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<metadesc>Book review siteExpert, with books full book reviews from most walks of literary life; fiction, biographynon-fiction, crime, cookery and children's books & self-published books plus author interviews and & top tens.</metadesc><h1 id="mf-title">The Bookbag</h1>Hello from The Bookbag, a site featuring books from all the many walks of literary life - [[:Category:Fiction|fiction]], [[:Category:Biography|biography]], [[:Category:Crime|crime]], [[:Category:Cookery|cookery]] and anything else that takes our fancy. At Bookbag Towers the bookbag sits at the side of the desk. It's the bag we take to the library, the charity shop and the bookshop. Sometimes it holds the latest releases, but at other times there'll be old favourites, books for the children, books for the home. They're sometimes our own books or books from the local library. They're often books sent to us by publishers and we promise to tell you exactly what we think about them. You might not want to read through a full review, so we'll give you a quick review which summarises what we felt about the book and tells you whether or not we think you should buy or borrow it. There are also lots of [[:Category:Interviews|author interviews]], and all sorts of [[:Category:Lists|top tens]] - all of which you can find on our [[features]] page. If you're stuck for something to read, check out the [[Book Recommendations|recommendations]] page.
Reviews by readers from all the many walks of literary life. With author interviews, features and top tens. You'll be sure to find something you'll want to read here. Dig in! Find us on [[File:facebook.gif|link=https://www.facebook.com/TheBookbagCoUk|alt=Facebook]] [https://www.facebook.com/TheBookbagCoUk '''Facebook'''], [[File:twitter.gif|link=http://twitter.com/TheBookbag|alt=Follow us on Twitter]] [http://twitter.com/TheBookbag '''Twitter'''], [[File:instagram_classic_logo.png|link=https://www.instagram.com/thebookbag.co.uk/|alt=Follow us on Instagram]] [https://www.instagram.com/thebookbag.co.uk/ '''Instagram'''] and [[File:LinkedIn.png|link=https://www.linkedin.com/in/the-bookbag-1b12a264/|alt=LinkedIn]] There are currently '''{{PAGESINCATEGORY:Reviews}}''' [[:Category:Reviews|reviews ]] at TheBookbag.
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==Reviews of the The Best New Books==
'''Read [[:Category:New Reviews|new reviews by category]]. '''<br>
'''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].''' <! '''Read [[Forthcoming Publications|reviews of books about to be published]].{{Frontpage|isbn=152919640X|title=The Suspect|author=Rob Rinder|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=The nation's favourite daytime TV presenter, Jessica Holby, was murdered live on television and it seems that there's only one suspect. He's celebrity chef Sebastian Brooks and his contract stated that he must not serve anything containing miso to Jessica Holby. She's seriously allergic and carries an EpiPen in case of emergencies. Everything seemed as normal -as normal as they can be in a busy, live television studio - INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HEREand Brooks served a ragout to Holby. Her EpiPen was nowhere to be found and she was dead within minutes. It was soon clear that this was no accident.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008385068|title=The Midnight Feast|author=Lucy Foley|rating=4.5|genre=Thrillers|summary=It's midsummer on the Dorset coast and guests gather at The Manor. It's their opening weekend and splendid celebrations are promised. It's all headed up by Francesca Meadows. The Manor was her ancestral home and she's converted it into an impressive retreat for the wealthy and famous. Her husband, Owen, was the architect and work is still ongoing on parts of the site. The heat is oppressive and amongst the guests are enemies as well as friends. Old scores are going to be settled and it won't be long before a body is found.}}{{Frontpage|author=Ashley Hickson-Lovence|title=Wild East|rating=4.5|genre=Teens|summary=Written in verse, this is Ronny's story, a young black fourteen year old boy from Hackney who suddenly has to move to Norwich and start at a mostly white school. The move is initiated by Ronny's mum who is worried for Ronny's safety after a tragic event, and so Ronny finds himself trying to settle in a new town, a new school, and keep himself out of trouble. He listens to music constantly, and has always dreamed of being a rapper. But now, in this new school, his teacher encourages him to be part of a poetry writing workshop group and, slowly, Ronny begins to see the connections between rap and poetry, and the power of creativity and crafting your words.