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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|isbn=1529428289|title=A Grave in the Woods (A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel)|author=Martin Walker|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=Because of various property transactions, people were searching for the 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 Chief of Police for St Denis, to discover the identities of the bodies and establish whether or not a crime had been committed. As if this isn't enough to worry about, the Dordogne River - normally tranquil - is flowing at record levels. It's not just the local autumn rains that have caused the problem: various dams upstream on another river have had to release water and St Denis faces the possibility of a devastating flood.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=152919640X|title=The Suspect|author=Rob Rinder|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=The nation's favourite daytime TV presenter, Jessica Holby, was murdered live on television and it seems that there's only one suspect. He's celebrity chef Sebastian Brooks and his contract stated that he must not serve anything containing miso to Jessica Holby. She's seriously allergic and carries an EpiPen in case of emergencies. Everything seemed as normal -as normal as they can be in a busy, live television studio - INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HEREand Brooks served a ragout to Holby. Her EpiPen was nowhere to be 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 Dorset coast and guests gather at The Manor. It's their opening weekend and splendid celebrations are promised. It's all headed up by Francesca Meadows. The 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 work is still ongoing on parts of the site. The heat is oppressive and amongst the guests are enemies as well as friends. Old scores are going to be settled and it won't be long before a body 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}}

|isbnauthor=1783784350Jenny Valentine|title=This Golden Fleece: A Journey Through Britain's Knitted History|author=Esther RutterUs in the Before and After

|genre=HistoryTeens|summary=It was December Elk and Esther Rutter was stuck in her office jobMab are best friends, writing to people she'd never met and preparing spreadsheets. The job frustrated her and or more than that even her knitting did not soothe her mind, their friendship is a once in a lifetime connection. January was going to be They meet as children one day on a time for making changes and she decided that she would travel the length and breadth of the British Isles with occasional forays abroad, discovering and telling the story of wooltrip out but unfortunately they don't get each other's history and how it had made and changed contact details at the landscapetime. She'd grown up on a sheep farm in Suffolk - '' a free range child on the farm'' - But then chance brings them back together, and they are inseparable. Something has happened though, something terrible and learned to spintragic, knit and weave from her mother now they must work through their grief, and her mother's friend. This was in her bloodtheir friendship, together.|isbn=1471196585

|isbnauthor=1401286208Kieran Larwood and Joe Todd-Stanton|title=Black CanaryDungeon Runners: Ignite|author=Meg Cabot and Cara McGeeHero Trial|rating=3.54

|summary=Meet Dinah LanceKit. Frustrated that her policeman father will not allow her to try and follow Like most of the people in his footstepsworld, it seems, he is an avid fan of Dungeon Running – the sport where a team of warrior, mage and seemingly lumbered with being a cheerleader at schoolhealer enter specially prepared, century-old, magical mazes, she is desperate and race to find her voicethe exit, perhaps bothering with the treasure or the big bad and the points they grant you along the way. But it Unfortunately for Kit, the only thing he's actually more a case seen of her voice finding herthe latest race on the inn TV equivalent is that one team has been retired, as when she gets frustrated or plain dissed at school her vocal outcry can shatter glass better than any opera singer. You could almost call it a weaponeaten, or and a powernew trio of questors is needed. But in order Possibly very unfortunately indeed for her to call herself a superheroKit, there he has taken to be the goading from the token bully of his world and stumbled into declaring he'll enter as a whole path of steps for her team. What chance does this friendless, muscle-free-zone have in actually managing that, and how could he possibly hope to take – one of which will be into her past…succeed?|isbn=1839945184

