Changes

<metadesc>Book review siteExpert, with books full book reviews from most walks of literary life; fiction, biography, crimenon-fiction, 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 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. We can even direct you to help for [https://www.easywritingservice.com/custom-book-review/ custom book reviews]! Visit [http://www.everychildareader.org www.everychildareader.org] to get free writing tips and [http://www.genecaresearchreports.com www.genecaresearchreports.com] will help you get your paper written for free.

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]].'''<!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Julia Claiborne Johnson1635866847|title=Be Frank with MeThe Lavender Companion|author=Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci|rating=4.5|genre=General FictionLifestyle|summary=In June 2009 Isaac Vargas sends his assistantIt's strange, twenty-four-year-old Alice Whitley, to Bel Air, California to help Mimi Gillespie produce her long-awaited second novel. Under the name Mthings that make you ''immediately'' feel that this is the book for you.M. Banning, Mimi issued a wildly successful novel back in the 1970s, Before I started reading ''PitchedThe Lavender Companion'', which quickly became a modern classic on every American adolescentI visited the author's list of assigned reading for school[https://www.pinelavenderfarm. Shecom/ website] and there's the sort a picture of figure Harper Lee was for decades: a oneslice of chocolate cake on the homepage. I don't eat cakes and desserts -hit literary wonder and an infamous reclusebut I wanted that cake viscerally. But there (There's one key difference here: Mimi has a nine-year-old sonrecipe in the book, Frankwhich 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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782399208</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Tom Ellen and Lucy IvisonJenny Valentine|title=FreshersUs in the Before and After

|summary= Away from home. Away from Elk and Mab are best friends. Leaving behind parts of the person that you were growing up, in the hopes of finding or more of the person than that you want to become. Going to university even, their friendship is a monumental transitiononce in a lifetime connection. For some, it They meet as children one day on a trip out but unfortunately they don't get each other's an escapecontact details at the time. A 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|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 start anew. A freedom of the sort that youread ''You Don'll rarely have at any other point in life. An opportunity t Have to make lifelong friends and memories that will stay with you forever. However, student life can also be a double-edged sword. ThereMad to Work Here'' after enjoying Adam Kay's first book {{amazonurl|isbn=1509858636|title=This is Going to Hurt}}, a fine line, after allglorious mixture of insight into the workings of the NHS, between the opportunity to meet new people humour and the pressure autobiography. ''You Don't Have to make new friendsbe Mad.. With great freedom comes great responsibility. In '' promised the hands same elements but moved from physical problems to mental illness and the work of new young adults, just leaving a psychiatrist. I did wonder whether it was acceptable to be looking for humour in this setting but the nest, laughter is directed at a situation rather than a person and it's something is always delivered with empathy and understanding. }}{{Frontpage|author=Mariana Enriquez|title=A Sunny Place for Shady People|rating=5|genre=Short Stories|summary=Mariana Enriquez writes horror that can get very messyis disturbingly real, very quickly. Phoebe and Luke went achieving this uncanny familiarity by basing her paranormal plots on gritty realities: her settings include an abandoned field full of disused refrigerators due to the same high schoolan urban planning mishap, but never really floated in the same circlesan overcrowded homeless shelter and a crime-ridden neighbourhood where safety meetings are routine - all within Argentina. But when the two collide in the madness The circumstances of Fresher's week, little do they realise her characters are so plausible that they're about to get pulled the supernatural or otherworldly horror which seeps into each other's worlds for these spaces adopts a messy, intense and hilarious term that neither of them will ever forgetsimilarly tangible texture. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1910655880</amazonuk>1803511230

{{newreview <!-- remove 11/8 -->Frontpage|author=B C R Fegan and Lenny WenOnyi Nwabineli|title=Henry and the Hidden TreasureAllow Me to Introduce Myself

|genre=For SharingGeneral Fiction|summary=Henry is a careful young man. He has a lot 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 treasure Anuri's childhood for sponsorships and influencer deals and he keeps it very well hidden, basically, monetary gain. We might not call it 'treasure': like his parents we'd probably call it 'pocket money' Now Anuri is in her twenties and she is slowly trying to regain her confidence and suggest that what he's not going to spend he should put in get her life back, suing her step-mother to take down the bankcontent about her. But Henry's worried Anuri is battling alcoholism, failing to start her PhD, undergoing therapy and secretly abusing people online and ''he'' knows that only ''he'' can keep his treasure safereceiving money from them for doing so. But what, or whoMost importantly, she is he keeping his treasure safe ''from''? Well, he has a desperately worried about her little sister called Lucy and despite , who is the fact that his parents think he should be nicer to Lucy, Henry knows that shenew focus of Ophelia's really a secret ninja spy sent to steal his treasureonline empire. Isn't that true of ''all'' little sistersCan she save her sister, and perhaps herself and her relationship with her father at the same time?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0995359253</amazonuk>0861546873

