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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.

==Reviews of the The Best New Books==

'''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].''' <! '''Read [[Forthcoming Publications|reviews of books about to be published]].{{Frontpage|isbn=1529428289|title=A Grave in the Woods (A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel)|author=Martin Walker|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=Because of various property transactions, people were searching for the grave but when they found it, it came with three sets of bones. They dated back to World War II and it fell to Bruno, the Chief of Police for St Denis, to discover the identities of the bodies and establish whether or not a crime had been committed. As if this isn't enough to worry about, the Dordogne River -normally tranquil - INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HEREis flowing at record levels. It's not just the local autumn rains that have caused the problem: various dams upstream on another river have had to release water and St Denis faces the possibility of a devastating flood.}}{{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 ->and 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.}}

|isbnauthor=1609809378Ashley Hickson-Lovence|title=The Rabbits' Rebellion|author=Ariel Dorfman and Chris RiddellWild East

|genre=Confident ReadersTeens|summary=WeWritten in verse, this is Ronny're in the realm of the rabbitss story, only the foxes a young black fourteen year old boy from Hackney who suddenly has to move to Norwich and wolves have taken overstart at a mostly white school. King Wolf, His Wolfiness, has declared the rabbits donThe move is initiated by Ronny's mum who is worried for Ronny't exists safety after a tragic event, but the pesky birds have spread rumours from awing that the bunnies are and so Ronny finds himself trying to settle in fact still around. Demanding a propaganda spreenew town, King Wolf orders a humble monkey new school, and keep himself out of trouble. He listens to be his official portrait photographermusic constantly, but whatever the poor innocent monkey prints out in his darkroom there is and has always dreamed of being a distinct leporine hintrapper. Can King Wolf succeed But now, in proving himself victoriousthis new school, can the rabbits show their continued existence his teacher encourages him to all who need to know be part of it – a poetry writing workshop group and what can , slowly, Ronny begins to see the poor monkey caught in connections between do?rap and poetry, and the power of creativity and crafting your words.|isbn=0241645441

|authorisbn=Innosanto Nagara1635866847|title=M is for MovementThe Lavender Companion|author=Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci|rating=4.5|genre=Emerging ReadersLifestyle|summary=Set in IndonesiaIt's strange, in the not too distant past, things that make you ''immediately'' feel that this is a story about social changethe book for you. Dealing with some difficult issuesBefore I started reading ''The Lavender Companion'', such as political corruption I visited the author's [https://www.pinelavenderfarm.com/ website] and nepotism, there's a picture of a slice of chocolate cake on the book is neither boring nor preachyhomepage. I don't eat cakes and desserts - but I wanted that cake viscerally. It educates gently(There's a recipe in the book, which I'm avoiding with vibrant, challenging illustrations, some difficulty!!) Then I started reading the book and I was told to make a mess of it portrays how social movements need people who will try, even when it seems that they will fail. The message is a positive one; that Notes in an increasingly uncertain world, we do still have the power margins are sanctioned. You get to instigate changefold down the corners of pages. You suspect that smears of butter would not be a problem. I ''loved'' this book already.|isbn=1609809351

|isbnauthor=1780724047Rob Keeley|title=A Dictionary of Interesting and Important Dogs|author=Peter J ConradiChildish Spirits: 10th anniversary special edition

|genre=PetsConfident Readers|summary=I struggle to resist a book about dogsAround here, but I did wonder why this one was so we're big fans of children'thins author Rob Keeley. He'': given that I've never encountered s a dog who wasn't interesting or important - ball of happy positivity, he understands children, and he writes for their pleasure and probably bothenjoyment, I was expecting a massive tomenot to lecture or hector. But  The ''A Dictionary of Interesting and Important DogsChildish Spirits'' series is actually 'one of his greatest achievements. It's a rich compendium sequence of ghost stories centring on Ellie, a stalwart young girl who can cope with anything the spirit world's most significant and beloved dogs'' and it's certainly a rich treasure trove. We begin with Peter J Conradi's four collies: Cloudythrows at her, Sky. Bradley and Max. They're consecutive rather than simultaneous dogsEdward, but what comes over is Conradi's love for each a spoiled lordling and every one of them. I knew that I was in safe hands.the first spirit Ellie encounters|isbn= 1783064617

