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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.
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==Reviews of the The Best New Books==
'''Read [[:Category:New Reviews|new reviews by category]]. '''<br>
'''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].''' <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE--> '''Read [[Forthcoming Publications|reviews of books about to be published]].
{{Frontpage
|isbn=190874572X1529428289|title=Letters from ToveA Grave in the Woods (A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel)|author=Tove Jansson (Author), Boel Westin (Editor), Helen Svensson (Editor), Sarah Death (Translator)Martin Walker|rating=54|genre=AutobiographyCrime|summary=Back at Because of various property transactions, people were searching for the beginning grave but when they found it, it came with three sets of bones. They dated back to World War II and it fell to Bruno, the century I went on holiday Chief of Police for St Denis, to Nepal. I met discover the identities of the bodies and establish whether or not a wonderful Finnish woman and we became sort of friendscrime had been committed. I can As if this isn't remember if it was on that holiday or a later one that Paula told me I really had enough to read Tove Janssonworry about, the Dordogne River - normally tranquil - is flowing at record levels. I do know It's not just the local autumn rains that it was four years later that I finally acquired an English translation of The Summer Book, have caused the problem: various dams upstream on another river have had to release water and that I eagerly awaited St Denis faces the ''Sort Of'' translations possibility of the rest of Jansson's work and devoured them as soon as I could get my hands on thema devastating flood.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1784742783152919640X|title=The Benefit of Hindsight (Simon Serrailler)Suspect|author=Susan HillRob Rinder|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=A superficial look would suggest to you that Simon Serrailer has been lucky The nation's favourite daytime TV presenter, Jessica Holby, was murdered live on television and - all things considered - his life is as good as it could beseems that there's only one suspect. He's back at work after a long break to recuperate from the violent incident which cost him his arm celebrity chef Sebastian Brooks and almost his life. When contract stated that he's must not at work he's spending his time in the cathedral roof drawing the medieval angels which are being restoredserve anything containing miso to Jessica Holby. ThereShe's talk of seriously allergic and carries an exhibition EpiPen in case of his drawingsemergencies. Lafferton seems to be quite settled Everything seemed as normal - as far normal as crime is concerned until one night when two local men open their front door they can be in a busy, live television studio - and Brooks served a ragout to Holby. Her EpiPen was nowhere to a couple seeking shelterbe found and she was dead within minutes. It was soon clear that this was no accident.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008385068|title=The Midnight Feast|author=Lucy Foley|rating=4.5|genre=Thrillers|summary=It's midsummer on the usual story of a broken-down car, Dorset coast and guests gather at The Manor. It's their opening weekend and a phone which wonsplendid celebrations are promised. It't make a calls all headed up by Francesca Meadows. The man are generous Manor was her ancestral home and she's converted it into an impressive retreat for the wealthy and famous. Her husband, Owen, was the architect and welcoming work is still ongoing on parts of the site. The heat is oppressive and have no suspicions that amongst the couple guests are simply there to plan a robberyenemies as well as friends. ItOld scores are going to be settled and it won's t be long before a serious error of judgement in the course of this investigation which will throw Simon Serrailler's future into doubtbody is found.
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Ashley Hickson-Lovence
|title=Wild East
|rating=4.5
|genre=Teens
|summary=Written in verse, this is Ronny's story, a young black fourteen year old boy from Hackney who suddenly has to move to Norwich and start at a mostly white school. The move is initiated by Ronny's mum who is worried for Ronny's safety after a tragic event, and so Ronny finds himself trying to settle in a new town, a new school, and keep himself out of trouble. He listens to music constantly, and has always dreamed of being a rapper. But now, in this new school, his teacher encourages him to be part of a poetry writing workshop group and, slowly, Ronny begins to see the connections between rap and poetry, and the power of creativity and crafting your words.
|isbn=0241645441
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1635866847
|title=The Lavender Companion
|author=Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci
|rating=4.5
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=It'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. (There's a recipe in the book, which I'm avoiding with some difficulty!!) Then I started reading the book and I was told to make a mess of it. Notes in the margins are sanctioned. You get to fold down the corners of pages. You suspect that smears of butter would not be a problem. I ''loved'' this book already.
