==General fiction==
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[[Category:Literary Fiction]]
{{newreview
|author=Maria Angels Anglada
|title=The Auschwitz Violin
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=In Poland in the early 1990s, a violin sings. The maestro who owns it produces such a music from it, people are forced to take note. They'd be even more amazed if she could bring herself to state exactly how the instrument came to be. For this was the work of Daniel, suffering in a subsidiary camp to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Stumbles, chances, half-lies, all conspire to allow Daniel to take time off his enforced labour and engage in his real-world career. But is there a price to pay in doing something you love, just for a man you can only hate?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849016437</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Bethan Darwin
|summary=Initially I was very excited and interested when The Bookbag was given this novel to review. Set at a time in which I lived in Buenos Aires, I was looking forward to a fictionalised account of these traumatic years - made all the more appealing, as the narrator purported to be the eldest of the family's two sons - 10 year old 'Haroldo' as he comes to be known, having by necessity left his former identity behind. In this respect, I was to be sadly disappointed. The majority of the novel comprises recollections from an adult Haroldo - not quite what the Amazon blurb, nor the précis on the cover, leads the reader to believe! In fairness, the author can't be blamed for this - but I felt mislead by the dust jacket - which may have coloured my enjoyment, and which lead, in part, to the relatively low star rating which I gave the book.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1843548267</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=PJ Vanston
|title=Crump
|rating=3
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=It's Kevin Crump's first day as a lecturer at Thames Metropolitan University - an ex-polytechnic. It's the happiest day of his life, and he can't wait to see all that it holds, and make a difference to all his students. And then it hits him: the relentless pettiness of authority figures, the students who can't string two sentences together, the lowering of standards in search of higher test scores, so more money from foreign students, and political correctness gone (as I believe the saying goes) mad.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848762852</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Alex Chance
|title=Savage Blood
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=The book's cover is a very good clue as to its content: weapons dripping in blood and decapitated heads. The novel starts with Professor Edward Quinn on a rather unusual journey. It seems to end abruptly and in plenty of spilled blood, gore and horrendous scenes of carnage. Meanwhile, in Atlanta, USA, Dr Cortez has been cheating on his wife. His one-night stand proves satisfactory and interesting in all sorts of ways. Suddenly, he's involved in an extremely worrying medical situation. It needs to be sorted - and quickly. Cortez is a young, modern professional but he's human also, so not without his hang-ups. The conversations between himself and his even more successful wife, are bang on. They hit the right note. Many will identify with the couple. At times you can almost hear the friction between them. And the man-to-man conversations between Charlie Cortez and his buddy Dan are terrific. Trying hard to be big shots in a social situation when really they are out of their depth. A great introduction to this part of the story, I thought.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0434019364</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Elizabeth Buchan
|title=Separate Beds
|rating=4
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=Annie and Tom Nicholson looked like the sort of people you would envy. Both had rewarding jobs, Tom in the World Service and Annie in hospital management. They had a lovely home and three grown-up children. But all is not as it seems. For five years they have had separate existences after a family row when Tom caused his elder daughter to walk out of the house and never return. There hasn't been a catalyst which would have caused them to separate but Tom moved into his daughter's vacated room and he and Annie have lived together - but apart. It could have gone on indefinitely but then Tom came home one day and dropped the bombshell which could well finish them off.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141019891</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Geoff Dyer
|title=Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi
|rating=3
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Meet Jeff. He's a journalist living in London, with a fine line in delaying his work effort and a keen eye for detail. He can see how the world is made better by a smile from a random shopkeeper - yet seems too grumpy to try it himself. Instead he suspects his habit of walking round, mouthing or speaking out his own inner thoughts is making him seem a scary old man. He can partly address this, by dying his hair. And he can stop walking round London when he gets commissions to report back from the modern arts Biennale in Venice. Soon, however, the only work of art he's at all worried about goes by the name of Laura...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184767271X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Diane Chamberlain
|title=Secrets She Left Behind
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=This is the third novel I've read by Diane Chamberlain and I felt as if I was visiting an old friend. I enjoyed the other two books and this one looked promising. Although many of the characters spill over from [[Before the Storm by Diane Chamberlain|Before The Storm']] this current book is a stand alone.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>077830387X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Priya Basil
|title=The Obscure Logic of the Heart
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Lina is from a devout Muslim family and lives with her aunt while she studies law at university; where she meets Anil. Anil is a Kenyan boy from a non-practicing Sikh family who dreams of becoming a ground-breaking architect. The two fall in love but as the lies they have to tell their respective families become more and more elaborate they are forced to make some difficult decisions.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0385611455</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Diana Evans
|title=The Wonder
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Lucas and Denise have been brought up by their grandmother on a canal boat in west London, after the death of their parents. Now they are in their 20s, and their grandmother Toreth is gone. Denise is a practical and responsible young woman, getting on with her job as a florist, but her younger brother Lucas is a dreamer, still trying to establish what he wants to do with his life, and increasingly distracted by trying to find out more about his identity, about who his parents were, especially his father.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099479052</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Margaret Henderson Smith
|title=A Question of Answers
|rating=3.5
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=Harriet Glover lives with her partner who's reluctant to commit himself to marriage. It's not that he hasn't had time to make up his mind – their two children are at the stage where they might produce grandchildren. His excuse is that he can't see the point as they already share a surname through chance, so what difference would marriage make? Mark's not ''entirely'' insensitive (well, some of the time…) but he can't understand Harriet's need for that reassuring piece of paper. Until then she's going to be wondering if his eyes are wandering elsewhere. Harriet's not entirely immune either: she finds the headmaster of the school where she teaches quite irresistible.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1845493281</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Anne Tyler
|title=Noah's Compass
|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=It's always a red letter day to sit down to an unread Anne Tyler. This is her eighteenth published novel. For any readers not already fans of her books, this American writer observes the ordinary in order to excel at 'making the familiar, strange'.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099539586</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Bernie McGill
|title=The Butterfly Cabinet
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=This novel has been based on fact. McGill moves back and forth with various characters' stories. A child has died in the family home and the mother, Harriet has been tried in a court of law and found guilty. The fact that she is a practical, no-nonsense woman who does not wear her heart on her sleeve does not go down well with the majority of the jury. She has also committed another crime, almost equally as grave, she has sullied the family name of her husband. He is a prominent and respected member of the local community. Nothing will be the same again for either of them.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755370686</amazonuk>
}}
