Changes

<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]].''' <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE--> '''Read [[Forthcoming Publications|reviews of books about to be published]].

|isbn=B07X6GLQ3Q1529428289|title=See Them RunA Grave in the Woods (A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel)|author=Marion ToddMartin Walker

|summary=D I Clare Mackay is still relatively new to St Andrew's: she was previously at Maryhill Rd station in GlasgowBecause of various property transactions, people were searching for the grave but when they found it, it came with three sets of bones. She's left quite a lot behind including a relationship that wasn't going anywhere after Tom failed They dated back to World War II and it fell to support her when Bruno, the chips were down. She also left a nasty situationChief of Police for St Denis, to discover the identities of her own making but the bodies and establish whether or not her fault, and St Andrew's is a fresh startcrime had been committed. Not long into the job she's faced with a hit and run death and there's little doubt that it wasnAs if this isn't accidental enough to worry about, the Dordogne River - normally tranquil - the card with the number five suggests murderis flowing at record levels. Andy Robb was married to Sandra. You could say It's not just the local autumn rains that they have caused the problem: various dams upstream on another river have had an open marriage but there seemed to be a lot of release water and St Denis faces the 'open' and very little possibility of the 'marriage' left - on both sides, but would she want him dead?a devastating flood.

|isbn=1786540991152919640X|title=The Impossible BoySuspect|author=Ben BrooksRob Rinder

|genre=Confident ReadersCrime|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'Oleg s celebrity chef Sebastian Brooks and Emma entered their den his contract stated that he must not serve anything containing miso to find a cardboard spaceship standing where they usually satJessica Holby. Slowly, the front door opened She's seriously allergic and carries an EpiPen in case of emergencies. Smoke billowed out. And out stepped Everything seemed as normal - as normal as they can be in a boybusy, dressed in live television studio - and Brooks served a long coat with an even longer scarf, wound around his neckragout 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''"My name|summary=It's Sebastian Cole," midsummer on the boy said, "But you already know thatDorset coast and guests gather at The Manor." It's their opening weekend and splendid celebrations are promised. It' And indeed they dos all headed up by Francesca Meadows. Ever since The Manor was her ancestral home and she's converted it into an impressive retreat for the summerwealthy and famous. Her husband, when their friend Sarah's mother had moved her awayOwen, Oleg was the architect and work is still ongoing on parts of the site. The heat is oppressive and Emma have been unable amongst the guests are enemies as well as friends. Old scores are going to find be settled and it won't be long before a new friend to take her placebody is found.

|isbnauthor=1447281357Ashley Hickson-Lovence|title=Salvation Lost|author=Peter F. HamiltonWild East|rating=4.5|genre=Science FictionTeens|summary=In the twenty-third centuryWritten in verse, humanity this is enjoying Ronny's story, a comparative utopiayoung black fourteen year old boy from Hackney who suddenly has to move to Norwich and start at a mostly white school. Yet life on Earth The move is initiated by Ronny's mum who is about to change, forever. Feriton Kaneworried for Ronny's investigative team has discovered the worst threat ever safety after a tragic event, and so Ronny finds himself trying to face mankind – settle in a new town, a new school, and we've almost no time to fight backkeep himself out of trouble. The supposedly benign Olyix plan He listens to harvest humanitymusic constantly, in order to carry us to their god at the end and has always dreamed of the universebeing a rapper. And as their agents conclude schemes down on earth But now, vast warships converge above to gather in this cargo. Some factions push for humanity to fleenew school, his teacher encourages him to live in hiding amongst the stars – although only be part of a chosen few would make it out in time. But others refuse poetry writing workshop group and, slowly, Ronny begins to break before see the storm. As disaster loomsconnections between rap and poetry, animosities must be set aside to focus on just one goal: wiping this enemy from and the face power of creation. Even if it means preparing for a future this generation will never seecreativity and crafting your words.|isbn=0241645441

|isbn=14711863931635866847|title=Photographer of the LostThe Lavender Companion|author=Caroline ScottJessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci

|genre=Historical FictionLifestyle|summary=May 1921It's strange, the things that make you ''immediately'' feel that this is the book for you. Edie receives Before I started reading ''The Lavender Companion'', I visited the author's [https://www.pinelavenderfarm.com/ website] and there's a picture of a photograph through slice of chocolate cake on the posthomepage. I don't eat cakes and desserts - but I wanted that cake viscerally. (There is no letter or note '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. There is nothing written on Notes in the margins are sanctioned. You get to fold down the back corners of the photographpages. It is You suspect that smears of butter would not be a picture of her husband, Francisproblem. Francis has been missing for four yearsI ''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. TechnicallyHe's a ball of happy positivity, he understands children, and he has been "missingwrites for their pleasure and enjoyment, believed killed" but that not to lecture or hector.  The ''Childish Spirits'' series is not something that one of his greatest achievements. It's a sequence of ghost stories centring on Ellie, a stalwart young widow girl who can believe. She hangs on cope with anything the word 'missing'spirit world throws at her, and Edward, disbelieving a spoiled lordling and the word killed. 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: IgniteHero Trial|rating=4|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Meet Kit. 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 healer enter specially prepared, century-old, magical mazes, and race to the exit, perhaps bothering with the treasure or the big bad and the points they grant you along the way. 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 new trio of questors is needed. Possibly very unfortunately indeed for Kit, he has taken to the goading from the token bully of his world and stumbled into declaring he'll enter as a team. What chance does this friendless, muscle-free-zone have in actually managing that, and how could he possibly hope to succeed?|isbn=1839945184}}{{Frontpage|author=Meg Cabot and Cara McGeeSaima Mir|title=Vengeance

|genre=Confident ReadersThrillers|summary=Meet Dinah LanceI was instantly intrigued by the premise of this novel – an organised crime syndicate in the north of England run by a Muslim woman. Frustrated The fact that her policeman father will not allow her to try 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 follow in his footsteps, screen) and seemingly lumbered with being it needn't be a cheerleader at school, she is desperate to find her voice. But hindrance if it's actually more a case of her voice finding her, as when she gets frustrated or plain dissed at school her vocal outcry can shatter glass better than any opera singergood enough. You could almost call it a weapon, or And that wasn't a powerproblem here. But in order for her Vengeance swiftly brings you up to call herself a superherospeed, there has to be a whole path of steps for her to take – one of which will be into her past…and I never felt lost.|isbn=0861541561

|isbnauthor=1789017977Stuart Douglas|title=Ronnie Lowe and Hilda's Romance: Towards a New Life after World War II|author=Wendy WilliamsLe 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 son dead body of Thomas Henry Williams (known as Harry) and Ethel Walla woman on the edge of a 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 of a queue waiting to do killed the dirty deedman. What was a bit A body at the bottom of a headline maker was that Penrose was a crime writer and that freshly dug grave at Swanton Morley church - he was strangled in the midst of Harrogate's crime writing festivalbeen stabbed to death. He went for a swim at the Royal Baths and never returnedDCI John Tanner is just back from his honeymoon, his body being found by the receptionist. DCI Jim Oldroyd was the man tasked which coincided with investigating the crimebirth of his daughter Samantha. It You would not think he'd be grateful for an easy answer but the only death, words 'perverse' and it was only because of 'John Tanner' were made for each other. He's sleep-deprived to the quick actions point of his sergeant, Andy Carter, that Oldroydfalling asleep at work but he's was not one of themdetermined to keep going - probably because he can't get any sleep at home.

|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 glorious mixture of insight into the workings of the NHS, humour and autobiography. ''You Don't Have to be Mad...'' promised the same elements but moved from physical problems to mental illness and the work of a psychiatrist. I did wonder whether it was acceptable to be looking for humour in this setting but the laughter is directed at a situation rather than a person and it is always delivered with empathy and understanding. }}{{Frontpage|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'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'I LOVED THIS GLORIOUS LITTLE BOOK AND SO WILL YOUs life is difficult, in a multitude of ways. FIN 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'?! Because I didt 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 you willyet, 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=17890167701398527122}}

|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}}{{Frontpage|isbn=19258200250008517061|title=Once, I was LovedDeath in a Lonely Place|author=Belinda LandsberryStig Abell

|genre=For SharingCrime|summary=TockFormer Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, has settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the toy rabbitfuture of his life with his vet girlfriend, is Livia and her daughter Diana, as moving in together would mean a box lot of toys going compromise: does Jake give up his off-grid and relaxing life to move in with Livia or does Livia move to the charity shop. He realises that he's Little Sky despite her reservations about whether or not wanted any more, but muses that it wasn't always this way. is the future she wants for herself and her daughter? ''Once'', he says, ''I was loved''. And he tells us of all For the moment they’re enjoying life in the present and putting the children who have loved him over future on the yearsback burner.

|authorisbn=1786482126|title= Karina Sainz Borgo and Elizabeth Bryer The Janus Stone (translatorDr Ruth Galloway)|titleauthor= It Would Be Night in CaracasElly Griffiths|rating= 4.5|genre= Literary Fiction Crime|summary= ''It Would Be Night Builders were demolishing an old house in CaracasNorwich - the site was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury' illuminates apartments - when they discovered the everyday horrors bones of modern day Venezuelaa 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 begins with the death of Adelaida Falcon's mother and chronicles Adelaidadifficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn's coming to terms t, that she is pregnant with her new solitude in this world and her attempts to escape ithis child as a result of the one night they spent together some three months ago. Danger stalks the shadows and Her condition will be obvious before long, in a society where the establishment not least because Ruth is crumbling, who can you turn prone to? |isbn=0062936867sudden bouts of sickness.

