caused by hundreds of large asteroids hitting the earth. Large areas of the country have been destroyed. Groups of people left alive scavenge houses and towns, turning feral, trying to find what's left to help them to survive. Edgar's family are rescued by a small remaining army unit, but he and his wife and children become separated, and so begins Edgar's desperate race to reach his loved ones, who are hundreds of miles away, before they leave on an evacuation ship for another country. Full review...

How to Set a Fire and Why by Jesse Ball

Literary Fiction

Lucia Stanton is a sarcastic 14-year-old misfit who lives with her elderly Aunt Lucy in a garage they rent from an evil landlord at the bottom of his large garden. She never comes right out and explains why she's there, but if you read between the lines you work out that her father is dead and her mother is in a mental hospital – presumably for his murder. Aunt Lucy is dignified and principled – Don't do things you aren't proud of is her motto – even though they are undeniably poor: Lucia only has one set of clothes and mostly lives off of liquorice and Aunt Lucy's terrible homemade bread. Full review...

Ned's Circus of Marvels by Justin Fisher

Confident Readers

Ned is an ordinary boy; in fact he is less than ordinary. His life is dull and he is quite unnoticeable. His dad is overly protective: he is the dad who wraps his child up in cotton wool and then adds a layer of bubble wrap for good measure. Ned barely leaves the house, only to school, but then he must be back on time otherwise his dad would worry and start to panic. Not the ideal life for a boy just about to turn 13. However, in a frantic moment of disbelief, Ned's life changes in an instant with a glimpse of two clowns at his door. Everything he knew of himself, his dad and his family is turned upside down. In a barrage of confusion and panic intertwined with a dramatic car chase, the comfortable world as Ned knows it has changed forever. Ned is not who he thinks his is - he is so much more, and ordinary? Not one little bit. Full review...

The Munich Art Hoard: Hitler's Dealer and His Secret Legacy by Catherine Hickley

History

One of the most newsworthy events in modern art history happened seemingly by chance. When tax police raided the house of an aged man in Munich it was because they assumed he had been moving too much money about and paying no tax – this six months after he was seen on the train between Bavaria and Switzerland with 'nearly too much' cash. The investigators had no case, but he had something much more complex and rich – a massive legacy of 20th Century German and European art. But that collection had to have an origin – one of dubious and at times nefarious beginnings, and one that could have quite a rich and convoluted background. Hickley, in these pages, gives us much in the way of context as well as ironing out those convolutions, so this story is both of interest to Nazi historians and art scholars – as well as to those larger numbers who just like a good story told well. Full review...

The Snow Globe by Jean Ure

Dyslexia Friendly

Abi's family's circumstances changed very suddenly. She had been a pupil at a very good girl's school (with a stylish uniform) and went horse riding and to dance classes at the weekend. The family home, was spacious and in a pleasant neighbourhood. When the family business went under they had to sell the house and move to something smaller. The horse riding and dance classes went and school was a big comprehensive - with boys and a dull, grey uniform. Worst of all she was moving away from her best friend, Jenny. Full review...

Ancient Worlds by Michael Scott

History

History can be perceived as a dusty academic backwater. Often viewed as an irrelevance in our modern world, as we race through the daily events of our lives. It is a subject that has suffered greatly in our education system, where there has always been a tendency to teach the subject in isolation, only focussing on the events that have shaped our own national identity. Michael Scott's new book offers a refreshing change. Ancient Worlds is thought provoking history for the general reader. Well researched and with a persuasive argument, he explores the interactions across three differing cultures. Interactions that provide a new perspective on our modern world. Full review...

Fell by Jenn Ashworth

General Fiction

Now her parents have died, Annette returns to sell her old childhood home but there's work to do on the decrepit building first. As she wanders around and tries to make some order of the overgrown shambles, she's watched by the ghost of her mother, Netty; a spirit with regrets. Netty reminisces about Annette's childhood and the turning point their lives reached when the mysterious healer Timothy Richardson came to stay. It was a time that promised so much but one for which Netty now needs to make amends, even if she is beyond the grave. Full review...

Act of God by Jill Ciment

General Fiction

Act of God is a story about two ageing twins who find a worrying mushroom growing in their cupboard, a landlady searching for the spotlight and a Russian immigrant whose greatest fear is insignificance. What the insurance company describes as an act of God brings their already overlapped, Brooklyn lives in to sharper focus. What do you do when disaster threatens? Is it survival of the fittest or should we love thy neighbour? Full review...

The Waking Fire: Book One of Draconis Memoria by Anthony Ryan

Fantasy

Mercenary Clayden Torcreek is blood-blessed, i.e. one of the few able to translate a few drops of drake's blood into an extraordinary attribute. It gets even better than that: Clayden is unregistered, making him unexpected and eminently hireable when the department of Exceptional Initiatives need someone to track the fabled white drake. His recruiter and contact is covert agent Lizanne Lethbridge who is currently gathering intelligence while posing as a maid to the spoilt young Tekela. It's worth it though – Tekela's father has something of interest. The problem is that Lizanne isn't the only one interested and so staying alive becomes increasingly difficult. Out at sea naval officer Hilemore is about to put his training to good use. Meanwhile in the inhospitable interior, Clayden's expedition only has to worry about savages and drakes of the gigantic, man-eating, fire breathing variety. That's alright then! Full review...

The Silent Land by David Dunham

Historical Fiction

Rebecca's mother dies just as 1903 turns over to 1904, triggering a move and total change of life for Rebecca and her father. They reluctantly (in Rebecca's case) leave village life behind them to enter the spotlight of London society. This will influence the young lady as she becomes a woman, falls in love and marries. However these changes are nothing compared to the conflict bubbling under the surface in Europe. The hot summer of 1914 is the prelude to loss in many lives, including Rebecca's. Full review...

Squish Squash Squeeze! by Tracey Corderoy and Jane Chapman

For Sharing

When Mouse moves into his new house, he thinks it's going to be perfect. But then he finds there's already quite a collection of animals he'll have to share with: he discovers a big brown bear behind the piano and a crocodile crammed in the bath. When a tiger comes whizzing down the bannister it becomes a bit of a squish, a squash and a squeeze. The animals don't know what to do until they hear a rumble under the floor – it looks like they're going to have an even bigger problem. Or are they? Full review...

Trio by Sue Gee

Historical Fiction

In the winter of 1936, Steven Coulter's wife, Margaret, dies of tuberculosis, leaving their Northumberland cottage cold and empty. His work as a history teacher at Kirkhoughton Boys' School isn't enough to distract him from his grief; he spends his long evenings writing letters to Margaret. Gradually, though, as spring arrives he starts to take an interest in other things. His colleague Frank Embleton invites him to a performance by the Hepplewick Trio: Frank's sister Diana on cello; pianist Margot Heslop, whose mother died when she was young and who looks after her father, a coal mine manager, at Hepplewick Hall; and their friend George Liddell, the violinist and leader, who is a Royal College of Music graduate. Full review...

Rainbow Dust: Three Centuries of Delight in British Butterflies by Peter Marren

Animals and Wildlife

Peter Marren is a wildlife writer based in Wiltshire. His fascination with butterflies began when he was a child: he still remembers catching a Painted Lady in his hands at the age of five and it transferring some of its colours onto his palm. Rainbow dust, he dubbed it. 'It was a Nabokov moment because only he could put into words what most of us can only feel: the frankly sensual moment in a child's life when the full force of nature is felt for the first time.' Full review...