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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.
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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]].''' <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1686751680B0DGDJRHYD|title=My Mummy does weird things / Maman fait des choses bizarresNowhere Man|author=Amelie Julien and GustyawanDeborah Stone
|rating=4
|genre=For SharingGeneral Fiction|summary=Which child doesn't think that there mother In a quiet suburban house, Patrick ismaking his final plans. A meticulous man, wellhe makes sure of every preparation, ''weird''? It might be that in down to the morning their mother doesn't like speaking muchlast detail. Some last reflections, when every self-respecting child knows that that is when you're at your brightest with lots and then he says goodbye to say? ''Why'' then does Mummy stick her fingers in her ears? Then there's doing yoga in front of his wife, the televisionworld, which could be worrying if it wasnand his life. It't so funnys horribly sad. We won't go into too much detail about what goes on At work in the bathroom and the colour changes which have occured when Mummy emerges and franklyher shop, the less said the better his wife Diana is fending off yet another phone call about her reactions to your artistic efforts on the wallageing and ailing mother, who needs extricating from yet another accident. I mean, It will be a while before Diana realises what else would you use paint for?Patrick has done.
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Justine Avery and Liuba SyrotiukVirginie Despentes|title=What Wonders Do You See... When You Dream?King Kong Theory
|rating=4
|genre=For SharingAutobiography |summary=''The day has endedKing Kong Theory''is a hard-hitting memoir and feminist manifesto, which can be seen as a call to arms for women in a phallocentric society broken at its core. Originally written in French, the book is a collection of essays in which Virginie Despentes explores her experiences as a woman through the complex prism of her varied life: from rape to sex work and pornography. Though these discussions are intertwined, their placement within the book can feel somewhat disjointed, a reflection of their original form as independent essays.|isbn=191309734X}}{{Frontpage|author=James Baldwin|title=Giovanni'<br>s Room|rating=4.5|genre=Literary Fiction |summary=''HasnGiovanni's Room't it been splendid?'follows the narrator David, an American man living in Paris, as he navigates his torturous affair with Giovanni, an Italian bartender he meets in a gay bar. While David is engaged to Hella, who is travelling in Spain, the real tension in the novel arises not from his infidelity but from the deeper conflict within himself. It is David' <br>s crippling shame and denial of his sexuality that ultimately dooms his relationship with Giovanni.|isbn=0141186356}}{{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, itin 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 timestrange, to be surethe things that make you ''immediately'' feel that this is the book for you. Before I started reading '' <br>The Lavender Companion''For an entirely different adventure, I visited the author's [https://www.pinelavenderfarm.com/ website] and there' <br> s a picture of a slice of chocolate cake on the homepage. I hope you havendon't forgotten how 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 feels . Notes in the margins are sanctioned. You get to fold down the corners of pages. You suspect that smears of butter would not be much too excited for beda problem. If you I ''loved''re this book already.}}{{Frontpage|author=Jenny Valentine|title=Us in the 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 parent lifetime connection. They meet as children one day on a trip out but unfortunately they don't get each other's contact details at leastthe time. But then chance brings them back together, youand 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|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'll know how it s first book {{amazonurl|isbn=1509858636|title=This is Going to persuade an excited small person that yesHurt}}, a glorious mixture of insight into the workings of the NHS, it is in fact time for bedhumour and autobiography. ''What Wonders DoYou SeeYou Don't Have to be Mad...'' sets out promised the same elements but moved from physical problems to mental illness and the work of a psychiatrist. I did wonder whether it was acceptable to cater be looking for humour in this setting but the laughter is directed at a situation rather than a person and it is always delivered with empathy and understanding. }}{{Frontpage|author=Onyi Nwabineli|title=Allow Me to these childrenIntroduce Myself|rating=4. Instead 5|genre=General Fiction|summary=Anuri spent her childhood on display to the world, thanks 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 she is slowly trying to persuade regain her confidence and to get her life back, suing her step-mother to take down the content about her. Anuri is battling alcoholism, failing to start her PhD, undergoing therapy and secretly abusing people online and receiving money from them that night time for doing so. Most importantly, she is desperately worried about her little sister, who is calm the new focus of Ophelia's online empire. Can she save her sister, and perhaps herself and her relationship with her father at the same time?