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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 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, the charity shop 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.

Reviews by readers from all the many walks of literary life. With author interviews, features and top tens. You'll be sure to find something you'll want to read here. Dig in! Find us on [[File:facebook.gif|link=https://www.facebook.com/TheBookbagCoUk|alt=Facebook]] [https://www.facebook.com/TheBookbagCoUk '''Facebook'''], [[File:twitter.gif|link=http://twitter.com/TheBookbag|alt=Follow us on Twitter]] [http://twitter.com/TheBookbag '''Twitter'''], [[File:instagram_classic_logo.png|link=https://www.instagram.com/thebookbag.co.uk/|alt=Follow us on Instagram]] [https://www.instagram.com/thebookbag.co.uk/ '''Instagram'''] and [[File:LinkedIn.png|link=https://www.linkedin.com/in/the-bookbag-1b12a264/|alt=LinkedIn]] There are currently '''{{PAGESINCATEGORY:Reviews}}''' [[:Category:Reviews|reviews ]] at TheBookbag.

==Reviews of the The Best New Books==

'''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].''' <! '''Read [[Forthcoming Publications|reviews of books about to be published]].{{Frontpage|author=Onyi Nwabineli|title=Allow Me to Introduce Myself|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=Anuri spent her childhood on display to the world, thanks to her step-mother Ophelia's 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 in her twenties and she is slowly trying to regain her confidence and to get her life back, suing her step- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HEREmother to take down the content about her. Anuri is battling alcoholism, failing to start her PhD, undergoing therapy and secretly abusing people online and receiving money from them for doing so. Most importantly, she is desperately worried about her little sister, who is the new focus of Ophelia's online empire. Can she save her sister, and perhaps herself and her relationship with her father at the same time?|isbn=0861546873}}{{Frontpage|author=David Chadwick|title=Headload of Napalm|rating=4.5|genre=Thrillers|summary= It's September 1973 in Hicks, California. Hicks is a Mojave desert town of a few thousand people with its nearest neighbours of LA and Las Vegas both a significant drive away. Not much happens in Hicks. A silver mine and a defence contractor are the main local employers but otherwise, there's not much of note other than dive bars and Joshua trees. Life is quiet, until....|isbn= B0D321VJ76}}{{Frontpage|author=Tom Percival|title=The Wrong Shoes|rating=5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Will's life is difficult, in a multitude of ways. He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and doesn't have enough money for even the most basic of things like food, and his dad can't work because he lost his job at the college, was working a cash-in->hand job on a building site and had an accident. Throw into that mix the fact that his mum and dad are separated, and Will's life seems bleak in every direction. And yet, he still has a tiny amount of hope. He is good at art, and clings to the moments of joy when he is drawing, that feel like a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.|isbn=1398527122}}{{Frontpage|author=Sylvie Cathrall|title=A Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|summary= There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them.|isbn= 0356522776}}

|authorisbn=Patti Smith0008517061|title=Year of the MonkeyDeath in a Lonely Place|author=Stig Abell

|genre=BiographyCrime|summary=On the coast of Santa CruzFormer Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, Patti Smith enters has settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the lunar year future of the monkey - one packed his life with mischiefhis vet girlfriend, sorrowLivia and her daughter Diana, as moving in together would mean a lot of compromise: does Jake give up his off-grid and unexpected moments. In a stranger's words, ''Anything relaxing life to move in with Livia or does Livia move to Little Sky despite her reservations about whether or not this is possible: after all, it's the year of the monkey''. As Smith wanders the coast of Santa Cruz in solitude, future she reflects on a year that brings huge shifts in wants for herself and her daughter? For the moment they’re enjoying life - loss in the present and aging are faced head putting the future on, as it the shifting political waters in Americaback burner. }}{{Frontpage|isbn=15266147581786482126|title=The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly Griffiths|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=Builders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - 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. Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. It's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn't, that she is pregnant with his child as a result of the one 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.