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Rob Keeley
|title=Childish Spirits: 10th anniversary special edition
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Around here, we're big fans of children's author Rob Keeley. He's a ball of happy positivity, he understands children, and he writes for their pleasure and enjoyment, not to lecture or hector.
The ''Childish Spirits'' series is one of his greatest achievements. It's a sequence of ghost stories centring on Ellie, a stalwart young girl who can cope with anything the spirit world throws at her, and Edward, a spoiled lordling and the first spirit Ellie encounters
|isbn= 1783064617
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=140638853XJenny Valentine|title=Somebody Give This Heart a Pen|author=Sophia ThakurUs in the Before and After
|rating=5
|genre=AnthologiesTeens|summary=Sophia Thakur's debut anthology Elk and Mab are best friends, or more than that even, their friendship is a collection of poems that are all unique, whether once in relation to their style, length or themea lifetime connection. The collection is split into four sections, titled They meet as children one day on a trip out but unfortunately they don'growt get each other's contact details at the time. But then chance brings them back together,'wait'and they are inseparable. Something has happened though,'break'something terrible and 'grow again'tragic, guiding you and now they must work through a process which is one of the foundations that the anthology is built on. Each section begins with a foregrounded title page containing various small pieces of writingtheir grief, ranging from a quote by a Nigerian playwrightand their friendship, to African proverbs. This provides a nice introduction to the section before you are immersed into the beautifully written and eloquent poems that Thakur has clearly put her heart and soul intotogether.|isbn=1471196585
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1910989460Kieran Larwood and Joe Todd-Stanton|title=FlemberDungeon Runners: The Secret Book|author=Jamie SmartHero Trial|rating=54
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=A mysterious islandMeet Kit. A strange Like most of the people in his world, it seems, he is an avid fan of Dungeon Running – the sport where a team of warrior, mage and mystical power called Flember. A boyhealer enter specially prepared, century-inventor called Devold, magical mazes, and race to the exit, who uncovers a long forgotten secretperhaps bothering with the treasure or the big bad and the points they grant you along the way. And Unfortunately for Kit, the only thing he's seen of the latest race on the inn TV equivalent is that one team has been retired, eaten, and a giant, red robot bear?! The sleepy village new trio of Eden questors is about needed. Possibly very unfortunately indeed for Kit, he has taken to descend the goading from the token bully of his world and stumbled into hilarious chaos declaring he'll enter as a team. What chance does this friendless, muscle- can disastrous Dev save his brand new best friendfree-zone have in actually managing that, and how could he possibly hope to succeed? Find out |isbn=1839945184}}{{Frontpage|author=Saima Mir|title=Vengeance|rating=3.5|genre=Thrillers|summary= I was instantly intrigued by the premise of this novel – an organised crime syndicate in the north of England run by a Muslim woman. The fact that it was the second in this fully illustrated mad-cap adventurea series I hadn't read didn't stop me – I've jumped midway into a few series before (on page and screen) and it needn't be a hindrance if it's good enough. And that wasn't a problem here. Vengeance swiftly brings you up to speed, and I never felt lost.|isbn=0861541561
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Stuart Douglas|title=Lowe and Le Breton Mysteries - Death at the Dress Rehearsal|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=During location filming for his 1970's sitcom 'Floggit and Leggit', leading man Edward Lowe stumbles across the dead body of a woman on the edge of a reservoir. The police seem happy to assign it as an accidental death, but something about the whole thing bothers Lowe, and he enlists the help of a fellow actor, John Le Breton to help him investigate matters further. They travel across the country during their days off filming, uncovering more possible murders and, seemingly, a link to death during the Second World War. But is there really a link between the deaths? And will they manage to uncover who is responsible before more people lose their lives?|isbn=1803368209}}{{Frontpage|isbn=B0CYV674G2|title=Swanton Morley (John Tanner)|author=David Blake|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=It seemed like an open-and-shut case. A man, covered in mud and blood - and carrying a knife, comes into the police station shouting that he hasn't killed the man. A body at the bottom of a freshly dug grave at Swanton Morley church - he's been stabbed to death. DCI John Tanner is just back from his honeymoon, which coincided with the birth of his daughter Samantha. You would think he'd be grateful for an easy answer but the words 'perverse' and 'John Tanner' were made for each other. He's sleep-deprived to the point of falling asleep at work but he's determined to keep going - probably because he can't get any sleep at home.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=02413552221787333175|title=FrostheartYou Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here|author=Jamie LittlerBenji Waterhouse
|rating=5