|isbnauthor=1785769294Jenny Valentine|title=Man at Us in the Window (Detective Cardilini)|author=Robert JeffreysBefore and After|rating=4.5|genre=CrimeTeens|summary=It's when we read Elk and Mab are best friends, or more than that even, their friendship is a young boy is creeping reluctantly to once in a teacher's bedroom one October night that we realise something is badly wronglifetime connection. Nowadays you They meet as children one day on a trip out but unfortunately they don't get each other'might'' hope that something would be done about it fairly quickly but this was 1965 and child abuse was generally regarded as malicious mischief on s contact details at the part of the childtime. The boy would be safe that night But then chance brings them back together, and they are inseparable. Something has happened though - albeit in the most horrific fashion. When he reached Captain Edmund's bedroom he found the man dead on the floor, the top of his skull missing. The school's initial reaction was that this was a dreadful accident: there had been a cull of kangaroos in some nearby fields something terrible and tragic, and now they must work through their grief, and it was obviously a stray bullet which had killed the Captaintheir friendship, together.|isbn=1471196585

|isbnauthor=1786695227Kieran Larwood and Joe Todd-Stanton|title=Invisible in a Bright Light|author=Sally GardnerDungeon Runners: Hero Trial|rating=4.5

|summary=The beginning Meet Kit. Like most of this excellent story will leave the reader more than a little confused: who is the man people in the green suithis world, it seems, what he is an avid fan of Dungeon Running – the Reckoningsport where a team of warrior, mage and why are rows of people in a cave? But stick healer enter specially prepared, century-old, magical mazes, and race to the exit, perhaps bothering with it – Ms Gardner is very cleverly letting us experience the same disorientation as our heroinetreasure or the big bad and the points they grant you along the way. We watch in dismay as Unfortunately for Kit, the only thing he's seen of the latest race on the strange maninn TV equivalent is that one team has been retired, who seems to have no eyeseaten, and a new trio of questors is needed. Possibly very unfortunately indeed for Kit, does his best he has taken to persuade her to answer the goading from the token bully of his questionsworld and stumbled into declaring he'll enter as a team. But for some reason Celeste What chance does this friendless, despite her bewildermentmuscle-free-zone have in actually managing that, remains wary and gives nothing away.how could he possibly hope to succeed?|isbn=1839945184

|isbnauthor=1912374854Saima Mir|title=Violet|author=S J I HollidayVengeance

|summary=I've never been but understand that travelling is all about meeting new people and forming instantaneous bonds with people was instantly intrigued by the premise of this novel – an organised crime syndicate in often chance situationsthe north of England run by a Muslim woman. Well The fact that's exactly what happens when it was the two main/only characters meet second in a travel agency in Beijing - Carrie is unsuccessfully trying to get series I hadn't read didn't stop me – I've jumped midway into a refund few series before (on an extra ticket for the Trans-Siberian train page and Violet is trying to unsuccessfully buy a ticket for the same sold-out journey. As the two team up, travelling through Mongolia, Serbia screen) and into Russia, it couldneedn've been the start of a beautiful friendship but this t be a thriller after all so hindrance if it quickly becomes 's good enough. And that wasn't a tale of obsessionproblem here. Vengeance swiftly brings you up to speed, manipulation and toxic friendshipsI never felt lost.|isbn=0861541561

|isbnauthor=1912374838Stuart Douglas|title=Nothing Important Happened Today|author=Will CarverLowe and Le Breton Mysteries - Death at the Dress Rehearsal|rating=43.5|genre=General FictionCrime|summary=Nothing Important Happened Today is 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 darkreservoir. The police seem happy to assign it as an accidental death, twisted, difficult read. Stories but something about cults often arethe whole thing bothers Lowe, but this is different; it's written with a sense and he enlists the help of style that is quite unlike anything I've read before. I can't remember ever having read a novel with such an oddfellow actor, distinctive narrative voiceJohn Le Breton to help him investigate matters further. While a slim They travel across the country during their days off filming, uncovering more possible murders and relatively small book, seemingly, a link to death during the slow-moving nature of Second World War. But is there really a link between the plot makes it feel far larger than its 276 pages.deaths? And will they manage to uncover who is responsible before more people lose their lives?|isbn=1803368209

|isbn= williamabbeyB0CYV674G2|title=The Pursuit of William AbbeySwanton Morley (John Tanner)|author=Claire NorthDavid Blake

