The Bookbag
Hello from The Bookbag, a book review site, featuring books from all the many walks of literary life - fiction, biography, crime, 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 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 author interviews, and all sorts of top tens - all of which you can find on our features page. If you're stuck for something to read, check out the recommendations page.
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Behind God's Back (Ariel Kafka Series) by Harri Nykanen and Kristian London (translator)
Ariel Kafka, as the only Jewish detective in Helsinki's violent crime unit, has special insight into the Jewish Community. It goes without saying but it also provides Ari with a steady flow of cases. Therefore when a local company director and Jewish congregation member is murdered, Ariel is first choice of investigator. Unfortunately the victim happens to be the man who could have become Ariel's father-in-law a couple of decades before but Ari feels enough removed by time not to disqualify himself from the case. Gradually as the web of clues is carefully teased out, more worrying connections are discovered. The Mossad may be involved but then so may Ari's brother Eli. Full review...
Jam and Roses: The Lives and Loves of 1920s Factory Girls by Mary Gibson
The year is 1923 and 'jam-girl' Millie Colman is eagerly awaiting the arrival of a letter inviting her family to go 'hopping' in Kent. The annual trip provides desperately needed respite from the oppressive atmosphere at home, as well as a much-needed dose of fresh air and open space. For Millie, the invitation symbolises escape; albeit for only a few precious weeks of the year. Life in the Colman household is uncomfortable, to say the least. Millie and her two sisters bicker constantly and the whole family live under the shadow of a drunken father who is prone to violent rages. Unfortunately for Millie, this year's hopping trip is anything but an escape, when she makes a foolish decision which will have dire repercussions for the whole family. Full review...
The Pet Person by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross
Children's stories often turn a familiar idea on its head. In this story it is that of pets, for the main characters in the story are a family of dogs, and one of them would very much like his own pet person! Will Rex succeed in persuading his parents to get him a person? And if so, will it be everything he ever dreamed of? Full review...
Frog in Love by Max Velthuijs
Frog has been feeling a little strange. He finds himself wanting to laugh and cry at the same time, and his heart is beating strangely. Pig declares that Frog must have a cold, but Hare suggests that perhaps Frog is in love. But who can Frog possibly be in love with? Full review...
Enter the Saint by Leslie Charteris and John Telfer (narrator)
When you think of thrillers written by a man in his early twenties there's a temptation to believe that the books might not be, well, top drawer, but that would be a mistake. The first of The Saint novels was published in 1928 when Leslie Charteris was just twenty one and this collection of stories is dated 1930. You might expect the rambunctious adventurer we meet, but not the subtleties of the slightly world-weary man of the world, all-knowing about the evils to which men (and women) can sink, but they're all there. Admittedly the Saint is more boisterous and less subtle than he will become - but that speaks more about the later works than this book. Full review...
The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
The Age of Miracles was one of those much-talked about books that I never got the time to read on its first go around. I'm not sure how I managed that, but I did. Anyway, it got debut author Thompson Walker a seven figure deal after a bidding war and it has dystopian themes, so it is right up my alley and not the sort of thing I'd usually miss. And so, I was happy that Simon & Schuster decided to reissue it for a YA market and even happier that they decided to send me a copy. Full review...
The Seventh Simian by Gary Kurylo
Edith has lived alone for many years and she has become irascible and rather anti-social. She avoids even going into the nearby village to do her shopping and the only human being she sees with any regularity is the local shopkeeper who makes grocery deliveries to her and makes an art form of palming off the strange old lady with overpriced, underweight goods. If it weren't for her cat, Edith would have no companionship at all. Full review...
The Crooked House by Christobel Kent
Many years ago, a tragedy shook an English village. A whole family wiped out with no warning, a whole family, that is, except for one of the daughters who was, unbeknown to the assailant, upstairs at the time. Esme was that girl, but she is no more. She has a new name, a new identity, a new life, far away from that terrible place. As Alison she flies under the radar, not attracting any attention, with a menial job to fill her days. And she has every intention of staying that way, no intention of ever stepping foot in Saltleigh again. Full review...