|isbn=0241645441}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1635866847|title=The Lavender Companion|author=Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci|rating=4.5|genre=Lifestyle|summary=It's strange, the things that make you ''immediately'' feel that this is the book for you. Before I started reading ''The Lavender Companion'', I visited the author's [https://www.pinelavenderfarm.com/ website] and there's a picture of a slice of chocolate cake on the homepage. I don't eat cakes and desserts ->but I wanted that cake viscerally. (There's a recipe in the book, which I'm avoiding with some difficulty!!) Then I started reading the book and I was told to make a mess of it. Notes in the margins are sanctioned. You get to fold down the corners of pages. You suspect that smears of butter would not be a problem. I ''loved'' this book already.}}{{Frontpage|author=Rob Keeley|title=Childish Spirits: 10th anniversary special edition|rating=4|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Around here, we're big fans of children's author Rob Keeley. He's a ball of happy positivity, he understands children, and he writes for their pleasure and enjoyment, not to lecture or hector. The ''Childish Spirits'' series is one of his greatest achievements. It's a sequence of ghost stories centring on Ellie, a stalwart young girl who can cope with anything the spirit world throws at her, and Edward, a spoiled lordling and the first spirit Ellie encounters|isbn= 1783064617}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1406389331Jenny Valentine|title=In Us in the Key Before and After|rating=5|genre=Teens|summary=Elk and Mab are best friends, or more than that even, their friendship is a once in a lifetime connection. of CodeThey meet as children one day on a trip out but unfortunately they don't get each other's contact details at the time. But then chance brings them back together, and they are inseparable. Something has happened though, something terrible and tragic, and now they must work through their grief, and their friendship, together.|isbn=1471196585}}{{Frontpage|author=Aimee LucidoKieran Larwood and Joe Todd-Stanton|title=Dungeon Runners: Hero Trial
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Emmy Meet Kit. Like most of the people in his world, it seems, he is moving with her parents halfway across America, to follow her father's dreams an avid fan of Dungeon Running – the sport where a big break in his music career. She leaves behind her friends team of warrior, mage and her school in Wisconsinhealer enter specially prepared, century-old, magical mazes, and moves race to Californiathe exit, perhaps bothering with the treasure or the big bad and the points they grant you along the way. Unfortunately for Kit, knowing the only what she thing he's seen of the latest race on the inn TV equivalent is that one team has heard in songs. Her struggle to settle into her new lifebeen retired, eaten, make friends and feel happy and confident again, a new trio of questors is agonisingly told in a way we can all relate toneeded. There are many new opportunities and setbacks Possibly very unfortunately indeed for Kit, taking he has taken to the reader on a rollercoaster goading from the token bully of emotions, but it isnhis world and stumbled into declaring he't until Emmy joins ll enter as a coding class using computer language team. What chance does this friendless, muscle-free-zone have in actually managing that she begins , and how could he possibly hope to feel she might have a chance to feel like she truly belongs.succeed?|isbn=1839945184
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1529402255Saima Mir|title=A Body in the Bookshop (Kitt Hartley Yorkshire Mysteries)|author=Helen CoxVengeance
|rating=3.5
|genre=CrimeThrillers|summary= Evie Bowes is very conscious I was instantly intrigued by the premise of the scars on her face. They were acquired when she was rescued from a car this novel – an organised crime syndicate in the River Ouse north of England run by Inspector Hallorana Muslim woman. She’d been suspected of The fact that it was the murder of her boyfriend, Owen, second in a series I hadn't read didn't stop me – I've jumped midway into a few series before (on page and in the process of clearing her name she screen) and her best friend, Kitt Hartley developed it needn't be a taste for detectionhindrance if it's good enough. Kitt developed And that wasn't a taste for Inspector Halloran Too, but they’re taking it slowlyproblem here. WellVengeance swiftly brings you up to speed, sort of slowlyand I never felt lost.|isbn=0861541561
}}
{{Frontpage
|author= Alexandra ChristoStuart Douglas|title= Into Lowe and Le Breton Mysteries - Death at the Crooked PlaceDress Rehearsal|rating= 43.5|genre= TeensCrime|summary= In During location filming for his 1970's sitcom 'Floggit and Leggit', leading man Edward Lowe stumbles across the dead body of a woman on the edge of a world thriving with black magicreservoir. The police seem happy to assign it as an accidental death, but something about the whole thing bothers Lowe, four young crooks embark on and he enlists the help of a quest fellow actor, John Le Breton to take down help him investigate matters further. They travel across the country during their criminal leader after they discover days off filming, uncovering more possible murders and, seemingly, a link to death during the plot behind his dangerous new magicSecond World War. But is there really a link between the deaths? And will they manage to uncover who is responsible before more people lose their lives?|isbn=12503183781803368209