|genre=ParanormalCrime|summary=When William Abbey fails to prevent It seemed like an open-and-shut case. A man, covered in mud and blood - and carrying a knife, comes into the police station shouting that he hasn't killed the man. A body at the lynching bottom of a young boy in 1880freshly dug grave at Swanton Morley church - he's South Africabeen stabbed to death. DCI John Tanner is just back from his honeymoon, which coincided with the birth of his daughter Samantha. You would think he finds himself cursed by 'd be grateful for an easy answer but the grieving motherwords 'perverse' and 'John Tanner' were made for each other. A naïve English Doctor, he slowly learns He's sleep-deprived to the weight point of the curse upon himfalling asleep at work but he's determined to keep going - probably because he can't get any sleep at home.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1787333175|title=You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here|author=Benji Waterhouse|rating=5|genre=Popular Science|summary=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}}, as a glorious mixture of insight into the shadow workings of the dead boy begins NHS, humour and autobiography. ''You Don't Have to follow him across be Mad...'' promised the world. Never stopping, always growing – it crosses oceans same elements but moved from physical problems to mental illness and mountains in pursuit the work of Williama psychiatrist. As he finds himself unable I did wonder whether it was acceptable to resist speaking the truths that he hears be looking for humour in others, he also learns that this setting but the dark shadow laughter is deadly – directed at a situation rather than a person and seeks to kill the one he loves the most…it is always delivered with empathy and understanding.

|isbnauthor=1643785036Onyi Nwabineli|title=The Wondrous Apothecary|author=Mary E MartinAllow Me to Introduce Myself|rating=4.5

|summary=Those who have known Alexander WainwrightAnuri spent her childhood on display to the world, the landscape artist famous for his Turner prize winning ''The Hay Wagonthanks to her step-mother Ophelia's increasingly popular presence on social media, where she posted every step of Anuri's childhood for sponsorships and influencer deals and, basically, monetary gain. Now Anuri is in her twenties and Rinaldo, renowned conceptual artist would say that they're chalk she is slowly trying to regain her confidence and cheeseto get her life back, if not sworn enemiessuing her step-mother to take down the content about her. If you've watched the relationshipAnuri is battling alcoholism, as has our narratorfailing to start her PhD, art dealer Jamie Helmsworth, you'd have said that they were magnets, drawing undergoing therapy and secretly abusing people online and repulsing each other in equal measurereceiving money from them for doing so. Wainwright was at Most importantly, she is desperately worried about her little sister, who is the socially acceptable end new focus of the artistic continuum, but with Rinaldo it was all too obvious that there was but a fine dividing line between conceptual art and public nuisance. As time has worn on, heOphelia's frequently been brought to the attention of the policeonline empire. On this latest occasion we see him charged Can she save her sister, and perhaps herself and her relationship with arson and theft of ''The Hay Wagon''.her father at the same time?|isbn=0861546873

|author=Mary H.K. ChoiDavid Chadwick|title=Permanent RecordHeadload of Napalm|rating=4.5|genre=TeensThrillers|summary=Pablo, a college drop-out, is working at a New York bodega. HeIt's massively September 1973 in debtHicks, he's avoiding his mother, and he finds his joy in creating unusual snacks with random ingredients! Whilst working one evening, he's surprised to discover that the girl he California. Hicks is chatting a Mojave desert town of a few thousand people with as he serves is a super-famous pop star its nearest neighbours of LA and, as unlikely as it may seem, they start Las Vegas both a relationshipsignificant drive away. With one character who is trying very hard not to be seen or noticed by anyone, Not much happens in Hicks. A silver mine and a defence contractor are the other who is seen and followed and hounded by everyone all over the worldmain local employers but otherwise, itthere's an interesting clash as they come togethernot much of note other than dive bars and Joshua trees. This isn't just a love story thoughLife is quiet, and actually it's really just Pab's story, about the journey he takes in his life via his meet-up with Leanna Smartuntil....|isbn=0349003459B0D321VJ76

|isbnauthor=1609809319Tom Percival|title=Long-Haired Cat-Boy Cub|author=Etgar Keret, Aviel Basil and Sondra Silverston (translator)The Wrong Shoes