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Sara SheridanDavid Chadwick|title= Operation Goodwood: a Mirabelle Bevan MysteryHeadload of Napalm|rating= 4.5|genre= Crime (Historical)Thrillers|summary= In this, the fifth novel It's September 1973 in the Mirabelle Bevan Mystery seriesHicks, we have reached 1955California. There Hicks is less emphasis on rationing now: time has moved on from the post-war privations we saw in our first encounter with Mirabelle and her warm, cheery companion Vesta in 1951, a time when tearing Mojave desert town of a stocking was a disaster of the first order. Various types few thousand people with its nearest neighbours of prejudice are still rife, however, LA and Sara Sheridan is Las Vegas both a real expert at dropping in that small, lightly sketched detail which tells us we are still significant drive away. Not much happens in a Britain overshadowed by the aftermath of conflictHicks. A woman who walks alone into silver mine and a bar will not be served; defence contractor are the British Empire is still front-page newsmain local employers but otherwise, and the colour of a personthere's skin not much of note other than dive bars and Joshua trees. Life is still an almost insurmountable barrier to equality of opportunityquiet, until.... |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1472122364</amazonuk>B0D321VJ76

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Sandra Lawrence and Jane NewlandTom Percival|title=Festivals and CelebrationsThe Wrong Shoes

|genre=Children's Non-FictionConfident Readers|summary=Every day Will's life is difficult, in a feast day, if you follow the Christian calendar very closely – there are probably enough saints now for each day to have about three people attributed to itmultitude of ways. But thatHe is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes's just one religion, one way of thinking, one culture – he has the world is host to a whole lot more, wrong shoes because his dad can't work and in every corner they doesn't have their own way enough money for even the most basic of celebrating. Some poignantly light small fires things like food, and set them afloat to guide his dad can't work because he lost his job at the visiting spirits of the deceased back to their postcollege, was working a cash-life homes; some rejoice in -hand job on a building site and had an accident. Throw into that mix the return of springfact that his mum and dad are separated, or the bounties of the summerand Will's harvest; some just throw crap like tomatoes or coloured water over each otherlife seems bleak in every direction. But the world And yet, he still has a ritual calendar tiny amount of events such as thesehope. He is good at art, and this clings to the moments of joy when he is drawing, that feel like a brilliant book for light at the young that shows how diverse our celebrations can beend of a long, dark tunnel.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1848575955</amazonuk>1398527122

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Sandra Lawrence and Emma TrithartSylvie Cathrall|title=Myths and LegendsA Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating=45|genre=Children's Non-Science Fiction|summary=Mythology There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is a peculiar realm, one of them.|isbn= 0356522776}}{{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 you think about it – not quite legend, and not just they discovered the religions bones of the dead civilisationsa child beneath a doorway. There was 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 something like Nelson doesn't, that she is pregnant with his child as a mixture result of the twoone night they spent together some three months ago. Certainly some of the entries in this pleasant little read hit on legend – King ArthurHer condition will be obvious before long, Robin Hood – but we also seemed not least because Ruth is prone to believe they were true, even if they didn't fit into any pattern sudden bouts of sickness.}}{{Frontpage|author=Joan Didion|title=The Year of organised worshipMagical Thinking|rating=4. But seeing as it 5|genre=Autobiography|summary=This book is Joan Didion's heartbreaking autobiographical account of the gospel truth that people lived by these mythologies, itgrief she endured following her husband's vital for the young sudden death. Books that shed light on taboo topics like death are such a beautiful and necessary resource to have some grounding in the subjecthelp people feel less alone. Didion unpicks unpleasant feelings surrounding death like self-pity, denial and this book is pretty good at providing suchdelusion and makes them utterly normal, lends them a human face to wear.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1848575963</amazonuk>0007216858