|authorisbn=Margaret Atwood0008551324|title=The TestamentsDevil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster

|genre=Dystopian FictionCrime|summary= Finally! Almost forty years on, we have a sequel It's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police. [[The HandmaidNeither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he's Tale by Margaret Atwood|The Handmaid's Tale]]. I don't want prepared to tell you too much about the plot because it's police where the body of a novel that missing person is entirely plot drivenburied and who was responsible for her death. Suffice This person, he promises, is someone big and it will be worth the police doing what he wants. And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of his sentence and to say that ''get an early parole date. Not much to ask, is it? The Testamentsnew Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she' takes place fifteen years later, fifteen years after Offred gets into a van, not knowing 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 will happen next's happening. }}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008405026|title=A Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jane Casey|rating=5|genre=Crime|summary=It's told by three narrators: Aunt Lydiasixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and the investigation ground to a halt. Now, her mother, Helena, who is secretly writing and her memoirs father are dead in Ardua Hall; Agnestheir bed. Initially, it looks like a girl brought up in Gilead with straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the expectation she will marry a commander; Daisy, a rebellious teenage girl in Canada who knows positioning of Gilead only from school lessons the bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and its Pearl Girl missionaries who occasionally call into the store owned by her parentsboss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. What looked as though it was going to be an open-and-shut case is now a complex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that the explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's boss, Una Burt) are less convinced.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=17847423250571379877|title=The Kellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=Edward Jevons is a working-class young man, obsessed with his upper-class friends, Robert and Stanza. Robert's a theatre director. He's also self-obsessed, demanding, handsome and entitled and uses Edward to run errands for him. Edward has been in love with Stanza since their university days - and he's drunkenly confided how he feels to Robert. Most men in Robert's position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a relationship had begun between them but he's not like most men: Edward is left to stumble upon the two of them kissing in a dark passageway.

|author=Anne BodenJo Callaghan|title=The Money RevolutionLeave No Trace

|genre= Business and FinanceCrime|summary= Money When a man is changingfound crucified on the top of a hill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the case alongside her sidekick, the AI detective Lock. It might not be in the ways you think's their first live case together, having previously been very successful with several cold cases. We’re not But when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, Kat is suddenly getting struggling with a 3p or £3 coin (potential serial killer and have you ever even found a country very high profile case that offers anything different to the 1, 2, 5 model?) We’re getting draws a lot more digital with payments, which seems of unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. Will they be able to suit most people apart from charity collectors and solve the homeless on case in time, or will Kat find herself taken off the streetcase and, but although this book has the subtitle that includes the word ‘’digital’’potentially, it’s not really about this either. Instead it’s about the ‘’management’’ out of your finances, and how to take control.a career?|isbn=1789660610139851120X

|isbn=147117316X1399613073|title=Guilty Not GuiltyMoral Injuries|author=Felix FrancisChristie Watson

|summary=The Honourable William Herbert Millgate Gordon-Russell (Bill Russell to those who knew him well) was acting as Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a volunteer steward at Warwick Racecourse when he was told quarter of the violent death of his much-loved wifea century. It would get worse though: the successful insurance actuary would Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to be accused of killing her a cardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is a perfectionist and hounded by the mediaa trauma doctor. Then he would lose his job Anjali is the free spirit of the group and his homeshe becomes a GP. His best friends would turn against him, as When we first meet them they came 're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it's going to believe him guilty of end in tragedy. We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the murderconsequences. Yet Twenty-five years later there was no really compelling evidence will be an eerily similar event that he was guiltywill impact the three friends. This time, it's their teenage children who are involved.

|author=Sunny Singh|title=Hotel Arcadia|rating=3.5|genre=Thrillers |summary=The Hotel Arcadia is a luxury hotel in an unnamed city that has suddenly been violently taken over by a terrorist group. Hiding from the terrorists who are rampaging through, killing everyone on site, there is Sam, a wartime photographer and Abhi, the hotel manager. As Abhi continues to try to care remotely for the residents who are still alive in the hotel, he forms a bond with Sam who refuses to be cowed by events, and keeps on venturing out of her room to try to capture what's happened through her photography. Although they only ever talk over the phone, 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.|isbn=086154742X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=19087458191529153298|title=SurfacingThe List of Suspicious Things|author=Kathleen JamieJennie Godfrey

|genre=HistoryGeneral Fiction|summary=Sometimes when people suggest that you read a certain bookIt's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister. (A woman? I mean, they tell you honestly...) She's not what'this one has your name on it's worrying Miv's family, though. Women have been disappearing. Mostly we take them at their word Well, or notthey've been murdered, but rarely do we ask them why they thought so, unless it turns out that we didnto have 'disappeared' doesn't like the booksound quite so frightening. That Miv's upset because she's a rare experience. People who are sensitive overheard that her father wants to hearing a book calling your name, rarely get it wrong. In this case I was told why. The blurb speaks of move the author considering family 'Down South'an older, less tethered sense of herself.'' Older. Less tethered. ThatWhen you's not re from Yorkshire, Down South is a bad description of where I amfrightening, foreign place, best avoided. Add to that my love of For Miv, the natural worldmove would mean leaving her best friend, of those aspects of the poetic and lyrical that are about style not formSharon, and substance most of all, about connection. Of course this book had my name on it. It was written for me. It would have found its way she'll do anything to me eventuallyprevent that. I am pleased She's not worried about the dangers or that her Mum's stopped talking - to have it fall onto my path so quicklyanyone.