|genre=Confident ReadersPopular Science|summary=Way out in I was tempted to read ''You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here'' after enjoying Adam Kay's first book {{amazonurl|isbn=1509858636|title=This is Going to Hurt}}, a glorious mixture of insight into the furthest part workings of the known worldNHS, a tiny stronghold exists all on its own, cut off humour and autobiography. ''You Don't Have to be Mad...'' promised the same elements but moved from physical problems to mental illness and the rest work of human-kin by monsters that lurk beneath a psychiatrist. I did wonder whether it was acceptable to be looking for humour in this setting but the Snow Sealaughter is directed at a situation rather than a person and it is always delivered with empathy and understanding. }}{{Frontpage|author=Onyi Nwabineli|title=Allow Me to Introduce Myself|rating=4. There, a little boy called Ash waits for 5|genre=General Fiction|summary=Anuri spent her childhood on display to the return of his parentsworld, singing a forbidden lullaby thanks to remind him her step-mother Ophelia's increasingly popular presence on social media, where she posted every step of them... Anuri's childhood for sponsorships and influencer deals and doing his best to avoid his very, VERY grumpy yeti guardianbasically, Tobumonetary gain. But life Now Anuri is in her twenties and she is about slowly trying to regain her confidence and to get a whole lot more crazyher life back, suing her step-adventurous mother 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 Ashdoing so. When a brave rescue attempt reveals he has amazing magical powers Most importantly, she is desperately worried about her little sister, hewho is the new focus of Ophelia's whisked aboard online empire. Can she save her sister, and perhaps herself and her relationship with her father at the Frostheartsame 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 sleigh packed full defence contractor are the main local employers but otherwise, there's not much of daring explorers who could use his helpnote other than dive bars and Joshua trees. Life is quiet, until.... But can they help him find his family?|isbn= B0D321VJ76
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1913101037Tom Percival|title=The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone|author=Jaclyn MoriartyWrong Shoes
|rating=5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Bronte 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 miss her parentshave enough money for even the most basic of things like food, and shehis dad can's not particularly sad when she learns of their terrible fate t work because he lost his job at the hands of piratescollege, 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 why should she be? After allyet, they just dumped her on Aunt Isabelle (without even asking if it would be he still has a convenient arrangement for either party) when she was a babytiny amount of hope. They swanned off to have adventures He is good at art, and never once came back clings to check if their only child was healthy and happythe moments of joy when he is drawing, that feel like a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.|isbn=1398527122
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1401280048Sylvie Cathrall|title=Batman: Nightwalker: The Graphic Novel|author=Marie Lu, Stuart Moore and Chris WildgooseA Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating=45|genre=TeensScience Fiction|summary=The young man called Bruce Wayne is There are few greater joys than a very noticeable one – he can hardly go anywhere without people – bystanders, paparazzi, and suchlike – reminding him he's book which lives up to a billionaire at the age of eighteencompelling premise. Feeling rather stuck with the legacy he's inherited from his murdered parents, he wants to do charitable deeds. But one night, when he speeds off in his posh new car in pursuit of a criminal, he goes too far as far as the authorities are concerned, and gets given the most unlikely stretch of community service instead – cleaning in the home for violent criminals that And this is Arkham Asylum. There he learns of some other people who also allege charitable intent – the Nightwalkers, a gang who steal any ten-figure bank account contents they can, and murder the owner. Can he get close to one of them and get the truth of their schemes, or will the manipulative Madeleine be a step too far for the young do-gooder?.|isbn= 0356522776
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=B07W4MNBSG0008517061|title=Be Careful Who You MarryDeath in a Lonely Place|author=Lizzy MumfreyStig Abell
|rating=4
|genre=General FictionCrime|summary=It was coming up to Halloween in 1987 and a group of sixth-form schoolgirls wondered what they would be doing when they were fifty. When you're only seventeen that seems positively ancientFormer Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, but Liz was convinced that ''your entire has settled into his rustic life depends on who you marry''at Little Sky. The only eligible boys were There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the Young Farmers future of his life with his vet girlfriend, Livia and the idea of living her daughter Diana, as moving in together would mean a farmhouse and having a couple lot of children called Will compromise: does Jake give up his off-grid and Olly appealed relaxing life to Charlotte, move in with Livia or perhaps William and Oliver if you were Elizabeth who was determined does Livia move to marry Little Sky despite her reservations about whether or not this is the rather superior Patrick Shepley-Botham. future she wants for herself and her daughter? The place to start their search was obviously For the Young Farmers' Halloween disco that weekend. There was just one problem - there were too many Elizabeths moment they’re enjoying life in the classpresent and putting the future on the back burner.