}}
{{Frontpage
|authorisbn=Kathlaine C Gill and D Clark GillB0CYV674G2|title=Madness Between Light and DarkSwanton Morley (John Tanner)|author=David Blake
|rating=3.5
|genre=FantasyCrime|summary=It's 1912seemed like an open-and-shut case. A man, covered in mud and blood - and at New Hope Sanatoriumcarrying a knife, Christine Agnes Tupper is fast growing upcomes into the police station shouting that he hasn't killed the man. Abandoned there by parents who were ashamed A body at the bottom of her hunchback, shea freshly dug grave at Swanton Morley church - he's nevertheless grown up been stabbed to an intelligent girl with a good heartdeath. Her encounters DCI John Tanner is just back from his honeymoon, which coincided with the inhabitants birth of his daughter Samantha. You would think he'd be grateful for an easy answer but the asylum swiftly take her on a fascinating, thrilling words 'perverse' and sometimes terrifying journey 'John Tanner' were made for each other. He's sleep-deprived to the point of self discovery, allowing Agnes falling asleep at work but he's determined to prove that, even with a twisted spine, her heart is in the right place!|isbn=1641110708keep going - probably because he can't get any sleep at home.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=190874572X1787333175|title=Letters from ToveYou Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here|author=Tove Jansson (Author), Boel Westin (Editor), Helen Svensson (Editor), Sarah Death (Translator)Benji Waterhouse
|rating=5
|genre=AutobiographyPopular Science|summary=Back at I was tempted to read ''You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here'' after enjoying Adam Kay's first book {{amazonurl|isbn=1509858636|title=This is Going to Hurt}}, a glorious mixture of insight into the beginning workings of the century I went on holiday NHS, humour and autobiography. ''You Don't Have to Nepalbe Mad. I met a wonderful Finnish woman ..'' promised the same elements but moved from physical problems to mental illness and we became sort the work of friends. I can't remember if it was on that holiday or a later one that Paula told me I really had to read Tove Janssonpsychiatrist. I do know that did wonder whether it was four years later that I finally acquired an English translation of The Summer Book, acceptable to be looking for humour in this setting but the laughter is directed at a situation rather than a person and that I eagerly awaited the ''Sort Of'' translations of the rest of Jansson's work it is always delivered with empathy and devoured them as soon as I could get my hands on themunderstanding.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1784742783Onyi Nwabineli|title=The Benefit of Hindsight (Simon Serrailler)|author=Susan HillAllow Me to Introduce Myself|rating=4.5|genre=CrimeGeneral Fiction|summary=A superficial look would suggest Anuri spent her childhood on display to you that Simon Serrailer has been lucky and the world, thanks to her step- all things considered - his life is as good as it could be. Hemother Ophelia's increasingly popular presence on social media, where she posted every step of Anuri's back at work after a long break to recuperate from the violent incident which cost him his arm childhood for sponsorships and influencer deals and almost his life, basically, monetary gain. When he's not at work he's spending his time Now Anuri is in her twenties and she is slowly trying to regain her confidence and to get her life back, suing her step-mother to take down the cathedral roof drawing the medieval angels which are being restored. There's talk of an exhibition of his drawingscontent about her. Lafferton seems to be quite settled as far as crime Anuri is concerned until one night when two local men open their front door battling alcoholism, failing to a couple seeking shelterstart her PhD, undergoing therapy and secretly abusing people online and receiving money from them for doing so. It's Most importantly, she is desperately worried about her little sister, who is the usual story new focus of a broken-down car, and a phone which wonOphelia't make a calls online empire. The man are generous Can she save her sister, and welcoming perhaps herself and have no suspicions that her relationship with her father at the couple are simply there to plan a robbery. It's a serious error of judgement in the course of this investigation which will throw Simon Serrailler's future into doubt.same time?|isbn=0861546873