|isbn=0861546873}}{{Frontpage|author=David Chadwick|title=Headload of Napalm|rating=4.5|genre=Thrillers|summary= It's September 1973 in Hicks, it takes a slightly different tackCalifornia. It tells them that sleep Hicks is actually an exciting time: a time Mojave desert town of a few thousand people with its nearest neighbours of dreams in which imagination takes over LA and has no limitLas Vegas both a significant drive away. But the trick Not much happens in accessing this wonderful Hicks. A silver mine and exciting worlda defence contractor are the main local employers but otherwise, there's not much of note other than dive bars and Joshua trees. Life is to get calm and relaxed first so that you can easily fall asleep and open the door to itquiet, until.... |isbn=194812422X B0D321VJ76
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Michael HarrisTom Percival|title=Solitude: In Pursuit of a Singular Life in a Crowded WorldThe Wrong Shoes
|rating=5
|genre=LifestyleConfident Readers|summary= This Will's life is not the book I was expecting it to be. For some reason I expected it to be another self-help manual on how to find calmdifficult, how to step outside the mainstream, but it is not that at allin a multitude of ways. Instead of telling us how, it He is more about bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', he has the wrong shoes because his dad can'whyt work and doesn't have enough money for even the most basic of things like food, and his 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. Harries examines how weThrow into that mix the fact that his mum and dad are separated, and Will're eroding solitude, which used to be a natural part of our human s lifeseems bleak in every direction. And yet, and why that matters. Of course he talks about how some people have found solitude and what still has come a tiny amount of thathope. He is good at art, and eventually in clings to the final chapter moments of joy when he talks about his own experience is drawing, that feel like a light at the end of having deliberately sought it outa long, but mostly he wanders down the alleys and by-ways that his thinking about this lost art led himdark tunnel.|isbn=18479476621398527122
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Andy BriggsSylvie Cathrall|title=Ctrl+SA Letter to the Luminous Deep
|rating=5
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary= Life in the near future's not all bad. We've reversed global warming and fixed the collapsing bee population. We even created SPACE, There are few greater joys than a virtual-sensory universe where average guys like Theo Wilson can do almost anything they desire. But almost anything isn't enough for some. Every day, normal people are being taken, their emotions harvested - and book which lives traded - up to create death-defying thrills for the rich and twisted. Now Theo’s mother has disappeareda compelling premise. And as he follows her breadcrumb trail this is one of clues, he'll come up against the most dangerous SPACE has to offer: vPolice, AI Bots and anarchists - as well as a criminal empire that will kill to stop him finding her . . them.|isbn=14091846410356522776
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=16098093781786482126|title=The Rabbits' RebellionJanus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Ariel Dorfman and Chris RiddellElly Griffiths
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident ReadersCrime|summary=WeBuilders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the site was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury're in apartments - when they discovered the realm bones of the rabbitsa child beneath a doorway. There was no skull. Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, only the foxes and wolves have taken overDr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. King WolfIt's difficult as Ruth knows, His Wolfiness, has declared the rabbits donbut Nelson doesn't exist, but the pesky birds have spread rumours from awing that she is pregnant with his child as a result of the bunnies are in fact still aroundone night they spent together some three months ago. Demanding a propaganda spreeHer condition will be obvious before long, King Wolf orders a humble monkey not least because Ruth is prone to be his official portrait photographer, but whatever sudden bouts of sickness.}}{{Frontpage|author=Joan Didion|title=The Year of Magical Thinking|rating=4.5|genre=Autobiography|summary=This book is Joan Didion's heartbreaking autobiographical account of the poor innocent monkey prints out in his darkroom there is grief she endured following her husband's sudden death. Books that shed light on taboo topics like death are such a distinct leporine hintbeautiful and necessary resource to help people feel less alone. Can King Wolf succeed in proving himself victoriousDidion unpicks unpleasant feelings surrounding death like self-pity, denial and delusion and makes them utterly normal, can the rabbits show their continued existence lends them a human face to all who need to know of it – and what can the poor monkey caught in between do?wear.|isbn=0007216858