}}
{{Frontpage
|authorisbn=Michael J Malone1786482126|title=In The Absence of MiraclesJanus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly Griffiths|rating=4.5|genre=ThrillersCrime|summary=John DochertyBuilders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the site was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury's mother has been taken into apartments - when they discovered the bones of a nursing home following child beneath a massive strokedoorway. There was no skull. Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. It is thought unlikely 's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn't, that she will ever be able to live independently again. Faced is pregnant with having to sell the family home in order to pay for her nursing care, Docherty starts the clear out. In the attic he finds his child as a childhood picture result of himself, holding a toddler – a toddler he knows nothing aboutthe one night they spent together some three months ago. He also finds a blood-stained shoeHer condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of sickness.|isbn=191237479X
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=06928535450008551324|title=The Things We DoDevil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Kay PfaltzNeil Lancaster|rating=4.5|genre=ThrillersCrime|summary=It's 2015 and Dr Eleanor Hartley is a prison psychologist at unusual for anyone from the state penitentiary and she knows that her next patient is not going Hardie family to be easyapproach the police. Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he'Jane Doe' has been convicted of s prepared to tell the police where the murder body of two men - one a police officer. She pleaded guilty missing person is buried and since then has been silent: even who was responsible for her identity is in doubtdeath. She was carrying identification as Jane Dunlap when she was arrestedThis person, he promises, but is someone big and it's been proved to will be falseworth the police doing what he wants. There seem And what he wants is to be no family or friends who are missing hertransferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of his sentence and to get an early parole date. EleanorNot much to ask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's task even prepared to do the other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is to get Jane talking, to find out why a seemingly normal young woman would murder two menkept well away from what's happening.
}}
{{Frontpage
|authorisbn=Patti Smith0008405026|title=Year of A Stranger in the MonkeyFamily (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jane Casey|rating=45|genre=BiographyCrime|summary=On the coast of Santa Cruz, Patti Smith enters the lunar It's sixteen years since nine-year of the monkey - old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one packed with mischiefsummer night. She was never found and the investigation ground to a halt. Now, sorrowher mother, Helena, and unexpected momentsher father are dead in their bed. In a stranger's words, ''Anything is possible: after all Initially, itlooks like a straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the year positioning of the monkey''. As Smith wanders the coast of Santa Cruz in solitude, she reflects on a year bodies that brings huge shifts in makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her life boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. What looked as though it was going to be an open- loss and aging are faced head on, as it -shut case is now a complex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that the shifting political waters explanation lies in AmericaRosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's boss, Una Burt) are less convinced. |isbn=1526614758
}}
{{Frontpage
|authorisbn=Margaret Atwood0571379877|title=The TestamentsKellerby Code|author=Jonny Sweet|rating=43.5|genre=Dystopian FictionCrime|summary= Finally! Almost forty years onEdward Jevons is a working-class young man, we have a sequel to obsessed with his upper-class friends, Robert and Stanza. [[The HandmaidRobert's Tale by Margaret Atwood|The Handmaida theatre director. He's Tale]]also self-obsessed, demanding, handsome and entitled and uses Edward to run errands for him. I don Edward has been in love with Stanza since their university days - and he't want s drunkenly confided how he feels to tell you too much about the plot because itRobert. Most men in Robert's a novel that is entirely plot driven. Suffice it to say position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that ''The Testaments'' takes place fifteen years later, fifteen years after Offred gets into a van, not knowing what will happen next. Itrelationship had begun between them but he's told by three narratorsnot like most men: Aunt Lydia, who Edward is secretly writing her memoirs left to stumble upon the two of them kissing in Ardua Hall; Agnes, a girl brought up in Gilead with the expectation she will marry a commander; Daisy, a rebellious teenage girl in Canada who knows of Gilead only from school lessons and its Pearl Girl missionaries who occasionally call into the store owned by her parentsdark passageway...|isbn=1784742325
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Anne BodenJo Callaghan|title=The Money RevolutionLeave No Trace
|rating=4
|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
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=147117316X1399613073|title=Guilty Not GuiltyMoral Injuries|author=Felix FrancisChristie Watson
|rating=4.5
