Book Reviews From The Bookbag

Sarah and Alexander meet at a time when both are looking for a fresh start following the demise of their previous relationships. She is vulnerable, he is needy, and together they can support each other. Sarah is quickly employed as a live in housekeeper in his sprawling home, and moves south from Manchester to join Alex and his young son Jamie. Life in a small village takes some getting used to, especially given what has happened. Genevieve, Alex’s popular, pretty and wealthy wife, has disappeared. Some say of her own accord, others are sure something sinister has happened to her, but in any event she has not been heard from since she left town and the locals are suspicious of Sarah’s motives. In their eyes she is moving in on the man who rightly belongs to the town sweetheart, taking over the role of mothering Jamie, and generally weaselling her way in to become the lady of the house before Genevieve’s bed is even cold. Protestations that she is simply an employee, not a lover, fall on deaf ears, and with Genevieve’s family being the most prominent in town, it’s hard to get anyone to be on Sarah and Alexander’s side when accusations start flying. Full review...

City of Swords (Stravaganza) by Mary Hoffman

Laura's unhappiness is hidden away where no-one can see it. But she does have a release. She knows cutting herself is wrong, but the relief it provides is addictive. But Laura's secretive life is upturned by the discovery that she is a Stravagante - a person who can travel through time and space. Transported to sixteenth century Fortezza, she finds herself in the middle of a bitter battle for succession to the city's dukedom. The Stravaganti are supporting Princess Lucia but Laura also meets Ludo, the pretender, and is immediately drawn to him. And at home in Barnsbury, Laura's life is changing too, now she is a part of the time-travelling community. Full review...

A Stallion Called Midnight by Victoria Eveleigh

Jenny lived on Lundy with her father who was a farmer on the south of the island. It was an idyllic life: everyone knew and helped everyone else and it was rather like living in a big extended family. This was important to Jenny as her mother had died in a cliff fall when she was just five. Jenny had a secret though. Wild ponies roamed freely on the island and the stallion, Midnight, was considered to be the wildest of them all, but he liked and trusted Jenny and allowed her to ride on his back. Midnight has a dreadful reputation and Jenny dreaded what would happen when she had to leave the island and go away to school. Full review...

Turf by John Lucas

Fifteen-year-old Jay is a member of the Blake Street Boyz gang. He and his best friend Milk spend their time selling drugs, marking their turf and dreaming about graduating from the gang's Youngers to its Olders. And in a world where something as insignificant as the choice of a chocolate bar can mean the difference between respect and contempt, it's not surprising that Jay treads very carefully. Every choice, no matter how small, is a statement. So when he is finally given the chance of joining the Olders, he can't afford to mess it up. But the task is murder. And suddenly there are no choices left... Full review...

Be a Happier Parent with NLP by Judy Bartkowiak

Home and Family

Babies, unlike new cars, don't come with a manual. There are always plenty of people, each with their own unique advice, happy to stick an oar in on whatever parenting issues you're facing, but I have often found as a mum that I'm left confused and floundering, wondering which piece of conflicting advice is least likely to permanently damage my little ones! I've watched Supernanny. I've read about how to have a contented baby. So seeing this book, with such a nice, positive title, I had to give it a go! Full review...

Dragon of Life Book 2 Minor Gods by Mark Devine

Luke and Martha have been apart for some time as Luke's been in Valparaiso where one of the hotels which he sold to a consortium of employees has been having problems. When they meet again it's in Seattle, but they're on their way to the Far East in the hope of starting a new life free from the attentions of the FBI which they so tired of in the first book in the series. They had perhaps hoped that life would be simpler - but this is Luke Whittaker we're talking about and 'simple' is just never going to happen. Full review...

The P K Pinkerton Mysteries: The Case of the Good-looking Corpse by Caroline Lawrence

Spirituality and Religion

PK is a skilled tracker with a keen eye and an excellent sense of smell. But he does suffer from a few disadvantages. Firstly, his Thorn: he has trouble understanding the expressions he sees on people's faces. Secondly, his Foible: he gets what his foster-mother used to call the Mulligrubs, going into a trance and rocking back and forth when things upset him. Thirdly, his Secret, which he is at great pains to conceal from everyone. And lastly, his Eccentricity: he loves to collect things. In this, the second book in the series, he begins to collect different kinds of tobacco. Full review...

