Book Reviews From The Bookbag

Bianca Piper is proud of her cynicism. She's not an air-head. She's not obsessed with dating jocks. She has no desire to flirt with every male in sight. But when Wesley Rush, the school heartthrob, tells her she's a DUFF - a Designated Ugly Fat Friend - it really gets to Bianca. Things aren't going well for Bianca on the domestic front either. Her mother is away all the time and Bianca is afraid her father might start drinking again, after eighteen years. As things get further and further out of control at home, Bianca finds herself in the most unlikely of place - the arms of the hated Wesley Rush. Full review...

The Flying Man by Roopa Farooki

The Flying Man opens with the now elderly Maqil Karam writing a letter in his budget hotel in the South of France and facing death. His story takes in many locations, from his native Punjab, to New York, Cairo, London, Paris and Hong Kong. In each location, Maqil adopts a different name, including Mike Cram, Mehmet Kahn, Miguel Caram and Mikhail Lee. Often he acquires a different wife as well, Carine, Samira and Bernadette, although he doesn't go to the bother of divorcing them, he just simply walks away. He is a chancer and a gambler, avoiding attachment, responsibility and commitment throughout his life. Full review...

Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder: The End of the World. Maybe. by Jo Nesbo

If you put authors you least expect to diversify from more literary to children's works on a scale of one to ten, Jeanette Winterson must be a four, Ian McEwan a high eight, and Jo Nesbo, Nordic crime sensation de nos jours at least eleven. But this is now the third in the series of youthful, frivolous adventures, and this time the titular professor, diminutive smart Alec Nilly and Lisa (and their seven-legged spider) have to save the world. Full review...

The Day is Dark by Yrsa Sigurdardottir

All contact is lost with two Icelanders working in a remote north-eastern coast of Greenland. There are some signs of what might have happened to them - and none of them good - but the local villagers have no intention of helping in any search and are hostile when they're approached. Six months before a woman geologist had disappeared from the same site and although this was written off as a potential suicide or dreadful accident no definitive explanation had been forthcoming. Was her disappearance related to the disappearance of the two men? Lawyer Thora Gudmundsdottir was part of the team hired to investigate the disappearances. Full review...

When You Were Mine by Rebecca Serle

In this modern-day retelling of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Rosaline has been best friends with Rob ever since they were tiny. But recently, their friendship has grown. The electric crackle of attraction is sparking between them and they are tentatively inching their way towards a relationship. One night they kiss and Rosaline believes they are about to become the couple she has always believed they were destined to be. But then her estranged cousin Juliet arrives back in town. She makes it clear she wants Rob and will stop at nothing to get him. Rosaline can do nothing but watch as Juliet steals her boyfriend and her best friend... Full review...

Department 19: The Rising by Will Hill

HE RISES. The graffiti is breaking out everywhere. For those who don't know what it's referring to, it's a minor annoyance. For Blacklight operatives, it could be the harbinger of the end of the world. Because HE is Dracula, and Valeri Rusmanov has succeeded in bringing his old master back to life – or the vampire equivalent of it, at least. The only hope is that they can track him down before he reaches his full power. Can Jamie Carpenter, along with new Blacklight operatives Larissa (his vampire girlfriend) and Kate Randall, who he rescued from Lindisfarne at the climax of the last book, help to stop him? That's about all of the plot that I feel comfortable talking about, such is my desperation to avoid spoiling anything. Full review...

The Bankruptcy Diaries by Paul Broderick

In 2000, Paul Livingson graduated from university and got his first proper grown up job. By 2007 he had filed for bankruptcy. With no failed businesses, unfortunate property depreciation or poor stock market investments in between you might be at a loss to see how he ended up there, until you read his diary of those years and it all becomes crystal clear. Full review...

Six Little Chicks by Jez Alborough

It's a beautiful day and Hen has already given birth to five fine chicks. She still has one more egg to hatch though so she still needs to sit on that while the other chicks explore and play outside. She is just settling down when she hears Owl’s loud 'To-wit-to-woo!' telling them that the big, bad fox is on the prowl. She dashes out to see all her chicks playing happily with no wolf in sight so she warns them to stay close and goes back to her egg. Not long after, Goose comes along with a similar warning but still there is no fox. Finally though, the fox does arrive and although the chicks are now hiding in the hen house, he entices them to 'come closer'. It looks as if time may be up for these sweet little creatures. Luckily though, the fifth chick had been kicking a stick which, in the little ones' attempts to get away, flies up in the air and manages to land in the fox's mouth wedging it open. This is very fortunate as it is just in time for them to see their sixth little brother or sister be born! Full review...