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=140638853XDavid Chadwick|title=Somebody Give This Heart a Pen|author=Sophia ThakurHeadload of Napalm|rating=4.5|genre=AnthologiesThrillers|summary=Sophia ThakurIt's debut anthology is a collection of poems that are all unique, whether September 1973 in relation to their styleHicks, length or themeCalifornia. The collection Hicks is split into four sections, titled 'grow','wait','break'and 'grow again', guiding you through a process which is one Mojave desert town of the foundations that the anthology is built on. Each section begins a few thousand people with a foregrounded title page containing various small pieces its nearest neighbours of writing, ranging from LA and Las Vegas both a quote by a Nigerian playwright, to African proverbssignificant drive away. Not much happens in Hicks. This provides A silver mine and a nice introduction to the section before you defence contractor are immersed into the beautifully written main local employers but otherwise, there's not much of note other than dive bars and eloquent poems that Thakur has clearly put her heart and soul intoJoshua trees. Life is quiet, until....|isbn= B0D321VJ76
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1910989460Tom Percival|title=Flember: The Secret Book|author=Jamie SmartWrong Shoes
|rating=5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=A mysterious islandWill's life is difficult, in a multitude of ways. A strange He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and doesn't have enough money for even the most basic of things like food, and mystical power called Flemberhis dad can't work because he lost his job at the college, was working a cash-in-hand job on a building site and had an accident. A boy-inventor called Dev Throw into that mix the fact that his mum and dad are separated, who uncovers a long forgotten secretand Will's life seems bleak in every direction. And yet, he still has a gianttiny amount of hope. He is good at art, red robot bear?! The sleepy village and clings to the moments of Eden joy when he is about to descend into hilarious chaos - can disastrous Dev save his brand new best friend? Find out in this fully illustrated mad-cap adventuredrawing, that feel like a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.|isbn=1398527122
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=0241355222Sylvie Cathrall|title=Frostheart|author=Jamie LittlerA Letter to the Luminous Deep
|rating=5
|genre=Confident ReadersScience Fiction|summary=Way out There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them.|isbn= 0356522776}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008517061|title=Death in a Lonely Place|author=Stig Abell|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary= Former Metropolitan Police detective, Jake Johnson, has settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. There’s perhaps a little uncertainty about the furthest part future of the known worldhis life with his vet girlfriend, Livia and her daughter Diana, as moving in together would mean a tiny stronghold exists all lot of compromise: does Jake give up his off-grid and relaxing life to move in with Livia or does Livia move to Little Sky despite her reservations about whether or not this is the future she wants for herself and her daughter? For the moment they’re enjoying life in the present and putting the future on its own, cut off from the rest back burner.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1786482126|title=The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly Griffiths|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=Builders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the site was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the bones of human-kin by monsters that lurk a child beneath the Snow Seaa doorway. Therewas no skull. Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. It's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn't, that she is pregnant with his child as a little boy called Ash waits for result of the return of his parentsone night they spent together some three months ago. Her condition will be obvious before long, singing a forbidden lullaby not least because Ruth is prone to remind him sudden bouts of themsickness.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008551324|title=The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=It's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police. Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and doing his best he's prepared to avoid his verytell the police where the body of a missing person is buried and who was responsible for her death. This person, VERY grumpy yeti guardianhe promises, Tobuis someone big and it will be worth the police doing what he wants. But life And what he wants is about to be transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of his sentence and to get a whole lot more crazy-adventurous for Ashan early parole date. When a brave rescue attempt reveals he has amazing magical powers Not much to ask, heis it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's whisked aboard even prepared to do the Frostheart, a sleigh packed full of daring explorers other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who could use his helpworks with him is kept well away from what's happening. But can they help him find his family?