Take the Plunge by Timothy Radcliffe

There appears to be more Christian literature around than ever before at the moment. I don't know whether this is a response to Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion, which has meant that Christian writers and publishers have increased their outputs, or because I'm noticing it more. Timothy Radcliffe's Take the Plunge is taking a more or less opposite view to that of Dawkins, exploring the importance of baptism in everyday life and arguing that there is no aspect of life that cannot be touched if you are baptised and therefore living with faith. Full review...

Moon Crossing by Cathy Farr

Fantasy

Wil Calloway returns to Saran in the most unwelcome of circumstances. Tally, Lady Elanor's young sister, has been abducted by the evil Lord Rexmoore in an attempt to find the whereabouts of the Legacy. Tally doesn't know it, but that won't save her. So Wil has come to rejoin his Fellmen friends and mount a rescue mission. But it's not going to be easy. Gisella and Mortimer aren't talking. Seth is as accident-prone as ever. And Leon and his father are still deeply suspicious about Wil's part in Giles's death during the last Moon Chase. Full review...

The Village by Nikita Lalwani

A BBC film crew is sent to India to make a documentary about an Indian prison with a difference. There are no walls, the prisoners hold down jobs and their families live with them as a condition of acceptance. In fact, to all intents and purposes, it seems like an ordinary village which is all the more unusual when you consider that they all share the same crime category; all the prisoners have been convicted of murder. The programme makers (20-something British-born, Indian director Ray, ruthless producer Serena and ex-convict-turned-presenter, Nathan) are expecting an eventful shoot and, in return, the inhabitants are expecting a film unit exhibiting the standards for which the BBC has become world famous. Both parties will be sorely disappointed. Full review...

Strong Winds Trilogy: Ghosting Home by Julia Jones and Claudia Myatt

We first met Donny Walker in The Salt-Stained Book as he and his mother Skye left their home on the outskirts of Leeds and headed off to the Suffolk coast. When his deaf-and-mute mother had a breakdown fourteen-year-old Donny was taken into care and the only good thing in his life was that he was introduced (almost accidentally) to sailing. He was a natural. The worst parts of his life were that he wasn't allowed to see his mother and no matter what he did he seemed to keep running foul of Social Services and a certain police inspector. Something was going on, but could Donny and his new friends work out what it was? And would his great Aunt, known as Golden Dragon, be able to help him when she arrived in her boat Strong Winds? Full review...

Defeating Hitler: Whitehall's Top Secret Report on Why Hitler Lost the War by Paul Winter

History

Just how and why did Hitler lose the Second World War? The message in Fatherland by Robert Harris is that he spent too much effort killing Jews to concentrate on anything else. Remarkably, this look at more explicit reasons for the end of the Third Reich barely mentions the Holocaust. What we have is Some Weaknesses in German Strategy and Organisation 1933-1945 - a document drawn up by what would now have to be called Whitehall Mandarins, written during a year of war and a year of peace, that itemises for those with enough security clearance just what Hitler's chain of command was, and what his thinking was for each theatre of the War. It was never Top Secret, but was classified for thirty years and has spent about as long waiting for this hardback version. Full review...

Eden Moore - Wings to the Kingdom by Cherie Priest

Dead soldiers from the American Civil War have been seen wandering around the Chickamauga National Park in Georgia, site of a notable Confederate victory in 1863. They don't speak, just point forlornly as locals turn and flee in the opposite direction. Eden Moore would rather ignore it completely, especially as show business psychics Tripp and Diana Marshall have already started investigating, complete with camera crew and full entourage. However, eventually her curiosity (and her friends' unstinting nagging) gets to her and she agrees to trespass after dark, quickly discovering that the gesticulating dead are a minor problem compared to the reason they've awoken. Full review...

The Blind Goddess by Anne Holt

Here is a rum do - a Nordic crime, and the launch episode of a currently successful series, that has sat untranslated for almost twenty years? What's more, when you start reading you may think the main character the author would choose to use as her principal heroine in future books should not be Hanne Wilhemsen, the too-good-to-be-true lipstick lesbian policewoman, but commercial lawyer Karen Borg, who is thrust into a world of criminal proceedings when a man who has clearly murdered another demands her and only her as the outlet of his truth. Is this a wise move from him - and just what is the game afoot, and who are the other main players? Full review...