The Last Day of Term by Francis Gilbert

It's the last day of term at the Gilda Ball Academy, and English teacher Martin can't wait for the holiday to start. Shaken by the death of his friend Jack in a riot at the school, he's failed to notice his marriage falling to pieces and his relationship with his son deteriorating. Just when he thinks things can't get any worse, an anonymous pupil accuses him of inappropriate sexual conduct. Full review...

Invincible by Sherrilyn Kenyon

With Nick Gautier having survived the onslaught of zombies, and finding out that most of the people he knows are supernatural, he’s left wondering what to do now. He hasn’t got long to decide, though – because his new coach is putting pressure on him to steal some special items, and boys of his age are turning up dead. Will he be next? Not if he can help it! Can Nick avoid being murdered, deal with his coach, and work out just who he can trust? Full review...

How to Be Selfish (and Other Uncomfortable Advice) by Olga Levancuka

Lifestyle

It's strange how you come to read a particular book. A couple of days ago I was chatting to a dog-walking friend who retired about a year ago. He'd been surprised to find that the main problem in retirement was one which he hadn't anticipated: all his life he'd had to account for himself to somebody else and now he was struggling to discover what it was that he wanted to do. Then I found myself chatting to Olga Levancucka, author of How To Be Selfish - but she seemed like one of the most unselfish people I'd ever met. There was a book here waiting to be read! Full review...

Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick

Bea Nightingale's brother Marvin wants her - is haranguing her - to retrieve his errant son Julian from post-war Paris, to where he has decamped in an effort to escape parental control. Bea, a New York high school teacher, is an unlikely candidate for the role of rescuer - she and her brother have been estranged for the best part of twenty years. But she capitulates to his demands and sets off on a journey in which her presence will affect not only Julian, but his sister who also runs off to Paris, his girlfriend, a displaced Eastern European Jew, his mother (also escaping Marvin, but this time in a psychiatric facility) and Bea's own ex-husband Leo. Full review...

Never Coming Home by Evonne Wareham

Kaz Elmore has almost come to terms with her daughter's death. She died while on holiday in America with her father (Kaz's ex husband) and her ashes have been scattered on the river. As tragic as it is, Kaz has no alternative but to accept that her daughter is never coming back. However, one day she receives a visit from a man called Devlin, who witnessed the accident and was holding Jamie when she died. His sole intention is to provide some comfort for Kaz by telling her that her daughter was not alone but when he spots photographs of Jamie, he realises that she is not the child who died in his arms. Full review...

The Cry of the Go-Away Bird by Andrea Eames

'The Cry of the Go-Away Bird' is the debut novel from Andrea Eames. It revolves around Elise, a white Zimbabwean girl living through her teens on the eve of the Mugabe-sponsored farm invasions at the beginning of this century. The author herself grew up in Zimbabwe before moving to New Zealand with her family at the age of seventeen and there is a strong sense of memoir and personal experience in the novel, which has both positive and negative effects on the narrative. Full review...

Grandad There's a Head on the Beach by Colin Cotterill

Things have moved on since we first met ex-crime reporter, Jimm Juree, stranded at the Gulf Bay Lovely Resort and Restaurant with most of her dysfunctional family. I say 'most' because the sister who used to be a brother and who has criminal tendencies isn't with them and when I say 'moved on' I mean that the tide has been in and out quite a few times. This time it's washed up something a little unusual: a head. Uncertain of what, exactly, you do when you find a head on the beach, Jimm sets off to see the village head man. It's the start of a journey which will uncover piracy and slavery, violence and murder in what should be a beautiful part of the world, but isn't. Full review...

I Love You, Little Monster by Giles Andreae and Jess Mikhail

There's a little monster called Small and a big monster called Big. Small is fast asleep in bed one night when Big comes in, ruffles his hair and starts talking to him. As he speaks it becomes apparent how much he loves the little monster and how much he wants to protect him. He explains that the days are always so busy and there is never enough time to say all of the things that he should say, but it is easy to do so when it is dark. Full review...