|summary=One day Will's life is difficult, in a boy multitude of ways. He is in bullied because he has 'the zoo with his fatherwrong shoes', when he has the man gets called away on urgent business. The boy isnwrong shoes because his dad can't hustled into a cab work and taken home first, though, no – hedoesn's given hot dog t have enough moneyfor even the most basic of things like food, and taxi moneyhis dad can't work because he lost his job at the college, and told to just stick around was working a cash-in-hand job on his own a building site and enjoy himselfhad an accident. WellThrow into that mix the fact that his mum and dad are separated, itand Will's no surprise that the orphan-for-an-afternoon sensation the lad feels doesn't make him happylife seems bleak in every direction. And yet, and so he thinks still has a tiny amount of a species name for himselfhope. He is good at art, and curls himself up into an empty cageclings to the moments of joy when he is drawing, as if he were that feel like a light at the end of a new exhibitlong, dark tunnel. And it's then the drama begins… |isbn=1398527122

|author=Sylvie Cathrall|title=A Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|summary= 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=17857855160008517061|title=Fucking Good MannersDeath in a Lonely Place|author=Simon GriffinStig Abell

|genre=LifestyleCrime|summary=Manners maketh manFormer Metropolitan Police detective, they sayJake Johnson, has settled into his rustic life at Little Sky. It certainly makes life easier if everybody abides by There’s perhaps a set little uncertainty about the future of conventionshis life with his vet girlfriend, Livia and her daughter Diana, some as moving in together would mean a lot of which are ages old compromise: does Jake give up his off-grid and other which have evolved over time. Manners are not relaxing life to move in with Livia or does Livia move to Little Sky despite her reservations about how much to tip whether or how you should behave if you get 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 the 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 invitation old house in Norwich - the site was going to Buckingham Palacehold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the bones of a child beneath a doorway. There was no skull. Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, they have nothing to do Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with class or financial status: DCI Harry Nelson. theyIt's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn're about getting t, that she is pregnant with his child as a result of the basics right one night they spent together some three months ago. Her condition will be obvious before we try long, not least because Ruth is prone to deal with more difficult matterssudden bouts of sickness.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008551324|title=The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster|rating=4. Of course we all have more relaxed manners when we5|genre=Crime|summary=It're with 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 friends, but ithe's best if we learn prepared to distinguish between our public tell the police where the body of a missing person is buried and private lives who was responsible for her death. This person, he promises, is someone big and it will be worth the police doing what he wants. And what he wants is to act appropriatelybe transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of his sentence and to get an early parole date. Not much to ask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she'Fucking Good Manners'' aims s even prepared to help us on do the wayother thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening.

|isbn=00083248590008405026|title=Fowl TwinsA Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Eoin ColferJane Casey

|genre=Confident ReadersCrime|summary=Relax, everyone – our It's sixteen years since nine-year-old friend Artemis may be off planet, but the baddies aren't getting away with skulduggery any time soon because they now have not Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one but two members of summer night. She was never found and the Fowl family investigation ground to contend witha halt. Those cute little twins are now eleven (and Now, her mother, franklyHelena, cute no longer) and her father are dead in this, their first independent adventurebed. Initially, they meet it looks like a troll straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the positioning of the bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and without even trying manage her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. What looked as though it was going to make two deadly enemies: be an open-and-shut case is now a nobleman obsessed with immortality whatever complex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that the cost explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (to other peoplesuch as Derwent's boss, Una Burt), and an unusual interrogator-nun. The boys are chased, kidnapped, arrested and even killed (though not for long), all with the help of one trainee fairyless convinced.

|isbn=14722557980571379877|title=The Bad Fire (Bob Skinner)Kellerby Code|author=Quintin JardineJonny Sweet|rating=43.5

|summary=Nine years ago local councillor Marcia Brown took her own life after being accused of shoplifting from Edward Jevons is a local supermarketworking-class young man, obsessed with his upper-class friends, Robert and Stanza. It Robert's always been assumed that she couldna theatre director. He't live with the shame. People were surprised that she committed suicide just before the court case when she had been adamant that she would fight s also self-obsessed, demanding, handsome and entitled and uses Edward to clear her namerun errands for him. She said that she'd Edward has been set up because she was hot on the trail of corruption in the council. Her exlove with Stanza since their university days -husband has contacted Alex Skinner, Solicitor Advocate as well as retired Police Constable Bob Skinner's daughter, and asked that she look into clearing Brownhe's name: itdrunkenly confided how he feels to Robert. Most men in Robert's something which he feels position would stay away from Stanza or tell Edward that a relationship had begun between them but he has 's not like most men: Edward is left to do stumble upon the two of them kissing in memory of his son who was murdered recentlya dark passageway.