Rosevear, a remote and partially forgotten island, survives on luring ships into the rocks and plundering the wrecks. Mira, like her mother before her, 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 Know|rating=4.5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary= Timothy Wyndham wants nothing more than to be different from his father, a drunk and chronic underachiever whose dreams of being exceptional at any of his artistic passions all failed miserably and who had endless crises of self confidence. So Tim applied himself to his studies, cultivated his abilities rather than his daydreams and set himself high but achievable ambitions.|isbn= B0CVFXPGP8}}{{Frontpage|author=A G Slatter|title=The Briar Book of the Dead|rating=5|genre=Fantasy|class-"wikitable" cellpaddingsummary="15" '' There's a part 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 while.''

<!-- Adele Parks -->|-| style="width: 10%Within a remote mountain pass, far away from the world, lies Silverton; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0008284660a town under the protection of the Briar's, a family of witches who protect the town and the wider world from the Darklands.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0008284660/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbagThough she has always wished for magic, Ellie Briar is the first non-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Lies Lies Lies by Adele Parks]]=== [[image:4witch to be born into her family for generations and as such since she was young, her training as a steward revolved around letters and administration rather than spells and potions.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] Simon Barnes had his first taste of beer in 1976 when he was just six years old. Over When her grandmother suddenly dies, Ellie's cousin Audra becomes the years it would become a habit Briar Witch, the town's leader, and then a needEllie takes her place beside her. By 2016 As challenges come her way left, right and centre, Ellie uncovers the rare ability to communicate with a wife and child the dead, putting her at the heart of his own he was a functioning alcoholic - a fact known by everybody except Simonmaelstrom of chaos. He's concentrating on wanting Reeling from one family secret to another child , Ellie must decide who to complete his family. His wifetrust and determine what to do as the Briar witches' legacy, Daisyeverything they have sacrificed to survive, isn't worriedis under threat. They took a long time to conceive Millie, who's perfect in every way, so why tempt fate? Simon's not inclined to let matters rest though and it|isbn=1803364548}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529900360|title=The Ghost Orchid|author=Jonathan Kellerman|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=It hadn't been Lt Milo Sturgis's at a fertility clinic fault that Alex Delaware had been badly injured but he receives the news felt responsible and even after Alex recovered, Sturgis was reluctant to ask for his help on difficult cases. His assertions that will change all their lives: he's sterile. [[Lies Lies Lies by Adele Parks|Full Review]] <!there were only open-- Peter Lynas and Charlie Roberts -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:099334030Xshut 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.jpg|link=http://www She knew that the involvement was something that the man she loved needed.amazon The next case did look simple, though.co Two lovers were murdered in the swimming pool of a remote property in Bel Air.uk/dp/099334030X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]   He was the heir to an Italian shoe empire and she is married to an extremely rich man and it's not the Italian. But which of them was the primary target?}}{{Frontpage| styleisbn="vertical-align1529395224|title=Letting the Cat Out of the Bag: top; text-align: left;"The Secret Life of a Vet|author=Sion Rowlands|rating=3.5|genre==[[Can You Draw the Dragosaur? by Peter Lynas Animals and Charlie Roberts]]Wildlife|summary=== [[image:4Siôn Rowlands fell into veterinary science accidentally.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crafts|Crafts]], [[:Category:Emerging Readers|Emerging Readers]] You His father was a GP and Rowlands didn't want to follow in his footsteps, particularly when he considered the strain that being on-call put on his father're going to get s life. When he was seventeen he took the opportunity of doing work experience with a hint of what family friend who was a vet and was convinced this book's about very quicklywas the job for him. When you see the title pageBefore long, you'll find out what the book's called and that it's been written by Peter Lynashe was at Liverpool University. Then we move on to who has done the illustration It hadn't - as with so many students - and there's been his dream since he was a gapchild. If anything, he''You'' are going d wanted to put your name therebe a professional footballer. It's ''your'' responsibility to provide the pictures for this book about one }}{{Frontpage|isbn=0861541774|title=A Nye of the largest creatures ever to roam the earth. TherePheasants|author=Steve Burrows|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=DCI Domenic Jejeune's some help availableclose friend and former colleague, Danny Maik, but your name is on the title page 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 you he killed a Ghurka. Initially, he faced a charge of manslaughter but evidence came to light that suggested that he might have work planned to do! [[Can You Draw murder the man. Now he could be facing the Dragosaur? by Peter Lynas and Charlie Roberts|Full Review]]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.