I Have Waited, and You Have Come by Martine McDonagh

Science Fiction

Rachel's world is in a state of decay. Her house is falling apart, her boyfriend has left her and civilization has crumbled in the wake of plague and extreme climate change. Her only friend, Stephanie, is separated from Rachel by the now insurmountable barrier of the Atlantic Ocean, their communication dependent on an increasingly unreliable satellite connecting their phones. At Stephanie's prompting Rachel gives her number to local trader Noah, who promises to call. Instead the number falls into the hands of the mysterious and sinister Jez White, initiating a disturbing game of cat and mouse, where the line between stalker and victim becomes blurred as Rachel finally decides to take control of her life. Full review...

Gillespie and I by Jane Harris

The 'I' in the title of Jane Harris's Gillespie and I is Harriet Baxter. Now elderly and residing in London in 1933, she is finally telling her events of what happened in the early 1880s in Glasgow and her relationship with the Gillespie family. At the time, a spinster of independent means, she arrived in Glasgow to visit the International Exhibition and became a champion of and friend to a young Scottish painter, Ned Gillespie and his young family. We know from early on that tragedy struck the Gillespie family leading to Ned destroying his career, but Harriet wants to set the record straight with regard to her involvement in events. You may or may not believe her story. Full review...

The Girl In The Mask by Marie-Louise Jensen

Sophia has been living relatively freely while her father has been in the West Indies, running the estate, shooting pistols with her cousin Jack and generally being unladylike. But now her father is back and more than keen to see her married off to the next suitable gentleman who so much as looks in her direction. Full review...

Let's Find Mimi at Home by Katherine Lodge

Mimi is a little mouse who lives with her mouse family. This book takes us through her day at home, waking up, getting dressed, eating breakfast etc. Each double page spread has a small description of what Mimi is doing and the challenge is to find Mimi (and her family too, if you wish) and see what she's getting up to! Full review...

The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith

Alexander McCall Smith makes it look so easy, churning out book after delightful book that continue to delight and amuse his loyal readers. His writing seems effortless, and in this story, once again, the characters remain the wonderful friends we have always known and expected them to be, as if they really are alive and living these stories somewhere and AMS is simply transcribing them for our pleasure. Full review...

Cold Comfort by Quentin Bates

Since we last met Sergeant Gunnhildur she's been promoted and is now working in the Serious Crimes Unit in Reykjavik. It's quite a contrast to her previous job in Hvalvick, but Gunna is determined to make a go of it and it's not long before she has responsibility for two very different cases. A convict has escaped and seems as though he's determined to settle old scores, but why did he need to escape when his ten-year sentence was almost up? The other case is rather more high profile: an ex-TV fitness presenter is murdered in her city apartment and some of the people who knew her are rather well known. Full review...

Twelve Minutes to Midnight by Christopher Edge

The year is 1899. Each night at twelve minutes to midnight, the inmates of Bedlam (London's Bethlehem Hospital for the Insane) rise up from their sleep and begin scribbling strange words and messages everywhere they can... scraps of paper, the walls, scraps from their clothes, even on their own skin. These insane ramblings seem to depict the impossible and hint at the future. Thirteen year old Penelope Tredwell, orphan heiress and writer of best-selling magazine The Penny Dreadful, is intrigued. Hiding behind an actor hired to play the noted author of the Penny Dreadful mysteries, Penny drags him unwillingly into a macabre investigation. As she seeks to discover the meaning of insane ramblings of these unfortunate inmates, and turn them into what would be her best-selling and most famous story ever, Penny finds that she's uncovered a sinister plot controlled by a very real, very evil, very unlikely villain, and she may well be the next victim. Full review...

Welcome To Rosie Hopkins' Sweetshop Of Dreams by Jenny Colgan

Rosie Hopkins is reluctant to leave her beloved London, Gerard, a live-in boyfriend of eight years and her work as auxiliary nurse. But when an elderly aunt who had spent her life running a traditional sweetshop in a small village in the North of England becomes just too elderly to cope, Rosie surprises everybody – even herself – by taking up the challenge. A 100% townie who can't ride a bike and doesn't seem to own a waterproof, a pair of wellies or even walking boots, Rosie soon discovers that the countryside has its charms, not least of which is the local supply of masculine eye candy. Soon she will find herself re-opening the shop (just to sell it as a running concern, you understand) as well as somewhat accidentally, saving and enriching lives all around, from a lady of the manor's Lab to her own dignified, but possessed of an acid tongue, great aunt Lillian. Full review...