Living, Thinking, Looking by Siri Hustvedt

Lifestyle

'Living, Thinking, Looking' is a collection of essays by Siri Hustvedt which, she claims, are linked by an abiding curiosity about what it means to be human. In these essays she examines who we are and how we got that way. Full review...

The Jelly That Wouldn't Wobble by Angela Mitchell and Sarah Horne

Everyone knows that jellies are supposed to wobble but what will happen when a particularly stubborn jelly refuses to do any such thing? To make matters worse, this is the jelly that has been specially prepared for Princess Lolly's 89th birthday party. As she is the sort of princess who likes to get her own way this poses a bit of a problem. So desperate is she for her jelly to wobble though, she offers a reward of a thousand and one chocolate sovereigns for anyone who can come up with a solution. Lots of suggestions are made including prodding it with a walking stick and scaring it. However, it is the youngest guest at the party who eventually comes up with an idea that works but I'll leave you to guess what it might be! Full review...

Hilary and David by Laura Solomon

Hilary, a single mother of two troublesome boys meets David, an elderly writer with problems of his own, through Facebook. It’s an odd beginning – they have a mutual friend, so one adds the other, and then they start chatting quite spontaneously – but sets the scene well for their atypical relationship. Hilary’s in New Zealand, David’s in London. They are many decades apart in age but are clearly both quite lonely and looking for someone to talk to. So, with the vague anonymity of social networking on their side, they reach out to one another. Full review...

The New Republic by Lionel Shriver

Lionel Shriver adds a beard-shaped appendage to Southern Portugal in The New Republic and immediately has it fighting for independence, taking a wry look at terrorism as well as the ethics of the international press corps. After a series of international terrorism acts, the Os Soldados Ousados De Barba, or the SOB for short, have gone quiet at the same time as charismatic journalist Barrington Sadler has vanished without a trace. Insecure former lawyer Edgar Kellogg steps into Barrington's post: Kellogg on the hunt for serial killers, as it were. Full review...

Wentworth Hall by Abby Grahame

The year is 1912, and the Darlingtons of Wentworth Hall are a rich family who are going through some problems at the moment. The financial ones are bad enough, as are the secrets kept by various family members and servants, but it's the Sussex Courier column which seems to be based on the household which is the final straw. Will all of their mysteries finally be exposed? Who on earth could be responsible for writing it? The groom who wants to be more than a servant to the family's beautiful elder daughter, the French nanny with a secret, the new visitors who have riches of their own, or someone else entirely? Full review...

The Black Path: A Rebeka Martinsson Investigation by Asa Larsson and Marlaine Delargy (translator)

In the far north of Sweden the frozen body of a woman was found in a fishing hut out on the lake. She’d been tortured but the injury which killed her was clumsy, even amateur. Identification wasn’t easy but it was faily quick and Anna-Maria Mella and her colleagues hoped for a speedy end to the case. Then it all turned complicated when the body of a six-month-old suicide had to be exhumed and Mella and Rebecka Martinsson were drawn further and further into an investigation of corruption at one the country’s major mining companies. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, the mining company had enemies of its own - ones who would stop at nothing. Full review...

Billie Templar's War by Ellie Irving

Billie Templar’s dad is abroad, fighting for Queen and country. She wants him home – partly because they need to defend their record of winning the three-legged race at the school carnival, but more importantly because his best friend has just been seriously hurt and she’s worried it could be him next. She hits on a foolproof idea to bring him back – she just needs to ask the Queen herself to give him permission to come back. But getting to see the Queen is harder than she thinks… so she hatches a plan to stage a military tattoo to get the Queen to her village during the Jubilee celebrations. With an allergy-prone boy, a girl who has no friends, a bunch of old age pensioners and a brass band who only know one song trying to help, it couldn’t possibly work – could it? Full review...

Breathless by Anne Sward

There are those who say that, on an individual level, books are like Marmite: you love it or you hate it. Oh, if only it were so easy.