|isbnauthor=1789017977Saima Mir|title=Ronnie 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 a series I hadn't read didn't stop me – I've jumped midway into a few series before (on page and screen) and Hildait needn't be a hindrance if it's Romance: Towards good enough. And that wasn't a New Life after World War IIproblem here. Vengeance swiftly brings you up to speed, and I never felt lost.|isbn=0861541561}} {{Frontpage|author=Wendy WilliamsStuart Douglas|title=Lowe and Le Breton Mysteries - Death at the Dress Rehearsal|rating=43.5|genre=HistoryCrime|summary=Ronnie Williams was 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 son edge of Thomas Henry Williams (known as Harry) and Ethel Walla reservoir. There's some doubt The police seem happy to assign it as to whether or not they were ever married or even Harry's birthdate: he claimed to have been born in 1863an accidental death, but he was already many years older than Ethel something about the whole thing bothers Lowe, and he might well have shaved enlists the help of a few years off his agefellow actor, John Le Breton to help him investigate matters further. For a while They travel across the family was quite well-to-do but disaster struck in the 1929 Depression country during their days off filming, uncovering more possible murders and five-year-old Ronnie had to adjust to , seemingly, a very different lifestyle. One thing he did inherit from his father was his need link to be well-turned-out and this would stay with him throughout his lifedeath during the Second World War. He joined But is there really a link between the army at eighteen in 1942.deaths? And will they manage to uncover who is responsible before more people lose their lives?|isbn=1803368209

|isbn=1542015421B0CYV674G2|title=The Royal Baths MurderSwanton Morley (John Tanner)|author=J R EllisDavid Blake

|summary=When Damian Penrose was murdered there was no shortage of suspects: he was It seemed like an open-and-shut case. A man, covered in mud and blood - and carrying a deeply unpleasant man. In fact knife, comes into the only surprising thing was police station shouting that there wasnhe hasn't more killed the man. A body at the bottom of a queue waiting freshly dug grave at Swanton Morley church - he's been stabbed to do death. DCI John Tanner is just back from his honeymoon, which coincided with the dirty deedbirth of his daughter Samantha. What was a bit of a headline maker was that Penrose was a crime writer You would think he'd be grateful for an easy answer but the words 'perverse' and that he was strangled in 'John Tanner' were made for each other. He's sleep-deprived to the midst point of Harrogatefalling asleep at work but he's crime writing festivaldetermined to keep going - probably because he can't get any sleep at home. He went for }}{{Frontpage|isbn=1787333175|title=You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here|author=Benji Waterhouse|rating=5|genre=Popular Science|summary=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 swim at glorious mixture of insight into the workings of the Royal Baths NHS, humour and never returned, his body being found by the receptionistautobiography. DCI Jim Oldroyd was ''You Don't Have to be Mad...'' promised the man tasked with investigating same elements but moved from physical problems to mental illness and the crimework of a psychiatrist. It would not I did wonder whether it was acceptable to be looking for humour in this setting but the only death, laughter is directed at a situation rather than a person and it was only because of the quick actions of his sergeant, Andy Carter, that Oldroyd's was not one of themis always delivered with empathy and understanding.

|author=Daniel KrausOnyi Nwabineli|title=Blood SugarAllow Me to Introduce Myself|rating=4.5

|summary=This is a difficult read. And not because of Anuri spent her childhood on display to the dark subject matter – thatworld, thanks to her step-mother Ophelia'll come later – but because s increasingly popular presence on social media, where she posted every step of the way in which itAnuri's toldchildhood for sponsorships and influencer deals and, basically, monetary gain. This might put a lot of readers off, Now Anuri is in her twenties and she is slowly trying to regain her confidence and to be honest it'd be hard get her life back, suing her step-mother to blame them. Kraus tells take down the story in a distinctive voice unlike any other I've read; an erratic dialect with heavy and frequent slangcontent about her. The immediate effect Anuri is disorientating battling alcoholism, failing to start her PhD, undergoing therapy and distracting, secretly abusing people online and it takes some time to feel naturalreceiving money from them for doing so. It Most importantly, she is desperately worried about her little sister, who is the new focus of Ophelia's a struggle to acclimatise to Jody's voiceonline empire. Can she save her sister, to get acquainted and perhaps herself and her relationship with his mannerisms, but the story wouldn't be her father at the same without it, and somehow it works. It shouldn't, but it does.time?|isbn=17890919340861546873