Goblins by Philip Reeve

Poor Skarper. He's such a loser. In the violent and bloodthirsty goblin world where fighting and eating and taking other people's loot are all-time-favourite, number-one activities, he has a terrible handicap. He thinks. In fact, he's pretty clever, for a goblin, to the extent that he uses the goblins' bumwipe heaps for . . . reading. Yup, you heard me. Reading. The foolish hatchling works out that the black squiggles on the mouldering heaps of soft and crinkly stuff left, long ago, by the ancient inhabitants of the tower, are written words, and instead of going out raiding like any sensible goblin, he creeps off to a quiet corner to work out what they mean. Silly, eh? Full review...

A Small Fortune by Rosie Dastgir

Harris Anwar is truly a man who is split between two worlds. He's a British Pakistani, proud of his Eastern roots, but when he came to the UK he changed his name from Haaris - with a long, flat vowel - to the more acceptable Harris and his clothing was that favoured by an English gentleman. He's proud and he would say many reasons to be proud. Some of the things of which he's proud are relatively small - the vacuum cleaner which he's had for twenty years might not work particularly well, but he's proud that he's hung on to it. He's proud of his car, the central heating which he installed himself and most of all he's proud of his daughter. Full review...

Black Arts by Andrew Prentice and Jonathan Weil

London, 1592. Jack successfully completes a test with a local crime family and becomes a "nipper" or cutpurse thief. But Jack's first victim accidentally brings him into contact with a London even more dangerous than the one he already knows - one where magic is real and the fight between good and evil can have fatal consequences. Jack returns home to find his mother murdered by Nicholas Webb, a charismatic Puritan preacher currently whipping up the London crowds against demons and witches. Full review...

Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

Graphic Novels

The Comedian is dead. In a world where costumed vigilantes have been outlawed and former superheroes are either retired or working for the government, the murder of his former teammate leads the outlaw Rorschach to investigate. What he finds could change the world... Full review...

Weekend in Weighton by Terry Murphy

Eddie G (well, it's Eddie Greene, actually, but Eddie G sounds so much more street-wise, don't you think?) has a hundred percent record of solving the cases he takes on as a private investigator. That sounds very impressive until you find out that he's only just taken on his first case, but it's a mark of his determination to succeed. The first blip on the radar which suggests that all might not be well is finding the clap-cold body of his client on her living-room floor when it's not fifteen minutes since he spoke to her on the phone. Full review...

One Day by David Nicholls

I knew within the first ten pages that I was going to love One Day. It is the only book that has kept me up at night, distracted me throughout the day and woken me up early in the morning. I couldn't put it down, and didn't want to either. I have always found it difficult to settle on a favourite type of story, or even a specific genre that I like, but this novel made me realise that what I want in a book is realism. As Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley enjoyed their late night conversation in the opening moments of the book, Nicholls pulled me into his world. Full review...

The Pink Hotel by Anna Stothard

The phone call came when she was 17. Her mother had died; the mother who had just been a flimsy memory of a touch, an impression and a faded photograph. Not satisfied with her father and grandma's biased recollections of 'the slut', she steals her step-mother's credit card and catches a flight to the funeral in Los Angeles. Unfortunately she arrives too late for the funeral, but finding the pink hotel her mother owned, she walks in on the wake. Rooms full of drunken, drug-sodden eyes stare at her whilst she makes her way through the building to what must have been her mother's bedroom. It's then she decides, as her step-father lies, semi-consciousness, on the bed. She takes some of her mother's clothes, shoes and letters. Once she has a chance to read them, she realises they're cards and love letters from men who may be able to build her a picture of the woman who gave her life but not a lot else. Full review...

Island of Wings by Karin Altenberg

Rev Neil MacKenzie has been assigned to the Hebridian island of St Kilda. His mission is to bring the locals back to the Victorian idea of God and propriety. He and his pregnant wife Lizzie not only have to fight the elements but also centuries of superstition that have trickled into the islanders' Christian faith. Life is made harder for Neil by a secret guilt emanating from the death of a friend years ago. However, the going becomes harder still for Lizzie, isolated by an inability to speak the local language and the burgeoning fear engendered by Neil's behaviour and attitudes. Full review...

Painter of Silence by Georgina Harding

A young, anonymous, vagrant collapses on the steps of a hospital in Romania. He doesn't speak and remains a mystery to the staff that tries to treat his obvious symptoms but can't seem to reach the silent person beneath. However, Safta, a nurse, suggests that he may be deaf and produces drawing materials. Coincidentally, the man is able to draw beautifully, but this is no coincidence to Safta. There are reasons why she can't disclose it, but she knows this man. They grew up together in pre-war Romania, a whole world away when the country had a king, beautiful cities untouched by bombing and being able to read a foreign language wasn't punishable by imprisonment in work camps... or worse. Full review...