After the Storm by Jane Lythell
Rob and Anna are nearing the Honduras leg of their South American travels. Here they meet Kimberley and Owen, an American couple who charter out their own boat for sailing trips around the local islands. Rob persuades Anna it will be a fun way to end their holiday but Anna isn't so sure. There's something about Owen and Kimberley that makes her hesitant about being shut away on a boat at sea with them. Perhaps it's the way that he never sleeps or the mystery as to why there are no knives in the cutlery drawer. Rob thinks Anna's just overly imaginative, but time will tell. Full review...
We Used to Be Kings by Stewart Foster
Tom and Jack are 18 today. Not that they have much cause for celebration - stuck in a home for troubled children, they are constantly examined and questioned by doctors, when all they want is to be left alone to live life together. Full review...
I Feel Sick! (Little Princess) by Tony Ross
I should think most parents of small children are familiar with fake sicknesses, in an attempt to get out of nursery/school/the dentist or whatever other trauma you are heartlessly inflicting on them. I remember my daughter aged about three trying to convince me that she had a broken leg, pointing to the broken one and then limping on the other! Here we see the Little Princess insisting that she is terribly, dreadfully sick. Especially when she has been asked to do something she doesn't want to do. Then she feels really terrible! Full review...
Siena by Helen Eve
Siena Hamilton rules over Temperley High, along with her clique the Starlets. Nothing can stand in her way – not even the return of ex-Starlet and her former best friend Romy, who spent a term in France after a shocking incident one night led to the headmistress deciding the girl needed to spend some time away from their school. If you've read Stella, you know roughly what happens here, but you don't necessarily know why. If you haven’t read it, I'd definitely suggest going for that one first. (There may be spoilers here, although I've tried to avoid anything too specific.) Full review...
The Deep Dark Wood by Algy Craig Hall and Ali Pye
Children love a fairytale. Forests, monsters, Little Red Riding Hood. They open up a world of possible adventures, wonder and mystery. The Deep Dark Wood taps into that format brilliantly, taking ideas and myths already deeply ingrained into our culture and creating a really fun story for children (and adults) to engage with. Full review...
There Will Be Lies by Nick Lake
Shelby is seventeen. She dreams of going to college but her mother would never allow it. Shaylene is more than over-protective. She homeschools Shelby and rarely lets her daughter out on her own. She is obsessed with the danger that men present. Shelby loves her mother but can't help the odd twinge of resentment at the level of control she exerts and more than the odd twinge of embarrassment when she looks at they overweight, unfit, pyjama jeans-wearing Shaylene.
And then Shelby is knocked down by a car. And everything unravels. Shaylene turns up at the hospital with bags packed. She's running from something, but what is it? And why can't she see the coyote that is watching Shelby, talking to her, warning her of lies and asking her to save a Child from a Crone? Full review...
The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry
When the seven schoolgirls at St Etheldreda's School for Young Ladies in Victorian Ely see their headmistress and her brother drop dead at dinner, they're more concerned about their future than the loss of the two adults. Knowing that if anyone discovers what's happened they'll be sent home to families who don't want them, they launch a daring plan to cover up the sad news, and run the school themselves. When the deaths turn out to be caused by poison, though, they're left not just trying to run a school and convince an alarming number of visitors that nothing's wrong - but also to solve the murders before there's another killing. Full review...
The Prussian Princesses: The Sisters of Kaiser Wilhelm II by John Van der Kiste
Kaiser Wilhelm II is well known and not for the best of reasons and he's certainly over-shadowed his six younger siblings. John Van der Kiste's first biography was of his father, Kaiser Friedrich III and he has also written about Emperor Wilhelm II so he is well placed to write about the three youngest children Kaiser Friedrich and Victoria, Princess Royal. Originally he intended to write about Friedrich's second daughter, but it quickly became obvious that the most satisfying biography - for reader and author - would be a biography of Victoria, Sophie and Margaret, their mother's kleebatt or trio, as they were known. Full review...
Frozen Charlotte by Alex Bell
When Sophie and Jay play around with a ouija board app that Jay has downloaded to his phone, things go awfully wrong. Sophie asks to speak to Rebecca, a cousin of hers who died in mysterious circumstances. But what Rebecca has to say is not good. And that very night, Jay drowns in the canal after falling from his bike. A tragic accident. Or was it? Full review...