|author=Don BehrendDavid Chadwick|title=Copernicus! What Have You Done?: ...and Other Interesting QuestionsHeadload of Napalm

|genre=TriviaThrillers|summary= Hello! Would this review be okay if I simply said 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'I LOVED THIS GLORIOUS LITTLE BOOK AND SO WILL YOUs not much of note other than dive bars and Joshua trees. Life is quiet, until.. FIN''?! Because I did. And you will. |isbn=1789016770B0D321VJ76}}

|isbnauthor=1925820025Tom Percival|title=Once, I was Loved|author=Belinda LandsberryThe Wrong Shoes|rating=45|genre=For SharingConfident Readers|summary=TockWill's life is difficult, the toy rabbit, is in a box multitude of toys going to the charity shopways. He realises that is bullied because hehas 'the wrong shoes's not wanted any more, but muses that it wasnhe has the wrong shoes because his dad can't always this way. work and doesn't have enough money for even the most basic of things like food, and his dad can'Once'', t work because he sayslost his job at the college, ''I was loved'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 tells us still has a tiny amount of all hope. He is good at art, and clings to the children who have loved him over moments of joy when he is drawing, that feel like a light at the yearsend of a long, dark tunnel.|isbn=1398527122

|author= Karina Sainz Borgo and Elizabeth Bryer (translator)Sylvie Cathrall|title= It Would Be Night in CaracasA Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating= 45|genre= Literary Science Fiction |summary= ''It Would Be Night in Caracas'' illuminates the everyday horrors of modern day VenezuelaThere are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. It begins with the death And this is one of Adelaida Falcon's mother and chronicles Adelaida's coming to terms with her new solitude in this world and her attempts to escape itthem. Danger stalks the shadows and, in a society where the establishment is crumbling, who can you turn to? |isbn=00629368670356522776

|isbn=03494230670008517061|title=The Body Death in a Lonely Place|author=Stig Abell|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary= Former Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, has settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the future of his life with his vet girlfriend, Livia and her daughter Diana, as moving in together would mean a lot of compromise: does Jake give up his off-grid and relaxing life to move in with Livia or does Livia move to Little Sky despite her reservations about whether or not this is the future she wants for herself and her daughter? For the moment they’re enjoying life in the present and putting the future on the Train back burner.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1786482126|title=The Janus Stone (Kate Shackleton MysteriesDr Ruth Galloway)|author=Frances BrodyElly Griffiths

|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=From Christmas to Easter a train ran from Leeds City Station to King’s Cross, arriving before dawn so that Builders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the forced rhubarb it carried could be taken site was going to Covent Garden. In early March 1929 one of the porters who was unloading the boxes hold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the body bones of a man, stripped naked and with child beneath a doorway. There was no means of identificationskull. Scotland Yard hit Was this a dead end and called on the services of Kate Shackleton in the hope that her knowledge and connections in Yorkshire would give them the lead they neededritual killing or murder? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. Kate immediately found herself hamstrung: Commander Woodhead remembered her It's difficult as a child and could not come to terms with the fact Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn't, that she was now is pregnant with his child as a woman experienced in dealing with murderresult of the one night they spent together some three months ago. He was reluctant Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to give her all the information which the police heldsudden bouts of sickness.