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Innosanto NagaraAlba de Cespedes |title=M is for MovementForbidden Notebook
|rating=4
|genre=Emerging ReadersLiterary Fiction|summary=Set in Indonesia, in the not too distant past, this is a story about social change. Dealing with some difficult issues, such as political corruption This Italian work of feminist fiction holds an air of suspense and nepotism, tension from the book is neither boring nor preachy. It educates gentlymoment our protagonist, with vibrantValeria Cossati, challenging illustrationspurchases her forbidden notebook, and 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 learns about herself in an increasingly uncertain world, we do still have the power to instigate changemost intimate and revealing ways.|isbn=16098093511782278222
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1780724047Ottessa Moshfegh|title=A Dictionary My Year of Interesting Rest and Important Dogs|author=Peter J ConradiRelaxation|rating=43|genre=PetsLiterary Fiction|summary=I struggle to resist a book about dogsAt best, but I did wonder why this one was so ''thin'': given that I've never encountered novel is a dog who wasn't interesting or important - scathing critique of modern society and probably bothreveals the fragility of human relationships; at worst, I was expecting a massive tome. But ''A Dictionary of Interesting and Important Dogs'' it is actually ''a rich compendium of the world's most significant cynical, predictable and beloved dogs'' and it's certainly slightly trite tale of an unlikeable protagonist. This unlikely heroine, a rich treasure trove. We begin with Peter J Conradi's four collies: Cloudyslim, Sky. Bradley attractive and Max. They're consecutive rather than simultaneous dogsnewly orphaned girl in her twenties is disillusioned with the world, but what comes resolves not to lose sleep over is Conradi's love for each and every one of them. I knew that I was it: in fact, her solution lies in safe handsher hibernation.|isbn=1784707422
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=17857692940008551324|title=Man at the Window The Devil You Know (Detective CardiliniD S Max Craigie)|author=Robert JeffreysNeil Lancaster
|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=It's when we read that a young boy 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 creeping reluctantly struggling in prison and he's prepared to tell the police where the body of a teacher's bedroom one October night that we realise something missing person is badly wrong. Nowadays you ''might'' hope that something would be done about it fairly quickly but this was 1965 buried and child abuse who was generally regarded as malicious mischief on the part of the childresponsible for her death. The boy would This person, he promises, is someone big and it will be safe that night though - albeit in worth the most horrific fashionpolice doing what he wants. When And what he reached Captain Edmund's bedroom he found wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the man dead on the floor, the top remainder of his skull missingsentence and to get an early parole date. Not much to ask, is it? The schoolnew Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's initial reaction was even prepared to do the other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that this was a dreadful accident: there had been a cull of kangaroos in some nearby fields DS Max Craigie and it was obviously a stray bullet which had killed the Captainanyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=17866952271739526910|title=Invisible in a Bright LightWhere I've Not Been Lost|author=Sally GardnerGlen Sibley
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident ReadersGeneral Fiction|summary=The beginning of this excellent story will leave the reader more than ''One year after a little confused: who is the man suicide attempt blows apart musician Brian O’Malley's life, he arrives in the green suitan unfamiliar Devon town to recover. Living with an unexpected housemate at his former manager’s holiday home, what is the Reckoning, and why are rows he dreams of people in a cave? But stick reconnecting with it – Ms Gardner is very cleverly letting us experience the same disorientation as our heroineeverything he has lost. We watch in dismay But as the strange manthose tentative plans falter, who seems to have no eyes, does his best to persuade her to answer his questions. But for some reason Celeste, despite her bewildermenthe becomes swept up in a local world of unlikely friendships, remains wary mobile discos and gives nothing awaysurprising romantic possibilities.''