The Zigzag Effect by Lili Wilkinson
When she's told her family can't afford to pay for the photography course she was planning on attending, Sage is thrilled to get a holiday job at a theatre, working with a magician, his beautiful assistant, and his handsome stagehand. But The Great Armand's magic show is, while initially thrilling, potentially full of danger - and when a wand gets snapped on stage, a sure sign of bad luck, things go from bad to worse. Who can Sage trust when someone vanishes? Is it a magic trick, a ghost, or something even more sinister? Full review...
Song of the Slums by Richard Harland
Song of the Slums fuses politics, music, social injustice and gaslight fantasy. Set in 1846 during the age of steam it tells the story of Astor Vance and her mysterious servant/companion Verrol who are caught up in the machinations of the plutocratic Swale family and must fight for survival in a world of intrigue. Full review...
Careless People Murder Mayhem and the Invention of the Great Gatsby by Sarah Churchwell
In this accomplished literary biography Professor Churchwell expertly weaves together three guest lists- the Fitzgeralds and literary cast of New York, the sensationalist tragic murder victims and suspects of New Brunswick, New Jersey and the careless characters of F. Scott's novel using the Fitzgeralds' archives, newspaper clippings, literary scrapbooks,diary entries and anecdotes to link the stories and chronicle the heedless hedonism of the 1920s. It is not only a meticulously researched tribute tracing the genesis of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s plot skeleton, which he roughly sketched in pencil in the back of a book, entitled Man’s Hope, but it also sparkles with sophisticated vocabulary fizzing with the effervescence of a glass of champagne providing new treats for the reader with each inviting chapter. Full review...
MOD: From Bebop to Britpop, Britain's Biggest Youth Movement by Richard Weight
Mod is arguably a rather-overused term. First of all, there is the matter of establishing a precise definition. Modernism, which was soon abbreviated for convenience, began as the working-class movement of a newly affluent nation. Once the age of immediate post-war austerity was gone, the cult of a youth keen to shake off the drab conformity of life in 1950s Britain took hold. It was more than anything else an amalgam of American music and European fashions, beginning as a popular cult and gradually becoming a mainstream culture. Full review...
Where is Pim? by Lena and Olof Landstrom
I had a gankie when I was little. It was a ragged bit of blanket that went everywhere with me. Actually there were a couple of bits because my mum cut it into two so she could wash one whilst the other was in use! After gankie came Teddy, and he really went everywhere with me. I even took him to school where his name was on the register and he had his own reading book. Special 'things' and teddies can be very important to small children, and this story shows us how important these things can be, and how traumatic it is when they go missing! Full review...
The Kindness of Strangers: Penniless Across America by Mike McIntyre and Chris Brinkley (narrator)
In 1994 Mike McIntyre was a thirty-seven-year-old journalist with a secret: he was frightened. There were specific fears, but what it boiled down to was that he was frightened of life - and then there was a memory. He remembered - with some shame - not stopping for a hitchhiker with a gas can in the desert. It was almost on a whim that he decided to cross America, from San Francisco in California to Cape Fear in North Carolina, which might sound like a great adventure, but McIntyre decides to do it without money - to be completely reliant on the kindness of strangers. He was confronting his own fears. Full review...
Vigilante by Shelley Harris
Jenny Pepper is a forty-something wife and mother who is stuck wondering where her life has gone. Privately, Jenny is jealous of her husband, he has a wonderful creative career that people can’t wait to hear more about, while Jenny’s work as a mother and her job at a charity bookshop seems to put a stopper on conversation. Jenny envies her daughter, with her youthful figure and a whole life stretched out in front of her. When tidying up one night, Jenny discovers her husband’s secret and just like that her life changes. Full review...