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=The Honourable William Herbert Millgate Gordon-Russell (Bill Russell Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to those who knew him well) was acting as be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is a perfectionist and a volunteer steward at Warwick Racecourse when he was told trauma doctor. Anjali is the free spirit of the violent death of his muchgroup and she becomes a GP. When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-loved wifefuelled party and it's going to end in tragedy. It would get worse though: We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the successful insurance actuary would consequences. Twenty-five years later there will be accused an eerily similar event that will impact the three friends. This time, it's their teenage children who are involved.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0241636604|title=The Trading Game: A Confession|author=Gary Stevenson|rating=4.5|genre=Autobiography|summary=If you were to bring up an image of a city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to think of killing her someone like Gary Stevenson. A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and hounded by his background is the mediaEast End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injustice. Then There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the London School of Economics. Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he would lose his job and his homehas a facility with numbers which most of us can only envy. His best friends would turn against him, as they came He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to believe him guilty of the murderbe stupid. Yet there It was no really compelling evidence that he his ability at what was guilty, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with Citibank. Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1035021803
|title=The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder
|author=C L Miller
|rating=3.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=It's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to the English country village where she grew up. She's back now because of a request for help from her beloved aunt, Carole. Freya's former mentor and Carole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is dead and the circumstances seem suspicious, to say the least. Arthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to the village: Arthur, she feels, let her down badly. Even though they were in business together as antique hunters, she has not felt able to be near the man or pursue the profession she loved. After the split, she worked in a cafe, met and married James (on the rebound from the love of her life, who was murdered) and Freya and James have now divorced.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover
|title=All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt
|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)
|rating=5
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=''Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things to come.''
I've heard it said that 'technology' is what happens after you're eighteen. Well, I must confess that there have been more than a few decades of technology in my lifetime. I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but I'm left with the feeling that it's all getting away from me. Some of it is - frankly - quite frightening. Of course, I could research the possibilities and the probabilities and end up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they're talking about or the latest conspiracy theorist. I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in a way I could understand.
}}
{{Frontpage
|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
|rating=5
|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 experienceoverheard that her father wants to move the family 'Down South'. People who are sensitive to hearing When you're from Yorkshire, Down South is a book calling your namefrightening, foreign place, rarely get it wrong. In this case I was told whybest avoided. The blurb speaks of For Miv, the author considering move would mean leaving her best friend, Sharon, and she''an older, less tethered sense of herselfll do anything to prevent that. She's not worried about the dangers or that her Mum' Olders stopped talking - to anyone. Less tethered. That}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1398524085|title=Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?|author=Nicci French|rating=5|genre=Crime|summary=Charlotte Salter was expected at her husband's not a bad description of where I amfiftieth birthday party but never turned up. Add to that my love of the natural worldHer children, sons Niall, of those aspects of the poetic Paul and Ollie and lyrical that her daughter, Etty. are about style all worried but - strangely - her husband, Alec, is not form. Shortly afterwards, Etty and substance most Greg, find the body of allGreg's father, Duncan Ackerley, about connection. Of course this book had my name on itin the river. It was written an easy assumption for methe police to make that Duncan had murdered Charlie and then committed suicide when he couldn't stand the guilt. The Salter children are not convinced but there's little else they can do but get on with their lives and wonder about what really happened. It would have found its way }}{{Frontpage|isbn=1035906708|title=Diva|author=Daisy Goodwin|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=We tend to think of Maria Callas as Greek, but she was born to Greek parents in Manhattan, New York, in December 1923 and only moved to me eventuallyAthens when she was thirteen. I am pleased Her original surname was Kalogeropoulos but her father changed it to 'Callas' to have make it fall onto my path more manageable in the States. When she was back in Athens - supposedly so quicklythat she could get appropriate training for her voice - she was raised under the Nazi occupation by a mother who mercilessly exploited her and made no secret of her preference for her elder sister, Jackie.
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