Breathless is one of those that I neither love nor hate, and yet am not totally uninspired by either. Full review...

A Dog Called Homeless by Sarah Lean

It's a year since Cally's mum was killed in an accident, but the family is still barely coping with the loss. Her brother shuts himself in his room and plays on the computer for hours. Her father has packed away all her mother's belongings and cannot stand to hear her name mentioned, and Cally herself has become difficult and disruptive at school. It feels to her that when the others refuse to mention her mother, it makes her disappear even more. The whole family is getting more and more trapped in a spiral of misery and silence, isolated from each other and losing contact with their former friends and colleagues. Full review...

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

Years ago, Taylor Edwards and her family would visit their old lake house by the beach for the summer. It was an idyllic setting, she had close friends there, and there was lots of fun to be had. Then she had a falling-out with best friend Lucy and an awkward moment with the boy she liked, Henry… and she hasn’t been back there in five years. This summer, she’s finally going back – because her dad is dying of cancer and wants to spend his last few months in a place he loves, surrounded by his family. Will she take the second chance to rebuild her relationships with the people around her? Full review...

Until the Darkness Comes by Kevin Brooks

Private detective John Craine has returned to Hale Island, the scene of many childhood holidays, to get away from a painful past, his guilt, and his loss. And there's another reason - the possibility that he has a half-sister he's never met. But within hours of arriving, John discovers the body of a dead girl concealed in a pill box on the beach. He calls 999 but when the police arrive the body has disappeared and the officers clearly see him as a drunken fool prone to hysterical imaginings. Full review...

Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

Historical Fiction

Thomas Cromwell is now very far from his humble beginnings. He is Henry VIII's chief minister. Katherine of Aragorn is no longer Queen. The Princess Mary has been disinherited. Anne Boleyn wears the crown and has produced a daughter, Elizabeth. But there is no sign of a son and Henry is beginning to regret his secession from Rome. We pick up from Wolf Hall during the royal progress of 1535 and from there, we chart the destruction of the new Queen. Full review...

The Snuggle Sandwich by Malachy Doyle and Gwen Millward

The day starts very peacefully as Annie wakes in her own bed and listens to the silence. She decides that it's the perfect time to creep into her parents' bed:

They're a cosy snuggle sandwich.
She's the jam and they're the bread! Full review...

A Humble Companion by Laurie Graham

Historical Fiction

George III is unfortunately best-known for his mental instability which is a pity, because he was, in many ways, a forward thinker. One of his more-enlightened acts with regard to his own children was to appoint 'a humble companion' for his twelfth child and fifth daughter, Princess Sophia, presumably so that her life should not be limited to the cloistered residences which the Royal Family inhabited. 'Humble' is, of course a relative term and Nellie Welche was actually the daughter of a high-ranking steward in the household of the Prince of Wales, but with only two years difference in age they became life-long friends. Full review...

Whatever It Takes by Adele Parks

Whatever it takes means giving up your exciting, settled life in the capital to move to Dartmouth, if that’s what your husband wants.

Whatever it takes means being a constant shoulder to cry on for your best friend even when that nagging voice at the back of your mind is asking whether this is really a two-way friendship.

Whatever it takes means prioritising the needs of others – your daughters, your in laws – ahead of your own needs. All day, every day.

Whatever it takes means maintaining a calm, put-together demeanour in the face of event crashers, party trashers, unfaithful spouses and life-changing secrets.

Whatever it takes means keeping up appearances, no matter what. But if a relationship’s a sham, it’s only a matter of time before the façade starts to crack and splinter. Full review...

One Blood by Graeme Kent

Crime (Historical)

Sergeant Kella is being sent from his native Malaita to another part of the Solomon Islands to investigate logging sabotage there. In the same district, his friend Sister Conchita has assumed reluctant control of a mission with three elderly sisters living there who are rather set in their ways, to say the least. Then a body turns up in the church… is this related to the sabotage? And how does the wartime history of John F Kennedy, vying to become the new President of the USA, fit in to all of this? Full review...