The War at the Edge of the World: Twilight of Empire: Book One (Rome Reborn) by Ian Ross
Centurion Aurelius Castus has risen through the ranks from the crack legions of the Danube but now finds himself in a Roman army on the very edge of the world – 4th century Britain, near Eboracum. Although his men are kept at battle fitness, his latest mission is one of peace. He must take a cohort to escort an envoy on a visit to the barbarian Picts. The local tribes are in the process of picking a new leader and, as the area's future is resting on it, the Romans want to influence the choice with diplomacy. However not everyone has been honest with Castus; people as well as situations are not all they seem. Castus must depend on his own initiative and ability to survive as he soon realises he can trust no one. Full review...
The Wolf in Winter (Charlie Parker Thriller) by John Connolly
Private investigator Charlie Parker is surprised when Jude, a bum he's befriended and worked with in the past, is found hanged in a basement. It looks like suicide but Jude has been looking for his daughter Annie to rekindle their family relationship and has just raised over $100 to help find her. Odd time for suicide? It becomes an even odder prospect when Annie herself goes missing after heading for the small Maine town of Prosperous. Charlie decides to drop in on the good citizens of the small town and starts poking beneath the respectable veneer. It doesn’t take him long but there is a downside: this investigation may have a body count that includes Charlie. Full review...
Jekyll's Mirror by William Hussey
Sam is doing his best but he feels the Wrath inside him all the time. If your father had beaten your mother to death, wouldn't you? He tries to concentrate on schoolwork and his art and keep that anger locked away deep down inside, but it's not easy. His aunt Cora does her best to support him but his uncle Lionel is distrustful, sure that the (violent) apple in Sam hasn't fallen far from (his father's) tree. Full review...
The Death Season (Detective Inspector Wesley Peterson) by Kate Ellis
When Wesley Peterson was called to investigate the death of a man in a hotel room he thought that it was going to be straightforward, but then there were the credit cards - in different names - and there wasn't a mobile phone. He felt guilty about the little time he'd been able to spend with his family (and about the fact that he was ever so slightly attracted to one of his colleagues...) but the job had to come first and it wasn't long before he realised that there was a complex history to the dead man and that he was almost certainly a murderer. Full review...
Why You? 101 Interview Questions You'll Never Fear Again by James Reed
No-one likes doing job interviews. This includes most recruiting managers, but for candidates it is one of life's most stressful situations. No matter whether it's the next step in our carefully planned career or just a job, no matter whether it's our first job or our fifteenth, that 45 minutes to an hour of conversation has the potential to fundamentally affect our happiness for the foreseeable future. Full review...
The Man With A Charmed Life and his part in saving the planet from WWIII by Graham Fulbright
Englishman Henry Wright is employed by the Common Market (which would become the European Union in 1993) in Brussels and he's not entirely satisfied with his lot: he should be an interpreter but he seems to be restricted to more administrative duties. He could refuse the offer he gets, but the chance to actually use his expertise in Russian, move across to the USA and make a point to his employers is just too tempting. He's also rather taken by Alexy Geary, the attractive woman from the intelligence-gathering agency who makes the offer, and it's not long before he's on his way. Before he does he's peripherally involved in a shooting - and that's not something which usually happens to someone like him. Full review...
The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler by Gene Kemp
Meet Tyke Tiler. I first did so a very long time ago – I might even have my copy of the original paperback, with its ending-spoiling cover artwork, as one of the few books I carried over from those days. Tyke is a schoolchild in the last year before big school, and is permanently in trouble, partly due to hanging round with Danny Price. It seems wherever Danny unfortunately leads, Tyke follows – whether it's digging sheep bones out the town weir system, or handling stolen goods when Danny nicks a high-value note from one of the teacher's purses. How is the term going to end, when everything Danny does seems to reflect badly on Tyke? Full review...
Stella by Helen Eve
What do you get when you mix up Cecily Von Ziegesar's delightfully trashy Gossip Girl series with Dickens's classic Great Expectations, and throw in a splash of Animal Farm by George Orwell? A really readable YA contemporary story which has surprising depth and has been one I've been thinking about a lot since originally reading it towards the start of the year. I read Stella for the first time after getting it out of the library, and at the time I was extremely impressed by the voices of lead characters Stella and Caitlin, but had issues with it. On rereading, to prepare myself for upcoming prequel Siena, I think it's one of the relatively few books I've read recently which works even better second time around, although those issues haven't vanished completely. Full review...