<!-- Abercrombie -->}}|-{{Frontpage| styleauthor="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Alexander McCall Smith|title=The Perfect Passion Company[[image:0575095865.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/0575095865/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"General Fiction|summary===[[A Little Hatred The Perfect Passion Company is a dating agency in Edinburgh, run by Joe Abercrombie]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]] The chimneys of industry rise over Adua and Ness and operating as an alternative to all the world seethes with new opportunitiesonline apps in providing a more personal, tailored service. But old scores run deep as ever. On Ness has asked her younger cousin Katie if she could come and look after the blood-soaked borders of Anglandbusiness, Leo dan Brock struggles as Ness is planning to take a trip to Canada to win fame on the battlefield, and defeat the marauding armies of Stour Nightfall. He hopes get away for help from the crowna while. But King Jezal's son, the feckless Prince Orso, Katie is coming out of a break up with a man who specialises in disappointments. Savine dan Glokta - socialite, investorbad boyfriend, and daughter of the most feared man in so jumps at the Union - plans chance to claw her way come home to the top of the slag-heap of society by any means necessaryEdinburgh. But the slums boil over with a rage that all the money in the world cannot control. The age of the machine dawns And so begins this new story from Alexander McCall Smith, but the age of magic refuses bringing us to die. With the help of the mad hillwoman Isern-i-Phailan Edinburgh we already love, Rikke struggles thanks to control 44 Scotland Street and the blessingIsabel Dalhousie novels, or the cursebut with some new characters who quickly begin to charm. Katie has no experience in running a business, of the Long Eye. Glimpsing the future is one thingor in match-making, but with the guiding hand of the First of the Magi still pulling the stringsNess has full confidence in her abilities, changing it will be quite another . . .[[A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie|Full Review]] <!-- Peter Lynas and Clare Lindley -->|-there's always her very helpful (and rather handsome) neighbour, William, to lend a hand…| styleisbn="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"1846976596}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0811771741[[image:0993340334.jpg|linktitle=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0993340334/refInstaKnits for Baby|author=nosim?tagMelissa Leapman|rating=thebookbag-21]] 4| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Crafts|summary===[[Bunny by Peter Lynas and Clare Lindley]]=== [[image:4starMelissa Leapman's ''InstaKnits for Baby'' gives us a collection of knits from toys to blankets.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]] You might have seen Bunny on Some will be quick knits - others are of the 'long, cosy afternoons in front of the beach where he livedfire' variety. Like many beaches it was full of sand and Bunny didnThe projects are divided by the time they't like sandll take to complete - less than five hours, five to ten hours, not least because it got between his toes ten to twenty hours and ''scratched''. What he really liked was juicy green grassmore than twenty hours. All the other rabbits lived on the top of the cliffprojects are attractive, where Bunny could see a lot of tasty-looking grassmodern and useable. But the cliff was very highI perhaps show my age when I wonder about 'social-media-worthy projects' but that's me being picky. [[Bunny by Peter Lynas and Clare Lindley|Full Review]]}}<!-- Thomas Knauer -->{{Frontpage|-author=Dean Koontz| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|The Bad Weather Friend|rating=4.5[[image:1635860334.jpg|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1635860334/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Paranormal| stylesummary="vertical-align: top; textBenny is having a terrifically bad day. He loses his job, he loses his fiancee, and his house gets trashed. Oh, and someone has delivered a really weird, disturbing coffin-align: left;"|===[[Why We Quilt by Thomas Knauer]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crafts|Crafts]] I've often wondered about sized object to his home, and it's possible that whoever or whatever was inside is the thing that has trashed his house! The thing is, Benny is the story that patchwork quilting began as very last person to deserve all this bad luck. He is a way nice person. A really nice person. So fortunately for women (and myth would have Benny it turns out that it was always women) the delivery to make an extra blanket out of material which would otherwise go his house is a new friend, a bad weather friend called Spike, who has been sent to wastehelp him since Benny is clearly under attack from nefarious forces for being a good person. This undoubtedly Spike is going to take care of Benny, and will certainly take care of Benny''did'' happen but when you think about its enemies, if he, Benny, you need an awful lot of material to make and Harper (a quilt and the time could have been better spent if all that was required was bedding. Like Thomas Knauer Iwaitress slash Private Investigator who finds herself roped into Benny've come to the conclusion that it began as an art and has largely continued down that same road with fluctuations in popularity over the yearss wild adventure) can figure out who exactly they are. [[Why We Quilt by Thomas Knauer|Full Review]]isbn=1662500491}}<!