Gold by Chris Cleave

Novels that feature sport often put people off reading them, particularly if you are not au fait with the sport in question. However, while the characters in Chris Cleave's Gold are athletes, specifically cyclists aiming for the 2012 London Olympics, it's more about the characters themselves. In fact, if you are looking for a book to read to avoid the brouhaha of the Olympics this year but still want to get a taste of what all the fuss is about, this would be a superb choice. Full review...

Joy by Jonathan Lee

Very stylish, observant and oh so spiky, this is an incredible, often uncomfortable novel that you just can't put down. Full review...

Turn Back Time by Pamela Fudge

Charles and Tessa have managed reasonably well since their divorce. Both adore their daughter, Megan and would agree that the other is a good parent - that is if they ever had any contact with each other other than the occasional text or email. Just before Megan is due to go to university Charles sends a message to Tessa via Megan. He has something which he needs to discuss with her and thinks that they should meet. Full review...

School for Patriots by Martin Kohan

There's a fair chance that if you pick up a South American novel, it's going to score quite highly on the 'seriously odd' scale. Martín Kohan's School for Patriots, translated by Nick Caistor, doesn't disappoint in that regard. The main character, María Teresa, is an innocent, shy teaching assistant at a Buenos Aires school that is run on military academy style discipline. The running of the school is itself something of a surprise but that's not what makes this strange. What ramps up the 'odd' factor here is that she spends vast amounts of this short novel hiding in the boys' loo, ostensibly to catch young boys smoking despite there being no evidence that any student has contravened this rule in this location. One might say she has nothing to go on. Then again, best not in the circumstances. Full review...

Portrait of a Spy by Daniel Silva

Gabriel Allon and his wife, Chiara, decide to rent a nice little Cornish cottage; the perfect hideaway in which to renovate art. A rosy domestic picture that, as any spy thriller aficionado will tell you isn't going to last long. It lasts, in fact, as long as it takes some middle-eastern terrorists to bomb Paris and Copenhagen and then move on to London's Covent Garden. Gabriel and Chiara are there, about to have lunch, but Gabriel is unable to concentrate on the menu and just let things happen. Mr and Mrs Allon end up being dragged back into the day job as they and their multi-national colleagues brandish a spectrum of experience and talent in order to take on a rogue Yemeni cleric who, embarrassingly enough, had been supported by the Americans. Full review...

The Blue Hour by Alonso Cueto and Frank Wynne (translator)

Adrian Ormache, middle class Peruvian lawyer, has a beautiful wife, two daughters of the sort to make any parent proud and a comfortable lifestyle. His parents divorced when he was small so, as he lived with his mother, he has fragmented memories of a gruff, distant dad. Despite his father's aloof, dictatorial manner, Adrian has always comforted himself with the fact he played a useful role as a land-bound naval officer, fighting Senderista terrorists for the good of Peru. After the death of his mother everything changes. Adrian finds documents that lead him away from his beliefs, towards a truth that will shatter more than his father's image. Full review...

Dragon of Life Book 1: Raining Truth by Mark Devine

When we first encounter Luke Whitaker he is - he tells us - a disembodied spirit placed in this part of the heavenly kingdom so that he can remember his life and emotions exactly as they were lived. I don't know about you, but I'd find that rather unpleasant and decidedly embarrassing. Luke Whitaker recognises that there are parts of his life which he'd rather remove from the record, but acknowledges that he can't. We join him in 1967 in Seattle and he's on his way to Honolulu. When he sets off he doesn't realise quite how momentous the trip is going to be. Full review...

Bed of Nails by Antonin Varenne and Sian Reynolds (translator)

When you're a policeman in Paris and your involvement in office politics takes a turn for the worse, you could end up in charge of suicides. That would make it your job to cope with all the jumpers, the pill-takers, the apparent suicide with two types of bullet through his head - even the naked men running into the flow of traffic around the ring-road. You might not get the case of the American junkie who dies performing a pierced-man act in a seedy club. No, looking into that is that man's closest friend, John, fresh from living in the French wilds as an outdoorsman. But in a Paris where cause of death can be so bizarre, a reason for death can have very far-reaching consequences... Full review...