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=19123748540008405026|title=VioletA Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=S J I HollidayJane Casey|rating=3.5|genre=ThrillersCrime|summary=I've never been but understand that travelling is all about meeting new people and forming instantaneous bonds with people in often chance situations. Well thatIt's exactly what happens when the two main/only characters meet in a travel agency in Beijing sixteen years since nine- Carrie is unsuccessfully trying to get a refund on an extra ticket for the Transyear-Siberian train old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and Violet is trying the investigation ground to unsuccessfully buy a ticket for the same sold-out journeyhalt. As the two team up Now, her mother, travelling through MongoliaHelena, Serbia and into Russiaher father are dead in their bed. Initially, it couldlooks like a straightforward murder/suicide but there've been s something about the start positioning of a beautiful friendship but this a thriller after all so the bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. What looked as though it quickly becomes was going to be an open-and-shut case is now a tale of obsessioncomplex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that the explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's boss, manipulation and toxic friendshipsUna Burt) are less convinced.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1912374838Jo Callaghan|title=Nothing Important Happened Today|author=Will CarverLeave No Trace
|rating=4
|genre=General FictionCrime|summary=Nothing Important Happened Today When a man is found crucified on the top of a darkhill in Nuneaton, twistedDCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the case alongside her sidekick, difficult readthe AI detective Lock. It's their first live case together, having previously been very successful with several cold cases. Stories about cults often are But when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, but this Kat is different; it's written suddenly struggling with a sense potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a lot of style that is quite unlike anything unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. Will they be able to solve the case in time, or will Kat find herself taken off the case and, potentially, out of a career?|isbn=139851120X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529077745|title=The Dark Wives (D I've read Vera Stanhope)|author=Ann Cleeves|rating=4.5|genre=Crime|summary=A man walking his dog in the early morning discovered the body of a man in the park near Rosebank, a care home for troubled teens. The dead man was Josh - one of the care workers who was due to work a shift the night beforebut who had never turned up. D I canVera Stanhope is called in to investigate the murder - but her only clue is the disappearance of one of the residents, fourteen-year-old Chloe Spencer. Some people believe that Chloe was responsible for the death but Vera thinks this is unlikely as the girl't remember ever having read s diary makes it clear that she adored Josh. She knows that she has to find Chloe to discover what happened to Josh.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1399613073|title=Moral Injuries|author=Christie Watson|rating=4.5|genre=Thrillers|summary=Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a novel with such an oddcentury. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, distinctive narrative voicewhich is a bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. While Laura is a slim perfectionist and relatively small book, a trauma doctor. Anjali is the free spirit of the group and she becomes a GP. When we first meet them they'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 slowconsequences. Twenty-moving nature of five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the plot makes three friends. This time, it feel far larger than its 276 pages's their teenage children who are involved.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn= williamabbey0241636604|title=The Pursuit of William AbbeyTrading Game: A Confession|author=Claire NorthGary Stevenson|rating=34.5|genre=ParanormalAutobiography|summary=When William Abbey fails If you were to prevent the lynching bring up an image of a young boy city banker in 1880your mind, you's South Africa, he finds himself cursed by the grieving motherre unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson. A naïve English Doctor, he slowly learns hoodie and jeans replaces the weight of pin-stripe suit and his background is the curse upon himEast End, as the shadow of the dead boy begins to follow him across the world. Never stoppingwhere he was familiar with violence, always growing – it crosses oceans poverty and mountains in pursuit of Williaminjustice. As There was no posh public school on his CV - but he finds himself unable had been to resist speaking the truths that he hears in others, London School of Economics. Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he has a facility with numbers which most of us can only envy. He also learns realised that the dark shadow is deadly – and seeks most rich people expect poor people to kill the one he loves the most…be stupid. 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=1643785036B0DB64PYV5|title=The Wondrous ApothecaryWhite Rose|author=Mary E MartinDave Baines
|rating=4
|genre=General Dystopian Fiction|summary=Those who have In 2033, a superstorm known Alexander Wainwright, as the White Rose devastates the landscape artist famous for his Turner prize winning Northern Hemisphere. And it''The Hay Wagon'', and Rinaldo, renowned conceptual artist would say s not a storm that they're chalk and cheese, if not sworn enemies. If you've watched the relationshipgathers, as has our narratorwreaks havoc, art dealer Jamie Helmsworth, you'd have said that they were magnets, drawing and repulsing each other in equal measurethen dissipates. Wainwright was at the socially acceptable end of the artistic continuumInstead, 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, he's frequently been brought to the attention of hovers across half the police. On this latest occasion we see him charged Earth with arson its octopus-like tentacles, not giving up and theft of ''The Hay Wagon''never going away.