-- Nicci French -->{{Frontpage|-author=Adam Stower| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Murray and Bun[[image:1471179230.jpg|linkrating=http://www4.amazon.co.uk/dp/1471179230/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] 5| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Lying Room by Nicci French]]==genre=Confident Readers  [[image:5star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]]Murray is supposed to be a humble, tidy and friendly cat, [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] When we meet Neve Connolly it's pretty obvious that she has something one who is able to hide. She crept into the house after midnight, carefully putting her clothes into the washing machine sleep and eat and she can't wait to get husband Fletcher eat and children Mabel, Connor sleep and Rory off on their various ways the , well, whatever takes his fancy next morning when she gets a text telling her to come to of the flattwo. He has But he's a few hours to spare and canbad magician't wait to see her. Onlys cat, so his favourite bun has been turned into a hyperactive sticky rabbit called Bun, when she gets to and the flat she finds Saul Stevensoncatflap they both use can chuck them out, her boss and lovernot into the regular back garden, dead on the floorbut into a world of frightening adventure and whiffs. The hammer that's been used on his brain This time round it drops them into a Viking land, where a troll hunter is at his side. [[The Lying Room by Nicci French|Full Review]] <!-- Peter Lynas expected – well, one much bigger than Murray was, to be honest, but he's turned up and Charlie Roberts -->he'll have to do…|-isbn=0008561249| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0993340342.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0993340342/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Madeleine Goes to the Moon by Peter Lynas and Charlie Roberts]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]] Madeleine is a very lucky girl: in her room she has all a girl could ask for in the way of toys, books, games and dollies. She's a very lucky girl in another way too: she has imagination and everything in her room can be used to take her on adventures. She spends all day there: Dad thinks that she likes to be alone, but Madeleine's not alone on all the trips she takes. We'll find out that yesterday she was told to tidy her room, but instead of doing that she went to the moon. [[Madeleine Goes to the Moon by Peter Lynas and Charlie Roberts|Full Review]] <!-- Ann Patchett -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1526614960.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1526614960/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Dutch House by Ann Patchett]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]] When we first meet Danny and his elder sister, Maeve Conroy, they're both living at The Dutch House with their parents and under the gaze of the portraits of the former owners whose oil paintings still hang on the walls. It's a strange family dynamic: Cyril Conroy is distant and the closest Danny seems to come to him is when he goes out with him on a Saturday collecting rents from properties the family owns. Elna Conroy is loving, but absent increasingly often until the point comes when the children are told that she will not be returning. In other circumstances this might have affected Maeve and Danny deeply, but their primary relationship is with each other. It's a bond which only death will break. [[The Dutch House by Ann Patchett|Full Review]] <!-- Peter Lynas and Andy S Gray -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0993340350.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0993340350/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Very Rude Toytoise by Peter Lynas and Andy S Gray]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]] It was one of those blissful days in the forest. Mrs Rabbit was collecting carrots because she wanted to make a cake. Mrs Blue Bird was gathering twigs to build a nest. Mrs Spider was busily spinning a web to catch juicy flies. Mrs Squirrel was piling up acorns. And Mr Bear sat comfortably in a chair, fishing for lunch. What could be better? And then... [[The Very Rude Toytoise by Peter Lynas and Andy S Gray|Full Review]] <!-- Peter Lynas and Rosie Alabaster -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0993340318.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0993340318/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Recipe for Making a Snowman by Peter Lynas and Rosie Alabaster]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:For Sharing|For Sharing]] Who knew it? You can even get a recipe book which tells you how to make a snowman - and there's no cooking involved! Mum, Dad and the two children are absolutely meticulous though: they're going to get everything right, even down to doing some mining to get the coal for the eyes, searching through the bits 'n bobs jar for buttons for the snowman's coat and picking out the perfect piece of headgear. There's quite a choice available, but the family decide on the bobble hat, presumably to keep the snowman warm. The moth-eaten pair of mittens simply won't do and a pair with purple and pink stripes are chosen. [[Recipe for Making a Snowman by Peter Lynas and Rosie Alabaster|Full Review]] <!-- Melanie Martin -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1789016304.