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=19131010370008405026|title=The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte MettlestoneA Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jaclyn MoriartyJane Casey
|rating=5
|genre=Confident ReadersCrime|summary=Bronte doesnIt't miss s sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and the investigation ground to a halt. Now, her parentsmother, Helena, and sheher father are dead in their bed. Initially, it looks like a straightforward murder/suicide but there's not particularly sad when she learns something about the positioning of their terrible fate at the hands of piratesbodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. And why should she be? After all, they just dumped her on Aunt Isabelle (without even asking if What looked as though it would was going to be an open-and-shut case is now a convenient arrangement for either party) when she was a babycomplex double murder. They swanned off to have adventures Kerrigan is convinced that the explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's boss, and never once came back to check if their only child was healthy and happyUna Burt) are less convinced.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=14012800480571379877|title=Batman: Nightwalker: The Graphic NovelKellerby Code|author=Marie Lu, Stuart Moore and Chris WildgooseJonny Sweet|rating=43.5|genre=TeensCrime|summary=The Edward Jevons is a working-class young man called Bruce Wayne is a very noticeable one – he can hardly go anywhere without people – bystanders, paparazziobsessed with his upper-class friends, Robert and suchlike – reminding him heStanza. Robert's a billionaire at the age of eighteentheatre director. He's also self-obsessed, demanding, handsome and entitled and uses Edward to run errands for him. Feeling rather stuck Edward has been in love with the legacy Stanza since their university days - and he's inherited from his murdered parents, drunkenly confided how he wants feels to do charitable deedsRobert. But one night, when he speeds off Most men in his posh new car in pursuit of Robert's position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a criminal, relationship had begun between them but he goes too far as far as the authorities are concerned, and gets given the 's not like most unlikely stretch of community service instead – cleaning in the home for violent criminals that men: Edward is Arkham Asylum. There he learns of some other people who also allege charitable intent – left to stumble upon the Nightwalkers, a gang who steal any ten-figure bank account contents they can, and murder the owner. Can he get close to one two of them and get the truth of their schemes, or will the manipulative Madeleine be kissing in a step too far for the young do-gooder?dark passageway.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=B07W4MNBSGJo Callaghan|title=Be Careful Who You Marry|author=Lizzy MumfreyLeave No Trace
|rating=4
|genre=General FictionCrime|summary=It was coming up to Halloween in 1987 and When a group man is found crucified on the top of sixth-form schoolgirls wondered what they would be doing when they were fiftya hill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the case alongside her sidekick, the AI detective Lock. When youIt're only seventeen that seems positively ancients their first live case together, but Liz was convinced that ''your entire life depends on who you marry''having previously been very successful with several cold cases. The only eligible boys were the Young Farmers But when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and the idea of living in a farmhouse and having very high profile case that draws a couple lot of children called Will and Olly appealed unwanted attention to Charlotte, or perhaps William and Oliver if you were Elizabeth who was determined to marry the rather superior Patrick Shepley-Bothamtheir AI Future Policing project. The place Will they be able to start their search was obviously solve the Young Farmers' Halloween disco that weekend. There was just one problem - there were too many Elizabeths case in time, or will Kat find herself taken off the class.case and, potentially, out of a career?|isbn=139851120X
}}
{{Frontpage
|authorisbn=Michael J Malone1399613073|title=In The Absence of MiraclesMoral Injuries|author=Christie Watson|rating=4.5
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=John Docherty's mother has been taken into Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a nursing home following quarter of a massive strokecentury. It Olivia is thought unlikely that she will ever ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to be able to live independently againa cardiothoracic surgeon. Faced with having to sell the family home in order to pay for her nursing care, Docherty starts the clear outLaura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor. In Anjali is the attic he finds a childhood picture free spirit of himself, holding the group and she becomes a toddler – GP. When we first meet them they're at a toddler he knows nothing aboutdrug and alcohol-fuelled party and it's going to end in tragedy. We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the consequences. He also finds a bloodTwenty-stained shoefive years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the three friends. This time, it's their teenage children who are involved.|isbn=191237479X