|authorisbn= Stephen Baxter0008551324|title= World Engines: DestroyerThe Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster|rating= 4.5|genre= Science FictionCrime|summary= Hundreds of years in It's unusual for anyone from the future, on a stagnating and almost empty Earth, a space shuttle pilot from Hardie family to approach the early days of police. Neither side likes or has any respect for the 21st century other. But Davie Hardie is awoken from struggling in prison and he's prepared to tell the police where the cryogenic sleep he entered after body of a devastating accidentmissing person is buried and who was responsible for her death. As This person, he comes to terms with this new worldpromises, is someone big and it will be worth the police doing what he begins to realise that their history does not match wants. And what he remembers - and that only he may wants is to be able transferred to stop an open prison to serve the coming catastrophe destined remainder of his sentence and to destroy the planetget an early parole date. Until he meets a young woman who seems Not much to have a drive of her ownask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's even prepared to do the other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and a plan..anyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening.|isbn=1473223172

|isbn=14063893310008405026|title=In A Stranger in the Key of CodeFamily (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Aimee LucidoJane Casey|rating=45|genre=Confident ReadersCrime|summary=Emmy is moving with her parents halfway across America, to follow her fatherIt's dreams of a big break in his music careersixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She leaves behind her friends was never found and her school in Wisconsin, and moves the investigation ground to Californiaa halt. Now, knowing only what she has heard in songs. Her struggle to settle into her new lifemother, Helena, make friends and feel happy and confident again, is agonisingly told her father are dead in a way we can all relate totheir bed. There are many new opportunities and setbacks Initially, taking the reader on it looks like a rollercoaster of emotions, straightforward murder/suicide but it isnthere't until Emmy joins a coding class using computer language s something about the positioning of the bodies that she begins makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. What looked as though it was going to feel she might have be an open-and-shut case is now a chance to feel like she truly belongscomplex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that the explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's boss, Una Burt) are less convinced.

|isbn=15294022550571379877|title=A Body in the Bookshop (Kitt Hartley Yorkshire Mysteries)The Kellerby Code|author=Helen CoxJonny Sweet

|summary= Evie Bowes Edward Jevons is very conscious of the scars on her facea working-class young man, obsessed with his upper-class friends, Robert and Stanza. They were acquired when she was rescued from Robert's a car in the River Ouse by Inspector Hallorantheatre director. She’d been suspected of the murder of her boyfriendHe's also self-obsessed, Owendemanding, handsome and entitled and uses Edward to run errands for him. Edward has been in the process of clearing her name she love with Stanza since their university days - and her best friend, Kitt Hartley developed a taste for detectionhe's drunkenly confided how he feels to Robert. Kitt developed Most men in Robert's position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a taste for Inspector Halloran Too, relationship had begun between them but they’re taking it slowly. Well, sort he's not like most men: Edward is left to stumble upon the two of slowlythem kissing in a dark passageway.

|author= Alexandra ChristoJo Callaghan|title= Into the Crooked PlaceLeave No Trace|rating= 4|genre= TeensCrime|summary= In When a man is found crucified on the top of a world thriving hill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the case alongside her sidekick, the AI detective Lock. It's their first live case together, having previously been very successful with black magicseveral cold cases. But when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, four young crooks embark on Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a quest lot of unwanted attention to take down their criminal leader after AI Future Policing project. Will they discover be able to solve the plot behind his dangerous new magic.case in time, or will Kat find herself taken off the case and, potentially, out of a career?|isbn=1250318378139851120X

|authorisbn=Kathlaine C Gill and D Clark Gill1399613073|title=Madness Between Light and DarkMoral Injuries|author=Christie Watson|rating=34.5|genre=FantasyThrillers|summary=It's 1912Olivia, Laura and at New Hope SanatoriumAnjali 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, Christine Agnes Tupper which is fast growing upa bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor. Abandoned there by parents who were ashamed Anjali is the free spirit of her hunchback, the group and shebecomes a GP. When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it's nevertheless grown up going to an intelligent girl with a good heartend in tragedy. Her encounters with We don't know who suffered the inhabitants of tragedy or the asylum swiftly take her on a fascinating, thrilling and sometimes terrifying journey of self discovery, allowing Agnes to prove consequences. Twenty-five years later there will be an eerily similar event thatwill impact the three friends. This time, even with a twisted spine, her heart is in the right place!|isbn=1641110708it's their teenage children who are involved.