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789016304/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[War and Love: A family's testament of anguish, endurance and devotion in occupied Amsterdam by Melanie Martin]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:History|History]], [[:Category:Biography|Biography]] Melanie Martin read about what happened to Dutch Jews in occupied Amsterdam during World War II and was entranced by what she discovered, particularly in ''The Diary of Ann Frank'' but then realised that her own family's stories were equally fascinating. A hundred and seven thousand Jews were deported from the city during the war years, but only five thousand survived and Martin could not understand how this could be allowed to happen in a country with liberal values who were resistant to German occupation. Most people believed that the occupation could never happen: even those who thought that the Germans might reach the city were convinced that they would soon be pushed back, that the Amsterdammers would never allow what happened to escalate in the way that it did, but initial protests melted away as the organisers became more circumspect. It's an atrocity on a vast scale, but made up of tens of thousands of individual tragedies. [[War and Love: A family's testament of anguish, endurance and devotion in occupied Amsterdam by Melanie Martin|Full Review]] <!-- Sedgwick -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1788542347.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788542347/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Snowflake, AZ by Marcus Sedgwick]]=== [[image:3.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]] This is a deep, interesting read unlike any book I've read in quite some time. The novel's story follows a young man named Ash in the process of joining a community of sick people in the curiously named town of Snowflake, Arizona. These people are sick, but it's not a sickness you've heard of. Instead, they're environmentally ill – affected by household chemicals and fabrics, pesticides, static electricity, and radiation – and their only ''cure'' is to stay in the town away from the real world. Though it's about a real place, the people in it are fictional. It really is a place apart, quite literally cut off from the outside world – people are even required to decontaminate themselves thoroughly before becoming fully integrated. [[Snowflake, AZ by Marcus Sedgwick|Full Review]] <!-- Moyer -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:178747920X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/178747920X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Brightfall by Jaime Lee Moyer]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] Robin Hood is gone – denouncing both his former life and his love Marian, and retreating to a monastery – although no-one knows quite what led him to abandon all that he had built. Marion's life since has been relatively quiet - but when her friends start dying, Marion is tasked by Father Tuck to break the curse surrounding them and to save their lives. Setting off with a soldier, a Fey Lord and a sullen Robin Hood, she becomes tangled in a maze of betrayals, complicated relationships, and a vicious struggle for the throne…[[Brightfall by Jaime Lee Moyer|Full Review]] <!-- Hewitt -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1509896465.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1509896465/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Nightjar by Deborah Hewitt]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]], [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]] ''The Nightjar'' is an unusual and exciting story. Alice Wyndham lives a normal life in London until she finds a box on her doorstep one morning and her life begins to unravel, fast. From that very moment, her life is flooded with magic, loss, expectation and particularly, betrayal. As everything around her shifts, all that she knows, all that she thinks she knows, must change. Who can she trust? Who must she trust? Who will she trust? More importantly, can she even trust herself? [[The Nightjar by Deborah Hewitt|Full Review]] <!-- McGee -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0241365953.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0241365953/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[American Royals by Katharine McGee]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] Two and a half centuries ago, America won the Revolutionary War and General George Washington was offered the crown. Today, the House of Washington still sit on the thrown with Princess Beatrice next in line. Beatrice's whole life has been building up to her ruling the United States and the time for her reign is imminent. [[American Royals by Katharine McGee|Full Review]] <!-- Nicola Monaghan -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0857308025.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07VRSX3SN/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Dead Flowers (Dr Sian Love) by Nicola Monaghan]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]] It was more than a little bit of a surprise to Dr Sian Love (and the rest of the relatives) when her uncle Bobby left her his home - a former pub called The Loggerheads in the Narrow Marsh area of Nottingham. Then it was a shock when she found two bodies in the cellar before she'd even got settled in - and managed to break a bone in her foot in the course of making the discovery. They'd been there for some time, but who - exactly - were the man and the woman, wrapped in each other's arms? Having spent ten years on the Murder Squad, ending up as a DCI she knows what's going to happen next, but she's not prepared for quite how personal it's all going to get. [[Dead Flowers (Dr Sian Love) by Nicola Monaghan|Full Review]] <!-- DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->|}}