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Mary H.K. ChoiLeanne Egan|title=Permanent RecordLover Birds|rating=4.5
|genre=Teens
|summary=PabloWhen new girl, a college drop-outIsabel, is working at a New York bodega. Hemoves to Lou's massively in debt, hehometown of Liverpool from London Lou immediately feels Isabel's avoiding his motherdisdain for everything around her. A misunderstanding between them leaves them hating each other, and he finds his joy in creating unusual snacks but Lou feels her pulse racing every time she looks at Isabel or speaks with random ingredients! Whilst working one eveningher, heand that's surprised to discover that the girl he is chatting with as he serves is a super-famous pop star anddefinitely because Isabel makes her feel so cross, as unlikely as isn't it may seem, they start a relationship. ? With one character who is trying very hard not to be seen or noticed by anyone, and the other who Because Lou is seen and followed and hounded by everyone all over the worldstraight, it's an interesting clash as they come together. This isn't just a love story she? Even thoughnone of her relationships with boys have gone very well so far, and actually itshe's really never had a good kiss with any of them? So she just Pab's storyfinds herself watching Isabel, about the journey he takes in his life via his meet-up and wanting to hang out with her because fighting with Leanna Smart.her is fun, and she definitely just hates Isabel, doesn't she?|isbn=0349003459000862657X
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=16098093191009473085|title=LongThe Conservative Effect 2010 -Haired Cat-Boy Cub2024|author=Etgar Keret, Aviel Basil Anthony Seldon and Sondra Silverston Tom Egerton (translatorEditors)
|rating=5
|genre=Confident ReadersPolitics and Society|summary=One day Sometimes it's simpler to explain a boy is in book by describing what it ''isn't'' and that applies to ''The Conservative Effect: 2010-2024 - 14 Wasted Years?''. If you're looking for an easy read which will deliver the zoo with his fatherinside story about what ''really'' happened on certain occasions, when then this isn't the man gets called away on urgent businessbook for you. The boy isnIf that's what you're looking for, I don't hustled into a cab and taken home firstthink Anthony Seldon's book, though{{amazonurl|isbn=B0BH7SKG2S|title=Johnson at 10}}, no – hecan be bettered for those tumultuous years. It's given hot dog money, a compelling read and taxi money, and told should be compulsory for anyone who thinks Johnson should return to just stick around on his own and enjoy himselfpolitics. ''The Conservative Effect'' is an entirely different beast. Well, itIt's no surprise that the orphanseventh book in a series which looks at the impact a government has made and co-foreditor Sir Anthony Seldon regards this as the most important. This book follows the well-an-afternoon sensation established format: a series of experts from various fields review the lad feels doesn't make him happy, and so he thinks state of a species name for himselfthe nation when the coalition took over in 2010, the changes that occurred and curls himself up into an empty cage, as if he were a new exhibitthe situation in 2024. And it's then the drama begins…
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1785785516Max Boucherat|title=Fucking Good Manners|author=Simon GriffinThe Last Life of Lori Mills|rating=4|genre=Lifestyle|summary=Manners maketh man, they say. It certainly makes life easier if everybody abides by a set of conventions, some of which are ages old and other which have evolved over time. Manners are not about how much to tip or how you should behave if you get an invitation to Buckingham Palace, they have nothing to do with class or financial status: they're about getting the basics right before we try to deal with more difficult matters. Of course we all have more relaxed manners when we're with family and friends, but it's best if we learn to distinguish between our public and private lives and to act appropriately. ''Fucking Good Manners'' aims to help us on the way.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008324859|title=Fowl Twins|author=Eoin Colfer|rating=5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Relax, everyone – our old friend Artemis may be off planet, but We meet Lori on the baddies arenfirst evening she't getting away with skulduggery any time soon because they now have not one but two members of s got the Fowl family house to herself – no neighbour to contend with. Those cute little twins are now pop in, babysitter poorly, mother at work, just an avidly rule-breaking eleven (andyear old, frankly, cute no longer) and on her lonesome. What could possibly go wrong? Snuggled in thisa blanket fort, their first independent adventureshe has one main intention, they meet a troll and without even trying manage that is to log on to make two deadly enemies: a nobleman obsessed with immortality whatever Voxminer, the cost (to other people)world-building, and an unusual interrogatorcritter-nuncollecting game that is a hit in Lori's world. The boys are chased, kidnapped But first Lori has a tiny inkling that this stormy night doesn't find herself entirely on her own, arrested and then she finds something even killed (though not for long), all with more spooky. For the help server she and her bestie and nobody else should be able to enter shows signs of one trainee fairytampering. When malevolent eyes spark up on her phone screen, and her safe place in the game has been doctored – well, where is a girl to turn?|isbn=0008666482