|isbn=190874572X0241636604|title=Letters from ToveThe Trading Game: A Confession|author=Tove Jansson (Author), Boel Westin (Editor), Helen Svensson (Editor), Sarah Death (Translator)Gary Stevenson|rating=4.5

|summary=Back at If you were to bring up an image of a city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson. A hoodie and jeans replaces the beginning of pin-stripe suit and his background is the century I went East End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injustice. There was no posh public school on holiday his CV - but he had been to Nepalthe London School of Economics. I met Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he has a wonderful Finnish woman and we became sort facility with numbers which most of friendsus can only envy. I can't remember if it was on that holiday or a later one He also realised that Paula told me I really had most rich people expect poor people to read Tove Janssonbe stupid. I do know that it It was his ability at what was four years later that I finally acquired , essentially, a card game which got him an English translation of The Summer Bookinternship with Citibank. Eventually, and that I eagerly awaited the ''Sort Of'' translations of the rest of Jansson's work and devoured them this turned into permanent employment as soon as I could get my hands on thema trader.

|isbn=17847427831035021803|title=The Benefit of Hindsight (Simon Serrailler)Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder|author=Susan HillC L Miller|rating=3.5

|summary=A superficial look would suggest to you that Simon Serrailer It's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been lucky and - all things considered - his life is as good as it could beback to the English country village where she grew up. HeShe's back at work after now because of a long break to recuperate request for help from the violent incident which cost him his arm and almost his lifeher beloved aunt, Carole. When heFreya's not at work heformer mentor and Carole's spending his time in close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is dead and the cathedral roof drawing circumstances seem suspicious, to say the medieval angels which are being restoredleast. There's talk of an exhibition of his drawingsArthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to the village: Arthur, she feels, let her down badly. Lafferton seems Even though they were in business together as antique hunters, she has not felt able to be quite settled as far as crime is concerned until one night when two local men open their front door to a couple seeking shelternear the man or pursue the profession she loved. It's After the usual story of split, she worked in a broken-down carcafe, met and a phone which won't make a call. The man are generous married James (on the rebound from the love of her life, who was murdered) and welcoming Freya and James have no suspicions that the couple are simply there to plan a robbery. It's a serious error of judgement in the course of this investigation which will throw Simon Serrailler's future into doubtnow divorced.

|isbn=140638853XAllTomorrowsFutureCover|title=Somebody Give This Heart a PenAll Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt|author=Sophia ThakurBenjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)

|genre=AnthologiesScience Fiction|summary=Sophia Thakur's debut anthology is a collection 'Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of poems that are all unique, whether in relation things to their style, length or themecome. The collection is split into four sections, titled 'grow', I'waitve heard it said that ',technology'break'and 'grow againis what happens after you're eighteen. Well, guiding you through I must confess that there have been more than a process which is one 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 foundations feeling that the anthology it's all getting away from me. Some of it is built on- frankly - quite frightening. Each section begins with a foregrounded title page containing various small pieces of writing Of course, ranging from a quote by a Nigerian playwright, to African proverbs. This provides a nice introduction to I could research the section before you are immersed into possibilities and the beautifully written probabilities and eloquent poems that Thakur has clearly put her heart 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 soul intowho could deliver information in a way I could understand.