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=06928535450241636604|title=The Things We DoTrading Game: A Confession|author=Kay PfaltzGary Stevenson|rating=4.5|genre=ThrillersAutobiography|summary=ItIf you were to bring up an image of a city banker in your mind, you's 2015 re unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson. A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and Dr Eleanor Hartley his background is a prison psychologist at the state penitentiary East End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injustice. There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the London School of Economics. Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and she knows he has a facility with numbers which most of us can only envy. He also realised that her next patient is not going most rich people expect poor people to be easystupid. It was his ability at what was, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with Citibank. Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1035021803|title=The Antique Hunter'Jane Does Guide to Murder|author=C L Miller|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=It' s twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been convicted of back to the murder English country village where she grew up. She's back now because of two men - one a police officerrequest for help from her beloved aunt, Carole. She pleaded guilty Freya's former mentor and since then has been silent: even her identity Carole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is in doubtdead and the circumstances seem suspicious, to say the least. She Arthur was carrying identification as Jane Dunlap when the reason why Freya had not been back to the village: Arthur, she was arrestedfeels, but it's been proved to be falselet her down badly. There seem Even though they were in business together as antique hunters, she has not felt able to be no family near the man or friends who are missing herpursue the profession she loved. Eleanor's task is to get Jane talkingAfter the split, to find out why she worked in a seemingly normal young woman would murder two mencafe, met and married James (on the rebound from the love of her life, who was murdered) and Freya and James have now divorced.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover
|title=All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt
|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)
|rating=5
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=''Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things to come.''
I've heard it said that 'technology' is what happens after you're eighteen. Well, I must confess that there have been more than a few decades of technology in my lifetime. I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but I'm left with the feeling that it's all getting away from me. Some of it is - frankly - quite frightening. Of course, I could research the possibilities and the probabilities and end up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they're talking about or the latest conspiracy theorist. I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in a way I could understand.
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Patti SmithSunny Singh|title=Year of the MonkeyHotel Arcadia|rating=43.5|genre=BiographyThrillers |summary=On The Hotel Arcadia is a luxury hotel in an unnamed city that has suddenly been violently taken over by a terrorist group. Hiding from the coast of Santa Cruzterrorists who are rampaging through, Patti Smith enters the lunar year of the monkey - one packed with mischiefkilling everyone on site, sorrowthere is Sam, a wartime photographer and unexpected moments. In a stranger's words, ''Anything is possible: after allAbhi, it's the year of the monkey''hotel manager. As Smith wanders Abhi continues to try to care remotely for the coast of Santa Cruz residents who are still alive in solitudethe hotel, she reflects on he forms a year that brings huge shifts in her life - loss bond with Sam who refuses to be cowed by events, and aging are faced head keeps onventuring out of her room to try to capture what's happened through her photography. Although they only ever talk over the phone, their friendship grows as it Abhi tries to help her keep safe and they both wait to see if they will be rescued before they are discovered by the shifting political waters in Americaterrorists. |isbn=1526614758086154742X
}}
{{Frontpage