|isbn=03494230670008551324|title=The Body on the Train Devil You Know (Kate Shackleton MysteriesD S Max Craigie)|author=Frances BrodyNeil Lancaster

|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=From Christmas to Easter a train ran It's unusual for anyone from Leeds City Station the Hardie family to King’s Cross, arriving before dawn so that approach the forced rhubarb it carried could be taken to Covent Gardenpolice. In early March 1929 one of Neither side likes or has any respect for the porters who was unloading other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he's prepared to tell the boxes discovered police where the body of a manmissing person is buried and who was responsible for her death. This person, he promises, stripped naked is someone big and with no means of identificationit will be worth the police doing what he wants. Scotland Yard hit a dead end and called on And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the services remainder of Kate Shackleton in the hope that her knowledge his sentence and connections in Yorkshire would give them the lead they neededto get an early parole date. Kate immediately found herself hamstrung: Commander Woodhead remembered her as a child Not much to ask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and could not come she's even prepared to terms with do the fact other thing that she was now a woman experienced in dealing Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with murder. He was reluctant to give her all the information which the police heldhim is kept well away from what's happening.

|authorisbn= Stephen Baxter0008405026|title= World Engines: DestroyerA Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jane Casey|rating= 45|genre= Science FictionCrime|summary= Hundreds of It's sixteen years in since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and the futureinvestigation ground to a halt. Now, her mother, Helena, on a stagnating and almost empty Earthher father are dead in their bed. Initially, it looks like a space shuttle pilot from straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the early days positioning of the 21st century is awoken from the cryogenic sleep he entered after a devastating accidentbodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. As he comes What looked as though it was going to terms with this new world, he begins to realise that their history does not match what he remembers be an open- and -shut case is now a complex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that only he may be able to stop the coming catastrophe destined to destroy the planet. Until he meets a young woman who seems to have a drive of her ownexplanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's boss, and a plan..Una Burt) are less convinced.|isbn=1473223172

|isbn=14063893310571379877|title=In 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 Key two of Codethem kissing in a dark passageway.}}{{Frontpage|author=Aimee LucidoJo Callaghan|title=Leave No Trace

|genre=Confident ReadersCrime|summary=Emmy When a man is moving with her parents halfway across Americafound crucified on the top of a hill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to follow the case alongside her fathersidekick, the AI detective Lock. It's dreams their first live case together, having previously been very successful with several cold cases. But when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a lot of a big break in his music careerunwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. She leaves behind her friends and her school Will they be able to solve the case in Wisconsintime, or will Kat find herself taken off the case and moves to California, knowing only what she has heard in songspotentially, out of a career?|isbn=139851120X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1399613073|title=Moral Injuries|author=Christie Watson|rating=4. Her struggle to settle into her new life5|genre=Thrillers|summary=Olivia, make friends Laura and feel happy Anjali met on the first day of medical school and confident againtheir friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is agonisingly told in a way we can all relate bonus when you aim tobe a cardiothoracic surgeon. There are many new opportunities Laura is a perfectionist and setbacks, taking a trauma doctor. Anjali is the free spirit of the reader on group and she becomes a GP. When we first meet them they're at a rollercoaster of emotions, but drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it isn's going to end in tragedy. We don't until Emmy joins a coding class using computer language know who suffered the tragedy or the consequences. Twenty-five years later there will be an eerily similar event that she begins 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 feel she might have bring up an image of a chance city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to feel think of someone like she truly belongsGary Stevenson. A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and his background is the East End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injustice. 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 has a facility with numbers which most of us can only envy. He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be stupid. It was his ability at what was, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with Citibank. Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader.

|isbn=15294022551035021803|title=A Body in the Bookshop (Kitt Hartley Yorkshire Mysteries)The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder|author=Helen CoxC L Miller

|summary= Evie Bowes is very conscious 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 the scars on a request for help from her facebeloved aunt, Carole. They were acquired when she was rescued from a car in Freya's former mentor and Carole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is dead and the circumstances seem suspicious, to say the River Ouse by Inspector Halloranleast. She’d Arthur was the reason why Freya had not been suspected of back to the murder of her boyfriendvillage: Arthur, Owenshe feels, and 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 process of clearing her name profession she and her best friend, Kitt Hartley developed a taste for detectionloved. Kitt developed After the split, she worked in a taste for Inspector Halloran Toocafe, but they’re taking it slowly. Wellmet and married James (on the rebound from the love of her life, sort of slowlywho was murdered) and Freya and James have now divorced.