|isbnauthor=B07X6GLQ3QJo Callaghan|title=See Them Run|author=Marion ToddLeave No Trace

|summary=D I Clare Mackay When a man is still relatively new found crucified on the top of a hill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to St Andrewthe case alongside her sidekick, the AI detective Lock. It's: she was their first live case together, having previously at Maryhill Rd station in Glasgowbeen very successful with several cold cases. She's left quite But when there is a lot behind including a relationship that wasn't going anywhere after Tom failed to support her when the chips were down. She also left second body found crucified a nasty situation, of her own making but not her faultfew days later, and St Andrew's Kat is a fresh start. Not long into the job she's faced suddenly struggling with a hit potential serial killer and run death and there's little doubt a very high profile case that it wasn't accidental - the card with the number five suggests murder. Andy Robb was married draws a lot of unwanted attention to Sandratheir AI Future Policing project. You could say that Will they had an open marriage but there seemed be able to be a lot of solve the case in time, or will Kat find herself taken off the 'open' case and very little , potentially, out of the 'marriage' left - on both sides, but would she want him deada career?|isbn=139851120X

|isbn=17865409911399613073|title=The Impossible BoyMoral Injuries|author=Ben BrooksChristie Watson

|genre=Confident ReadersThrillers|summary=''Oleg Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and Emma entered their den friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to find be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor. Anjali is the free spirit of the group and she becomes a cardboard spaceship standing where GP. When we first meet them they usually sat're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it's going to end in tragedy. We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the consequences. Twenty-five 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.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0241636604|title=The Trading Game: A Confession|author=Gary Stevenson|rating=4. Slowly5|genre=Autobiography|summary=If you were to bring up an image of a city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson. A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and his background is the front door openedEast End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injustice. Smoke billowed out There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the London School of Economics. And out stepped Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he has a boyfacility with numbers which most of us can only envy. He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to be stupid. It was his ability at what was, essentially, dressed in a long coat card game which got him an internship with an even longer scarfCitibank. Eventually, wound around his neckthis turned into permanent employment as a trader.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1035021803|title=The Antique Hunter''s Guide to Murder|author=C L Miller|rating=3.5|genre=Crime|summary=It's twenty years since Freya Lockwood has been back to the English country village where she grew up. She'"My names back now because of a request for help from her beloved aunt, Carole. Freya's Sebastian Coleformer mentor and Carole's close friend, Arthur Crockleford, is dead and the circumstances seem suspicious," to say the least. Arthur was the reason why Freya had not been back to the boy saidvillage: Arthur, "But you already know thatshe feels, let her down badly."'' And indeed Even though they dowere in business together as antique hunters, she has not felt able to be near the man or pursue the profession she loved. Ever since After the summersplit, she worked in a cafe, when their friend Sarah's mother had moved met and married James (on the rebound from the love of her awaylife, Oleg who was murdered) and Emma Freya and James have been unable to find a new friend to take her placenow divorced.

|isbn=1447281357AllTomorrowsFutureCover|title=Salvation LostAll Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt|author=Peter F HamiltonBenjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)|rating=45

|summary=In ''Opening up new ways of thinking about the twenty-third century, humanity is enjoying a comparative utopia. Yet life on Earth is about shape of things to change, forevercome. Feriton Kane's investigative team has discovered the worst threat ever to face mankind – and we' I've almost no time to fight backheard it said that 'technology' is what happens after you're eighteen. The supposedly benign Olyix plan to harvest humanity Well, I must confess that there have been more than a few decades of technology in order my lifetime. I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to carry us to their god at me but I'm left with the end feeling that it's all getting away from me. Some of the universe. And as their agents conclude schemes down on earth, vast warships converge above to gather this cargoit is - frankly - quite frightening. Some factions push for humanity to flee Of course, to live in hiding amongst I could research the stars – although only a chosen few would make it out in time. But others refuse to break before possibilities and the storm. As disaster looms, animosities must be set aside to focus on just one goal: wiping this enemy from probabilities and end up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they're talking about or the face of creationlatest conspiracy theorist. Even if it means preparing for I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in a future this generation will never seeway I could understand.