|authorisbn=Margaret Atwood1529153298|title=The TestamentsList of Suspicious Things|author=Jennie Godfrey|rating=4.5|genre=Dystopian General Fiction|summary= Finally! Almost forty years onIt's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister. (A woman? I mean, we have a sequel to honestly...) [[The HandmaidShe's not what's Tale by Margaret Atwood|The Handmaidworrying Miv's Tale]]family, though. I don Women have been disappearing. Well, they've been murdered, but to have 'disappeared' doesn't want to tell you too much about the plot sound quite so frightening. Miv's upset because itshe's a novel overheard that is entirely plot driven. Suffice it her father wants to say that move the family 'Down South'The Testaments. When you'' takes place fifteen years laterre from Yorkshire, fifteen years after Offred gets into Down South is a vanfrightening, foreign place, not knowing what will happen nextbest avoided. It's told by three narrators: Aunt Lydia For Miv, who is secretly writing the move would mean leaving her memoirs in Ardua Hall; Agnesbest friend, a girl brought up in Gilead with the expectation she will marry a commander; DaisySharon, a rebellious teenage girl in Canada who knows of Gilead only from school lessons and its Pearl Girl missionaries who occasionally call into she'll do anything to prevent that. She's not worried about the store owned by dangers or that her parentsMum's stopped talking - to anyone...|isbn=1784742325
}}
{{Frontpage
|authorisbn=Anne Boden1398524085|title=The Money RevolutionHas Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?|author=Nicci French|rating=45|genre= Business and FinanceCrime|summary= Money Charlotte Salter was expected at her husband's fiftieth birthday party but never turned up. Her children, sons Niall, Paul and Ollie and her daughter, Etty. are all worried but - strangely - her husband, Alec, is changing. It might not be in the ways you think. We’re not suddenly getting a 3p or £3 coin ( Shortly afterwards, Etty and have you ever even found a country that offers anything different to Greg, find the 1body of Greg's father, 2Duncan Ackerley, 5 model?) We’re getting a lot more digital with payments, which seems to suit most people apart from charity collectors and in the homeless on river. It was an easy assumption for the street, but although this book has the subtitle police to make that includes Duncan had murdered Charlie and then committed suicide when he couldn't stand the word ‘’digital’’, it’s guilt. The Salter children are not convinced but there's little else they can do but get on with their lives and wonder about what really about this either. Instead it’s about the ‘’management’’ of your finances, and how to take controlhappened.|isbn=1789660610
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=147117316X1035906708|title=Guilty Not GuiltyDiva|author=Felix FrancisDaisy Goodwin
|rating=4.5
|genre=ThrillersGeneral Fiction|summary=The Honourable William Herbert Millgate Gordon-Russell (Bill Russell We tend to those who knew him well) think of Maria Callas as Greek, but she was acting as a volunteer steward at Warwick Racecourse born to Greek parents in Manhattan, New York, in December 1923 and only moved to Athens when he she was told of the violent death of his much-loved wifethirteen. It would get worse though: the successful insurance actuary would be accused of killing Her original surname was Kalogeropoulos but her and hounded by the media. Then he would lose his job and his home. His best friends would turn against him, as they came father changed it to 'Callas' to believe him guilty of make it more manageable in the murderStates. Yet there When she was no really compelling evidence back in Athens - supposedly so that he she could get appropriate training for her voice - she was guiltyraised under the Nazi occupation by a mother who mercilessly exploited her and made no secret of her preference for her elder sister, Jackie.
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|isbnauthor=1908745819Christopher Edge|title=Surfacing|author=Kathleen JamieBlack Hole Cinema Club|rating=54|genre=HistoryConfident Readers|summary=Sometimes when people suggest that you read Lucas and his friends are all booked in for a certain book, they tell you ''this one has your name on it''. Mostly we take them movie marathon at their wordlocal cinema, or not, but rarely do we ask them why they thought so, unless it turns out a place that we didn't like has the book. Thatnickname of 's a rare experience. People who are sensitive to hearing a book calling your name, rarely get it wrong. In this case I was told why. The blurb speaks of the author considering Black Hole''an older, less tethered sense of herself.'' Older. Less tethered. ThatAll big movie fans, they's not a bad description re looking forward to lots of where I am. exciting films, and many, many snacks! Add to that my love of However, as the natural worldmovie starts, of those aspects of the poetic and lyrical they very quickly realise that are something about style not formthis new film format is very different, and substance most of allthey are swept up into an adventure they couldn't even imagine. But as they lurch from one film genre to the next, about connection. Of course this book had my name can they figure out what on earth is going on it. ? It was written for me. It would have found its way Will they ever get back to me eventually. I am pleased the cinema, and to have it fall onto my path so quickly.their real lives?|isbn=1839942738
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