Master and God by Lindsey Davis

Imagine first century Rome as seen through the eyes of a wry Brummie with a fine sense of humour and a real talent for introducing you to characters so real you could easily see yourself having a drink with them after a hard week at the office. That is Lindsey Davis' gift, and while this book is a departure from her usual Falco novels, the trademark charm, piercing intelligence and ready wit are as abundant as ever. Full review...

The Book of Summers by Emylia Hall

When Beth receives a parcel from her estranged mother she realises she must finally face up to her past. The parcel contains a scrap book, full of photos from each summer when Beth was 10 until she was 16. As she turns the pages we learn of Beth's childhood, the separation of her parents and the summers she spends with her mother in Hungary. Full review...

Grimm's Fairy Tales: Rumplestiltskin by Saviour Pirotta and Cecilia Johansson

Rumpelstiltskin is one of the better known of the tales from the Brothers Grimm and a perennial favourite. The poor miller shows off in front of the king about the abilities of his beautiful daughter - she can apparently spin straw into gold. The king insists that the girl be sent to the palace and when she arrives tells her to get a load of straw spun into gold - or suffer the (fatal) consequences. The girl is saved by the appearance of a dwarf who works his magic in return for the girl's necklace; on the second night it's her ring she gives up and on the third it's the promise of her first-born child. Full review...

Grimm's Fairy Tales: Twelve Dancing Princesses by Saviour Pirotta and Cecilia Johansson

There was once a king who had twelve beautiful daughters. Frightened that they would sneak out and go dancing he locked them in a big bedroom at night, but each morning he would find their satin shoes danced to pieces. As he couldn't work out how they escaped he issued a proclamation to all the young men of the land. Any prince who worked out how they escaped could marry one of the daughters and would inherit the kingdom. But - if after three nights he hadn't discovered the secret, he would lose his head. Full review...

52FF by Marc Nash

Short Stories

52FF is a collection of short stories in the flash fiction format. If you're new to flash fiction, you should know there are various definitions but here, Marc Nash chooses a format of under 1,000 words. This gives him some leeway and so the pieces are in a wide variety of styles - some experimental - but all of them exploring a single central metaphor and all with a darkness about them which is sometimes explicit and sometimes only emerges after you've had time to think and digest. Full review...

The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue

If you are in the mood for a deliciously scandalous Victorian page-turner, look no further than Emma Donoghue's The Sealed Letter. Set in 1864, it's based on the real life story of secrets and scandal surrounding Helen Codrington's divorce from her older husband, the rather dull Vice Admiral Codrington. There's added spice and intrigue provided by the unwitting involvement in events of Emily 'Fido' Faithfull, an early mover in the rights of women movement and that good old standard, the Victorian spinster. Full review...

The Demon's Watch by Conrad Mason

We're the Demon's Watch, son. Best you don't think of us as the good folk. More like the dangerous folk.

Joseph Grubb lives in Fayt, a busy port between the Old and the New Worlds. In Fayt, humans, elves, trolls, ogres and fairies live together in relative peace. But it's not all harmony. The League of Light is threatening the port, wanting to force back into the Old World way of segregation and persecution of the fey folk. And there is suspicion of multiculturalims even in Fayt itself - Joseph is a half-goblin and an orphan. His goblin father was murdered for marrying a human woman and Joseph now lives and works at a tavern owned by an uncle who despises him and calls him Mongrel. Full review...

Hollow Pike by James Dawson

Lis London has troubles in her life. She's been badly bullied by girls at her old school. She has bad dreams about an unseen assailant trying to kill her. Moving to Hollow Pike to live with her older sister Sarah is meant to be a fresh start. Except as soon as Lis gets there, she seems to recognise the location of her recurring nightmare. Then there's a death... and Lis starts to wonder whether the rumours of witchcraft are more than just rumours. Will the new start she'd so looked forward to turn out to have a gruesome end? Full review...

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Having been diagnosed at age 12 with stage 4 thyroid cancer, Hazel was prepared to die. Then at age 14, a miracle treatment shrunk the tumours in her lungs...for the time being. Hazel could live for years, or she could die at any time, but her days are spent tethered to an oxygen tank and under constant surveillance and treatment to keep the cancer at bay. Hazel is now 16. With her life in a constant holding pattern, Hazel meets Augustus Waters at a cancer support group. Augustus is gorgeous, sharp-witted, in remission and completely attracted to Hazel. As their relationship blossoms and grows, Hazel finds she has to re-examine her attitude about life and death, illness and wellness and love. Their brief journey together leaves a lasting legacy behind that will change everything. Full review...