|isbnauthor=1471186393Sunny Singh|title=Photographer of the Lost|author=Caroline ScottHotel Arcadia|rating=43.5|genre=Historical FictionThrillers |summary=May 1921The Hotel Arcadia is a luxury hotel in an unnamed city that has suddenly been violently taken over by a terrorist group. Edie receives a photograph Hiding from the terrorists who are rampaging through the post. There is no letter or note with it. There is nothing written , killing everyone on the back of the photograph. It site, there is Sam, a picture of her husbandwartime photographer and Abhi, Francisthe hotel manager. Francis has been missing As Abhi continues to try to care remotely for four years. Technicallythe residents who are still alive in the hotel, he has been "missingforms a bond with Sam who refuses to be cowed by events, believed killed" but that is not something that a young widow can believeand keeps on venturing out of her room to try to capture what's happened through her photography. She hangs on Although they only ever talk over the word 'missing'phone, disbelieving their friendship grows as Abhi tries to help her keep safe and they both wait to see if they will be rescued before they are discovered by the word killedterrorists. |isbn=086154742X

|isbn=17837843501529153298|title=This Golden Fleece: A Journey Through Britain's Knitted HistoryThe List of Suspicious Things|author=Esther RutterJennie Godfrey

|genre=HistoryGeneral Fiction|summary=It was December 's 1979 and Esther Rutter was stuck in her office jobMargaret Thatcher is Prime Minister. (A woman? I mean, writing to people shehonestly...) She's not what's worrying Miv'd never met and preparing spreadsheetss family, though. The job frustrated her and even her knitting did not soothe her mindWomen have been disappearing. January was going Well, they've been murdered, but to be a time for making changes and have 'disappeared' doesn't sound quite so frightening. Miv's upset because she decided 's overheard that she would travel her father wants to move the length and breadth of family 'Down South'. When you're from Yorkshire, Down South is a frightening, foreign place, best avoided. For Miv, the British Isles with occasional forays abroadmove would mean leaving her best friend, Sharon, discovering and telling the story of woolshe's history and how it had made and changed the landscapell do anything to prevent that. She'd grown up on a sheep farm in Suffolk - '' a free range child on s not worried about the farm'dangers or that her Mum' s stopped talking - and learned to spin, knit and weave from her mother and her mother's friend. This was in her bloodanyone.

|isbn=14012862081398524085|title=Black Canary: IgniteHas Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?|author=Meg Cabot and Cara McGeeNicci French|rating=3.5|genre=Confident ReadersCrime|summary=Meet Dinah LanceCharlotte 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. Frustrated that are all worried but - strangely - her policeman father will husband, Alec, is not allow her to try and follow in his footsteps. Shortly afterwards, Etty and seemingly lumbered with being a cheerleader at schoolGreg, she is desperate to find her voice. But itthe body of Greg's actually more a case of her voice finding herfather, as when she gets frustrated or plain dissed at school her vocal outcry can shatter glass better than any opera singer. You could almost call it a weaponDuncan Ackerley, or a powerin the river. But in order It was an easy assumption for her the police to call herself a superhero, make that Duncan had murdered Charlie and then committed suicide when he couldn't stand the guilt. The Salter children are not convinced but there has to be a whole path of steps for her to take – one of which will be into her past…'s little else they can do but get on with their lives and wonder about what really happened.

|isbn=17890179771035906708|title=Ronnie and Hilda's Romance: Towards a New Life after World War IIDiva|author=Wendy WilliamsDaisy Goodwin|rating=4.5|genre=HistoryGeneral Fiction|summary=Ronnie Williams was the son We tend to think of Thomas Henry Williams (known as Harry) and Ethel Wall. There's some doubt Maria Callas as Greek, but she was born to whether or not they were ever married or even Harry's birthdate: he claimed to have been born Greek parents in 1863Manhattan, New York, but he in December 1923 and only moved to Athens when she was already many years older than Ethel and he might well have shaved a few years off his agethirteen. For a while the family Her original surname was quite well-Kalogeropoulos but her father changed it to 'Callas' to-do but disaster struck make it more manageable in the 1929 Depression and five-year-old Ronnie had to adjust to a very different lifestyleStates. One thing he did inherit from his father When she was his need to be wellback in Athens -turnedsupposedly so that she could get appropriate training for her voice -out she was raised under the Nazi occupation by a mother who mercilessly exploited her and this would stay with him throughout his life. He joined the army at eighteen in 1942made no secret of her preference for her elder sister, Jackie.