|authorisbn= Alexandra ChristoAllTomorrowsFutureCover|title= Into the Crooked PlaceAll Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)|rating= 45|genre= TeensScience Fiction|summary= In ''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 world thriving few decades of technology in my lifetime. I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but I'm left with black magicthe feeling that it's all getting away from me. Some of it is - frankly - quite frightening. Of course, four young crooks embark on a quest to take I could research the possibilities and the probabilities and end up down their criminal leader after rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they discover 're talking about or the plot behind his dangerous new magiclatest conspiracy theorist. I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in a way I could understand.|isbn=1250318378

|author=Kathlaine C Gill and D Clark GillSunny Singh|title=Madness Between Light and DarkHotel Arcadia

|genre=FantasyThrillers |summary=It's 1912The 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, and at New Hope Sanatoriumkilling everyone on site, Christine Agnes Tupper there is fast growing up. Abandoned there by parents who were ashamed of her hunchbackSam, she's nevertheless grown up to an intelligent girl with a good heartwartime photographer and Abhi, the hotel manager. Her encounters with As Abhi continues to try to care remotely for the inhabitants of residents who are still alive in the asylum swiftly take her on hotel, he forms a fascinatingbond with Sam who refuses to be cowed by events, thrilling and sometimes terrifying journey keeps on venturing out of self discoveryher room to try to capture what's happened through her photography. Although they only ever talk over the phone, allowing Agnes their friendship grows as Abhi tries to prove that, even with a twisted spine, help her heart is in keep safe and they both wait to see if they will be rescued before they are discovered by the right place!terrorists.|isbn=1641110708086154742X

|isbn=190874572X1529153298|title=Letters from ToveThe List of Suspicious Things|author=Tove Jansson (Author), Boel Westin (Editor), Helen Svensson (Editor), Sarah Death (Translator)Jennie Godfrey

|genre=AutobiographyGeneral Fiction|summary=Back at the beginning of the century It's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister. (A woman? I went on holiday to Nepalmean, honestly...) She's not what's worrying Miv's family, though. I met a wonderful Finnish woman and we became sort of friends Women have been disappearing. I can Well, they've been murdered, but to have 'disappeared' doesn't remember if it was on sound quite so frightening. Miv's upset because she's overheard that holiday or her father wants to move the family 'Down South'. When you're from Yorkshire, Down South is a later one that Paula told me I really had to read Tove Janssonfrightening, foreign place, best avoided. I do know that it was four years later that I finally acquired an English translation of The Summer BookFor Miv, the move would mean leaving her best friend, Sharon, and she'll do anything to prevent that I eagerly awaited the . She''Sort Of'' translations of s not worried about the rest of Janssondangers or that her Mum's work and devoured them as soon as I could get my hands on themstopped talking - to anyone.

|isbn=17847427831398524085|title=The Benefit of Hindsight (Simon Serrailler)Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?|author=Susan HillNicci French

|summary=A superficial look would suggest to you that Simon Serrailer has been lucky Charlotte Salter was expected at her husband's fiftieth birthday party but never turned up. Her children, sons Niall, Paul and Ollie and her daughter, Etty. are all worried but - all things considered strangely - his life her husband, Alec, is as good as it could benot. He's back at work after a long break to recuperate from Shortly afterwards, Etty and Greg, find the violent incident which cost him his arm and almost his life. When hebody of Greg's not at work he's spending his time father, Duncan Ackerley, in the cathedral roof drawing the medieval angels which are being restoredriver. There's talk of It was an exhibition of his drawings. Lafferton seems easy assumption for the police to be quite settled as far as crime is concerned until one night make that Duncan had murdered Charlie and then committed suicide when two local men open their front door to a couple seeking shelter. Ithe couldn's t stand the usual story of a broken-down car, and a phone which won't make a callguilt. The man Salter children are generous and welcoming and have no suspicions that the couple are simply not convinced but 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 doubtlittle else they can do but get on with their lives and wonder about what really happened.

|isbn=140638853X1035906708|title=Somebody Give This Heart a PenDiva|author=Sophia ThakurDaisy Goodwin|rating=4.5|genre=AnthologiesGeneral Fiction|summary=Sophia Thakur's debut anthology is a collection We tend to think of poems that are all uniqueMaria Callas as Greek, whether but she was born to Greek parents in relation to their styleManhattan, length or theme. The collection is split into four sectionsNew York, titled 'grow','wait','break'in December 1923 and only moved to Athens when she was thirteen. Her original surname was Kalogeropoulos but her father changed it to 'grow againCallas', guiding you through a process which is one of to make it more manageable in the foundations States. When she was back in Athens - supposedly so that she could get appropriate training for her voice - she was raised under the anthology is built on. Each section begins with a foregrounded title page containing various small pieces of writing, ranging from a quote Nazi occupation by a Nigerian playwright, to African proverbs. This provides a nice introduction to the section before you are immersed into the beautifully written mother who mercilessly exploited her and eloquent poems that Thakur has clearly put made no secret of her preference for her heart and soul intoelder sister, Jackie.