Where is Fred? by Edward Hardy and Ali Pye

Fred, the fluffy, white caterpillar loves hiding and playing games as he is very good at camouflaging himself amongst dandelions and sheep. It’s a bit dangerous when he tries to eat lush green leaves though as there is nowhere to hide. That’s normally OK but one day Gerald, the crow, happens to catch sight of him and is determined to eat him. Fred will not give up without a fight though and scarpers off down the High Street. When Gerald catches up, he is only able to see a smart looking lady wearing a fluffy necklace. She says that she has not seen Fred so he moves on until he meets a man with grey straggly hair and lovely fluffy white eyebrows. He also has not seen Fred so Gerald moves on to ask a little girl with a fluffy white hair band and an elderly man with a big white moustache. Of course, any eagle eyed child will soon spot where Fred is hiding in all of the pictures but luckily Gerald does not. Full review...

Our Little Secret and Other Stories by John E Flannery

Short Stories

It's over eighteen months since we first encountered John Flannery and his debut collection of shorts stories, Toby's Little Eden. A golf course near Manchester and the characters who populated it came sharply to life and we laughed and we smiled along with them. Things are different in Our little Secret and Other Stories as we encounter violent death, suicide, delusion and mental illness. It's a good read but it's certainly not a comfortable one. Full review...

I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen

The poor bear has lost his hat. He wants it back. As with all bears, he's a bit of a surly ol' thing. His pointy red hat is about the only thing that puts a smile on his face, and he just can't find it. The fox and frog don't know where it is, the rabbit is evasive, and the tortoise is more interested in climbing a rock. How will the bear ever find his hat? Poor bear. Full review...

A Walk Across The Sun by Corban Addison

In Chennai, India, 17 year old Ahalya and her 15 year old sister, Sita, watch as their family and entire world is swept away by the now infamous Christmas tsunami. In the aftermath, Ahalya knows that, if the sisters can get to their school in the city, they'll be safe. However, not everyone is to be trusted and their trip to safety turns into a drive towards a darker danger as the girls are kidnapped and sold to a trafficking network. Full review...

The Fever Tree by Jennifer McVeigh

Frances Irvine enjoys a privileged lifestyle in Victorian England: a beautiful house, servants, rich gowns and all the trappings her position as the daughter of an industrialist demands. However, Frances' lifestyle proves to be a precarious house of cards balanced on her father's investment in the Northern Pacific Railroad in North America. When the Canadian terrain proves too much for the railroad construction to continue, her father's shares are rendered worthless. As this occurs just before his sudden death, Frances is forced to make a choice as her finery and home are auctioned off. Does she throw herself on the mercy of her lower class relatives or commit herself to a loveless marriage to distant cousin Dr Edwin Matthews? Full review...

Croissants and Jam by Lynda Renham

Even before Annabel Lewis boards the flight to Rome that will take her to her wedding, she is having doubts. After all, she has only known Simon for seven months and he does tend to be quite controlling and not much fun. So, when a series of unfortunate events causes her to miss her connecting flight, although she is reluctant to admit it, it is a welcome relief. She does still intend to go ahead with the wedding though, so she needs to find away to get across France and into Italy. As there are no flight options, she ends up agreeing to share a car with the man who inadvertently made her miss her flight. As a fashion conscious stylish woman though, she is more than a little perturbed when the car in question ends up as a clapped out old Citroen (affectionately known as the lemon) and when Christian, her travelling companion, stops at a French supermarket so that she can get some clothes to wear. Bels is much more used to designer labels than cheap and functional clothing. Full review...

Every Contact Leaves a Trace by Elanor Dymott

We learn from the prologue that the narrator, Oxford educated lawyer, Alex's wife has been murdered. We also know that Alex knew little of his wife, Rachel's past, particularly of the time that they spent together at Worcester College. This is critical in understanding who may have killed her, and why. What follows is Alex learning about this hidden past. Every Contact Leaves a Trace is partly a thriller and partly a whodunnit although the structure adopted by Elanor Dymott is somewhat unusual. Full review...