|isbnauthor=1910989460Sunny Singh|title=Flember: The Secret Book|author=Jamie SmartHotel Arcadia|rating=3.5|genre=Confident ReadersThrillers |summary=A mysterious islandThe Hotel Arcadia is a luxury hotel in an unnamed city that has suddenly been violently taken over by a terrorist group. A strange Hiding from the terrorists who are rampaging through, killing everyone on site, there is Sam, a wartime photographer and mystical power called FlemberAbhi, the hotel manager. A boy-inventor called Dev 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 uncovers a long forgotten secretrefuses to be cowed by events, and keeps on venturing out of her room to try to capture what's happened through her photography. And a giant Although they only ever talk over the phone, red robot bear?! The sleepy village of Eden is about their friendship grows as Abhi tries to help her keep safe and they both wait to descend into hilarious chaos - can disastrous Dev save his brand new best friend? Find out in this fully illustrated mad-cap adventuresee if they will be rescued before they are discovered by the terrorists.|isbn=086154742X

|isbn=02413552221529153298|title=FrostheartThe List of Suspicious Things|author=Jamie LittlerJennie Godfrey

|genre=Confident ReadersGeneral Fiction|summary=Way out in the furthest part of the known worldIt's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister. (A woman? I mean, honestly...) She's not what's worrying Miv's family, though. Women have been disappearing. Well, a tiny stronghold exists all on its ownthey've been murdered, cut off from the rest of human-kin by monsters but to have 'disappeared' doesn't sound quite so frightening. Miv's upset because she's overheard that lurk beneath her father wants to move the Snow Seafamily 'Down South'. There When you're from Yorkshire, Down South is a little boy called Ash waits for the return of his parentsfrightening, foreign place, singing a forbidden lullaby to remind him of thembest avoided... and doing his For Miv, the move would mean leaving her best to avoid his veryfriend, VERY grumpy yeti guardianSharon, Tobu. But life is about and she'll do anything to get a whole lot more crazy-adventurous for Ashprevent that. When a brave rescue attempt reveals he has amazing magical powers, he She's whisked aboard not worried about the Frostheart, a sleigh packed full of daring explorers who could use his helpdangers or that her Mum's stopped talking - to anyone. But can they help him find his family?

|isbn=19131010371398524085|title=The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte MettlestoneHas Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?|author=Jaclyn MoriartyNicci French

|genre=Confident ReadersCrime|summary=Bronte doesnCharlotte Salter was expected at her husband't miss s fiftieth birthday party but never turned up. Her children, sons Niall, Paul and Ollie and her daughter, Etty. are all worried but - strangely - her parentshusband, Alec, is not. Shortly afterwards, Etty and sheGreg, find the body of Greg's not particularly sad father, Duncan Ackerley, in the river. It was an easy assumption for the police to make that Duncan had murdered Charlie and then committed suicide when she learns of their terrible fate at he couldn't stand the hands of piratesguilt. And why should she be? After all, The Salter children are not convinced but there's little else they just dumped her can do but get on Aunt Isabelle (without even asking if it would be a convenient arrangement for either party) when she was a baby. They swanned off to have adventures, and never once came back to check if with their only child was healthy lives and happywonder about what really happened.

|isbn=14012800481035906708|title=Batman: Nightwalker: The Graphic NovelDiva|author=Marie Lu, Stuart Moore and Chris WildgooseDaisy Goodwin|rating=4.5|genre=TeensGeneral Fiction|summary=The young man called Bruce Wayne is a very noticeable one – he can hardly go anywhere without people – bystandersWe tend to think of Maria Callas as Greek, but she was born to Greek parents in Manhattan, paparazziNew York, in December 1923 and suchlike – reminding him he's a billionaire at the age of eighteenonly moved to Athens when she was thirteen. Feeling rather stuck with the legacy heHer original surname was Kalogeropoulos but her father changed it to 'Callas's inherited from his murdered parents, he wants to do charitable deedsmake it more manageable in the States. But one night, when he speeds off When she was back 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 Athens - supposedly so that she could get appropriate training for violent criminals that is Arkham Asylum. There he learns of some other people who also allege charitable intent – her voice - she was raised under the Nightwalkers, Nazi occupation by a gang mother who steal any ten-figure bank account contents they can, mercilessly exploited her and murder the owner. Can he get close to one made no secret of them and get the truth of their schemesher preference for her elder sister, or will the manipulative Madeleine be a step too far for the young do-gooder?Jackie.