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbnauthor=1472255798Jenny Lecoat|title=The Bad Fire (Bob Skinner)|author=Quintin JardineBeyond Summerland|rating=4.5|genre=CrimeGeneral Fiction|summary=Nine years ago local councillor Marcia Brown took Jean lives on Jersey with her own life after being accused mother where they are celebrating the end of shoplifting from a local supermarketthe occupation. It During the war, Jean's always been assumed that she couldn'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 father was arrested for listening to clear a banned radio and soldiers took him away one night, leaving Jean and her namemother waiting for years for news of him. She said As the British finally free the Channel islands from the Nazis, and the war is finally over, their hopes rise that she'd been set up because she was hot on the trail they will finally learn what became of corruption in him. But will the council. Her ex-husband has contacted Alex Skinner, Solicitor Advocate truth come as well as retired Police Constable Bob Skinner's daughtera relief, and asked that she look into clearing Brown's name: or will it's something which he feels that he has to do in memory of his son raise further questions around what else happened during the war? Who was the informer who was murdered recently.told the Nazis about the radio? And what other secrets have been kept throughout the occupation?|isbn=1846976537
}}
 
{{Frontpage
|isbn=B07X6GLQ3Q1529428289|title=See Them RunA Grave in the Woods (A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel)|author=Marion ToddMartin Walker
|rating=4
|genre=Crime
|summary=D I Clare Mackay is still relatively new to St Andrew's: she was previously at Maryhill Rd station in GlasgowBecause of various property transactions, people were searching for the grave but when they found it, it came with three sets of bones. She's left quite a lot behind including a relationship that wasn't going anywhere after Tom failed They dated back to World War II and it fell to support her when Bruno, the chips were down. She also left a nasty situationChief of Police for St Denis, to discover the identities of her own making but the bodies and establish whether or not her fault, and St Andrew's is a fresh startcrime had been committed. Not long into the job she's faced with a hit and run death and there's little doubt that it wasnAs if this isn't accidental enough to worry about, the Dordogne River - normally tranquil - the card with the number five suggests murderis flowing at record levels. Andy Robb was married to Sandra. You could say It's not just the local autumn rains that they have caused the problem: various dams upstream on another river have had an open marriage but there seemed to be a lot of release water and St Denis faces the 'open' and very little possibility of the 'marriage' left - on both sides, but would she want him dead?a devastating flood.
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{{Frontpage
|isbn=1786540991152919640X|title=The Impossible BoySuspect|author=Ben BrooksRob Rinder
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident ReadersCrime|summary=The nation''Oleg and Emma entered their den to find a cardboard spaceship standing where they usually sat. Slowlys favourite daytime TV presenter, the front door opened. Smoke billowed out. And out stepped a boyJessica Holby, dressed in a long coat with an even longer scarf, wound around his neckwas murdered live on television and it seems that there's only one suspect.''  ''"My name He's celebrity chef Sebastian Cole," the boy said, "But you already know Brooks and his contract stated thathe must not serve anything containing miso to Jessica Holby." She'' And indeed s seriously allergic and carries an EpiPen in case of emergencies. Everything seemed as normal - as normal as they do. Ever since the summer, when their friend Sarah's mother had moved her awaycan be in a busy, Oleg live television studio - and Emma have been unable Brooks served a ragout to find a new friend Holby. Her EpiPen was nowhere to take her placebe found and she was dead within minutes. It was soon clear that this was no accident.
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{{Frontpage
|isbn=14472813570008385068|title=Salvation LostThe Midnight Feast|author=Peter F HamiltonLucy Foley|rating=4.5|genre=Science FictionThrillers|summary=In It's midsummer on the twenty-third century, humanity is enjoying a comparative utopiaDorset coast and guests gather at The Manor. It's their opening weekend and splendid celebrations are promised. Yet life on Earth is about to change, forever It's all headed up by Francesca Meadows. Feriton Kane The Manor was her ancestral home and she's investigative team has discovered converted it into an impressive retreat for the worst threat ever to face mankind – wealthy and we've almost no time to fight backfamous. The supposedly benign Olyix plan to harvest humanity Her husband, Owen, in order to carry us to their god at was the end architect and work is still ongoing on parts of the universesite. And as their agents conclude schemes down on earth, vast warships converge above to gather this cargo. Some factions push for humanity to flee, to live in hiding The heat is oppressive and amongst the stars – although only a chosen few would make it out in timeguests are enemies as well as friends. But others refuse Old scores are going to break before the storm. As disaster looms, animosities must be set aside to focus on just one goal: wiping this enemy from the face of creation. Even if settled and it means preparing for won't be long before a future this generation will never seebody is found.
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