When You're Falling, Dive by Mark Matousek

Lifestyle

You never quite know what life is going to serve up next and even the happiest moments or saddest news can be turned around in a heartbeat. For the author Mark Matousek his down was learning he was HIV positive, while his up, a while later, was being informed that it wasn’t quite the death sentence originally imposed and that he had quite a bit of life left. In this book he looks at how you can find the good in the bad or, to quote the subtitle, the keys to 'Using your pain to transform your life'. The art of survival is an intriguing one. The same scale of trauma affects different people in different ways and this book seeks to draw on the wisdom of those who triumph in the face of adversity to share what they know and inspire the same behaviour in us. Full review...

The Voice of the Spirits: A Commandant de Palma Investigation by Xavier-Marie Bonnot and Justin Phipps (translator)

In 1936 explorer Robert Ballancourt and his guide Kaingara visit a tribe of head hunters in Papua New Guinea. Ballancourt, seeking artefacts to sell on to museums, is drawn to the highly decorated skulls venerated by the tribe as they hold the spirits of dead ancestors and conquered enemies. Full review...

The Traitor's Gate: The Nowhere Chronicles Book 2 by Sarah Silverwood

Spirituality and Religion

There is a storm coming, a storm of rage and fury and chaos. The friendship between Fin, Christopher and Joe, which held strong through their last adventure, is breaking down as Joe, now a holder of two of the five stories that hold the worlds together, finds his mind being warped by the stories and their uncontrollable power. The Knights of Nowhere, inter-world peacekeepers with the ability to pass between the worlds of Somewhere and Nowhere, barely have time to initiate a few new members to their dwindling force before they find themselves pushed to their limits, simultaneously dealing with something that is attacking people at random and causing madness, and the implications of the Prophecy, which heralds a war to end all wars. All his life people have called Fin special, for some reason unknown to him, and perhaps unknown to them. However, when Fin finally learns the true nature of his parents, his very existence is shaken to the core, and he suddenly finds himself questioning everything he previously believed in. Full review...

Mission Accomplished: SOE and Italy 1943 - 1945 by David Stafford

History

The work of the secret services is always going to be shady, dark and murky. Books like David Stafford's Mission Accomplished: SOE and Italy 1943 - 1945 make an effort to shine a light on the shadows and bring the facts into view. Stafford's admirably honest introduction claims that he has 'done [his] best to ensure that what appears here is accurate and truthful', but reminds his reader that 'history is indeed intrinsically messy'; even more so when his sources were writing with secrecy in mind. Full review...

Lily, Duchess of Marlborough (1854 - 1909): A Portrait with Husbands by Sally E Svenson

Biography

The woman we will eventually come to know as Lily, Duchess of Marlborough was born Eliza Warren Price in Troy, New York in 1854. Her father hailed from Bluegrass Country in Kentucky and met his future wife (who was from Troy) in Washington DC. The family was comfortably off (but not rich) and became part of the Troy's social elite when they returned to live there. Lily (as she became known) had an unremarkable childhood and youth but became wealthy though her marriage to Louis Hammersley, who died when she was twenty eight and left her a wealthy widow. His will would leave her legal problems which would simmer all her life and even after her own death twenty one years and two more husbands later. Full review...

The Hidden Geometry of Life by Karen French

The Hidden Geometry of Life aims to explore the esoteric and often mystical meanings contained in shapes and patterns [that] represent ideas and distil the essence of reality. This mystical angle was a little bit of a unpleasant surprise for this reader. I should have had a better look at Karen French's Amazon pages and previous work, but I was attracted by an exciting-sounding title, attractive cover and and references to author's art. Full review...

Chomp by Carl Hiaasen

Wahoo isn't a cool kid. He can't play sports, and he doesn't have the latest gear. But no one at school bullies him because Alice, the twelve-foot alligator who lives in his dad's zoo, accidentally bit his thumb off one day. The other kids reckon if he can walk away from an ordeal like that, then he must have something going for him. And by the time this story is over, he'll be up to his ears in street-cred. Full review...

The J M Barrie Ladies' Swimming Society by Barbara J Zitwer

When Joey Rubin arrives at Stanway House to oversee its renovations she is looking forward to the challenge of preserving its ties with one of her favourite authors, J M Barrie. It also means a change of scenery from her somewhat lonely life in New York as well as the opportunity for catching up with Sarah, her oldest and closest friend. However, things don't go quite according to plan as Sarah has changed out of all recognition and everything Joey says or does seem to cause offence. Full review...