Chickens Can't See in the Dark by Kristyna Litten

When a little chick called Pippa hears her teacher, Mr Benedict, say:

As sure as eggs is eggs, chickens can't see in the dark.

she is extremely disappointed. She thinks that not being able to see in the dark is a terrible thing and desperately wants to prove her teacher wrong. There are a number of characters who might be able to help such as the wise Mr Owl or Miss Featherbrain who runs the library. The only problem is that they all laugh at Pippa and reinforces the notion that chickens can't see in the dark. Full review...

Reaper by Jon Grahame

Fantasy

Ex-cop Jim Reaper gave up on living after his fourteen-year-old daughter was raped and committed suicide. To make matters worse, her attacker is let out of jail after serving only three years. Reaper comes up with a plan to end him, and to end his own miserable life in one move. Only the world has other plans with him. Full review...

All Fall Down by Sally Nicholls

It’s the summer of 1349. Isabel lives her young life as a villein, tied to the land which the family rents from the Lord of the small village of Ingleform in Yorkshire. Leaving is not an option. Life as a villein is hard, but nothing has prepared Isabel for the all-consuming Black Death decimating everything in its path as it sweeps across Europe. But when the plague runs riot across all of Britain, finally reaching her town, life there is devastaed. It seems the world will end in a wave of fear, pestilence and horror. Full review...

That Summer at Hill Farm by Miranda France

If you were to pass Hill Farm you would think it the perfect country idyll with lambs in the fields, children playing and the farmhouse nestled in the folds of the hills. The truth though is different. Farmer Hayes loves the land, but he's no farmer. His wife is neglected and it's not that long since Isabel miscarried her fourth child. She loves her children but she's not a particularly good housewife - or wife. She and Hayes were rather bounced into marriage by her aging and doting parents. Now she's trapped in a house with death-watch beetle and a husband who is struggling to keep the farm going. Full review...

Grandma Bendy by Izy Penguin

Grandma Bendy is definitely not like other grannies:

She is incredibly bendy.
She had twisty, twizzly arms
and super, stretchy legs. Full review...

Mortal Chaos: Deep Oblivion by Matt Dickinson

Based on the concept that something as small as the beating of a butterfly's wings can set in motion an intricate series of interconnected events, involving people around the globe, Deep Oblivion narrates a day in the life of a security guard, a homeless girl, a fireworks expert, a cruise ship captain, a monk, a missionary, a brutal military commander, and a couple of professional thieves, all of whom are somehow linked. Those who are familiar with the series know that it ends with a massive pay-off, and you will not be disappointed by the chaos and destruction of the conclusion. Many characters die, and even among those who survive very few are left unchanged. Full review...

I Still Dream About You by Fannie Flagg

At the age of 60, Maggie Fortenbury's glory days seem to have passed her by. An ex-Miss Alabama, she headed for the fame she dreamt of in 'the Big Apple' and ended, instead, making disastrous life choices that took her along a different route. However she had made one good decision: to work for the diminutive Hazel Whisenkott, midget and founder of Red Mountain Realty. Now, as Hazel is dead, and despite her friendship with her colleagues (obese, optimistic Brenda and moaning Ethel), suicide seems the next logical step. It has to be done correctly as Maggie comes from an era when you wouldn't want to let anyone down or any commitment unfulfilled. Therefore picking her final day becomes increasingly difficult when other things get in the way, including a troupe of Whirling Dervishes. Full review...

Katy's Pony Surprise by Victoria Eveleigh

We've been with Katy Squires for a few years now. We first met her in Katy's Wild Foal when she discovered a new-born foal on snowy Exmoor. Co-incidentally it was Katy's birthday and the foal would be Trifle. It's not difficult to guess how things went in Katy's Champion Pony, but it was great to see Trifle and Katy growing and maturing together. We've now come to the final part of this lovely trilogy and it's another that's going to be loved by the pony-mad tween girl. Even if you're not keen on horses and ponies it's still going to be a good read. Full review...

Fu-Manchu - The Hand of Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer

Historical Fiction

Nayland Smith has summoned the loyal Dr Petrie back from Egypt to the familiar setting of London. The streets of the capital have seen much terror in the early 20th century, but with Fu-Manchu dead, surely the worst is over? Not so… for the agency of the Si-Fan, the doctor's masters, still lurk. Can Smith and Petrie put an end to their terror once and for all? Full review...

Indelible Ink by Fiona McGregor