Titanic: An Edwardian Girl's Diary 1912 by Ellen Emerson White

Children's Non-Fiction

Margaret Anne Brady had been at the orphanage for several years when one of the Sisters told her that she'd been asked to accompany a lady who was crossing the Atlantic. This was a dream come true for Margaret as he only relative - her brother William - lived in Boston and he'd been trying to save up her fare so that she could join him in the USA. Mrs Carstairs is wealthy and she and Margaret will be travelling First Class - on the maiden voyage of RMS Titanic. All Margaret's dreams seemed to be coming true at once. Full review...

Feel Happy Now by Michael Neill

Lifestyle

Feel Happy Now is a dummy’s guide to happiness written by an NLP expert who Paul McKenna has dubbed 'The finest success coach in the world'. What makes this book stand out, perhaps, is the way the complexity is done away with, and everything is broken down to an accessible level without being too patronizing. Its expert concepts presented in layman speak and the result is a highly readable and accessible book regardless of your belief in the subject. Full review...

How to Make Money: Smart Ways to Make Millions by Christopher Edge

Children's Non-Fiction

Most kids seem to feel that they could do with more money and short of the parentals coughing up the dosh they have to find some way of earning it for themselves. Christopher Edge has some ideas which might appeal in How to Make Money, with its particularly eye-catching sub-title Smart Ways to make MILLIONS. Now I rather thought (hoped) that the last bit might be hyperbole, fearing that the country might be over-run by a flood of teenage millionaires, but read on... Full review...

A Concise History of Russia by Paul Bushkovitch

History

Russia's recent history, especially since the end of the Cold War, has been so full of new developments that there is probably little if any limit to the number of fresh histories the market can absorb. This most recent, from a Professor of History at Yale University, take a little over 450 pages to tell the story from the earliest days of Kiev Rus, the territory which was to become the ancestor of the present nation state around the 10th century AD, to Vladimir Putin's assumption of office as President in 2000. Full review...

The Expats by Chris Pavone

Kate and Dexter Moore move to Luxembourg, along with their two young sons; a world away from their native Washington DC. The incentive is Dexter's great new job which will mean an expat lifestyle for a year or two, but good money and the chance to explore Europe. In the process Kate will be turning her back on more than Dexter realises. Up till their move to Luxembourg, Kate has led a secret double life as a CIA operative. As Kate comes to terms with the boredom of being a full-time housewife in an alien culture, they meet Bill and Julie, also expat Americans. They soon become friends, but Kate has her suspicions and discovers that the past is never far away. Full review...

Virals by Kathy Reichs

Tory Brennan is just a normal girl with an extraordinary aunt - the renowned forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan. Desperate to follow in her relative's footsteps, she seems to have little opportunity to do so living in South Carolina - but that quickly changes when she and her friends stumble on a decades old corpse. Desperately trying to find out what happened to the dead person, and cure a sick dog they've liberated from a laboratory on their island home, the quartet's lives have suddenly become rather complicated. And that's before a mysterious virus hits them all and leaves them with some very strange side effects... Full review...

Silver: Return to Treasure Island by Andrew Motion

Even if you have not read Robert Louis Stevenson's 1883 classic Treasure Island, or you have read it a long time ago, the chances are that you will be broadly familiar with the story and in particular some of the rich characters he created because they have entered into the culture of our image of pirates. Before Johnny Depp convinced us that pirates looked like Keith Richards, it was the terrifying image of Long John Silver and his parrot, squawking 'pieces of eight', double dealing his way to buried treasure and the innocence of young narrator Jim Hawkins that conjures up what we think of in terms of pirate adventure. But Stevenson left some tantalizing threads to his tale, not least the fact that Silver made off with only the majority of the treasure and left the remaining silver behind together with three marooned pirates to fend for themselves. Setting the story 40 years after these events, Andrew Motion picks up the tale and has the offspring of Hawkins, in the form of his son also called Jim and Long John Silver's daughter Natty returning to collect the remaining bounty. Of course, it's never going to be that simple. Full review...

Bunheads by Sophie Flack

Nineteen-year old Hannah Ward, a dancer with the Manhattan Ballet Company, has devoted her entire life to dance. She works hard, watches her weight like a hawk, and navigates the complicated maze of relationships with the rest of the company who, in many cases, are both friends and rivals. But then she meets musician Jacob, and she realises just what she's missed out on while growing up like this. Will she do the unthinkable and give up her career, or pass up the chance of love in the hope of gaining success in the ballet world. Full review...

The Flappers: Vixen by Jillian Larkin