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Ian Livingstone0008551324|title=Fighting Fantasy: The Port of PerilDevil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster

|genre=Fantasy Crime|summary=As I promised I would when I looked back at It's unusual for anyone from the beginning of the 35 year history of ''Fighting Fantasy'' gamebooks [[Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone|(here)]], I took Hardie family to approach the brand-new-for-2017 volume with my pen, mapping paper, and most importantly, dicepolice. For Neither side likes or has any respect for the first time other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he's prepared to tell the police where the body of a long, long time, I would not read a book missing person is buried and who was responsible for reviewher death. I would play This person, he promises, is someone big and itwill be worth the police doing what he wants. And so, armed with healthy stamina, reasonable luck but frankly embarrassing skill, I set offwhat he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of his sentence and to get an early parole date. This Not much to ask, is it? The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's even prepared to do the report of other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that journey – as DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well as hopefully being the usual useful book reviewaway from what's happening.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407181297</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Kay Langdale1739526910|title=The Way Back to UsWhere I've Not Been Lost|author=Glen Sibley|rating=4.5

|summary=A household revolves around its weakest member and because it's revolving there'One year after a suicide attempt blows apart musician Brian O’Malley's always a danger that some people - such as a spouse - will be spun to the outsidelife, whilst other children, loosely attached he arrives in an unfamiliar Devon town to the main carer will be recover. Living with an unexpected housemate at a distancehis former manager’s holiday home, never completely close, but never escaping eitherhe dreams of reconnecting with everything he has lost. In the centre are the carer and the person who needs that careBut as those tentative plans falter, bonded together he becomes swept up in such a way that it's actually difficult to offer help or even friendshiplocal world of unlikely friendships, mobile discos and surprising romantic possibilities. So it is with Anna and Teddy, who suffers from Spinal Muscular Atrophy, or SMA as it's generally known. He's five now, confined to a wheelchair or his Whizzybug and not putting on much weight as chewing and swallowing are difficult.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473618363</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Lisa Jewell0008405026|title= Then She Was GoneA Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jane Casey|rating= 5|genre= ThrillersCrime|summary= One day Ellie went to the library for some last minute GCSE study and she never returned. There are a lot of 'It'what ifs?'': what if s sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her sister hadn't had bed one summer night. She was never found and the investigation ground to a noisy friend overhalt. Now, forcing her to seek out somewhere quieter to study? What if there had been more CCTV on the high street so mother, Helena, and her journey could have been traced? What iffather are dead in their bed. Initially, taking it back looks like a bit, she had never met Theo, never fallen for him, never drifted into competition against him straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the positioning of the bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and never felt the need for extra swotting? her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. What if, what if, what if? And what if actually, none of this had made a difference, because what happened looked as though it was always going to happenbe an open-and-shut case is now a complex double murder. Kerrigan is convinced that the explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's boss, one way or another?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780896417</amazonuk>Una Burt) are less convinced.

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Anna Kovecses1529077745|title= Counting ThingsThe Dark Wives (D I Vera Stanhope)|author=Ann Cleeves|rating= 4.5|genre= For SharingCrime|summary= Little Mouse is learning lots A man walking his dog in the early morning discovered the body of new things a man in this series of books by the Hungarian illustrator Anna Kovecsespark near Rosebank, and here we see a care home for troubled teens. The dead man was Josh - one of the delightful little rodent counting its way through care workers who was due to work a shift the jungle, night before but who had never turned up. D I Vera Stanhope is called in to investigate the farmyard, murder - but her only clue is the countryside and disappearance of one of the townresidents, fourteen-year-old Chloe Spencer. On every page Some people believe that Chloe was responsible for the same question death but Vera thinks this is asked, beginning with unlikely as the girl'How many s diary makes it clear that she adored Josh. . . ?', and the toddler, with the help of an adult or older sibling, will soon learn She knows that she has to find Chloe to discover what happened to touch the named items on the page and under the flapJosh. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1786030365</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Lisa Heathfield1399613073|title= Flight of a StarlingMoral Injuries|author=Christie Watson|rating=4.5|genre=TeensThrillers|summary= Rita Olivia, Laura and Lo are sisters Anjali met on the first day of medical school and best friends tootheir friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century. Their partnership extends Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to be a double act as cardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is a trapeze act in perfectionist and a trauma doctor. Anjali is the free spirit of the travelling circus that forms group and she becomes a backdrop to their livesGP. Always on the move, travelling from one place When we first meet them they're at a drug and alcohol-fuelled party and it's going to another, never staying end in one town for long is all they have ever knowntragedy. The sisters are surrounded by We don't know who suffered the tragedy or the love of their family and consequences. Twenty-five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the close three friends . This time, it's their teenage children who make up the other circus acts. Their lives are happy and secureinvolved. Until one day Lo meets a boy, a special boy named Dean. Their growing friendship, together with a secret that Lo discovers, will change things for ever. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405285907</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Sharon Cohen0241636604|title=The Starman and MeTrading Game: A Confession|author=Gary Stevenson

|genre=Confident ReadersAutobiography|summary=''He wasn't If you were to bring up an alienimage of a city banker in your mind, I was sure you're unlikely to think of thatsomeone like Gary Stevenson. It was more like he'd walked in through an ancient door from A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and his background is the past... except East End, where he was herefamiliar with violence, in my bedroom poverty and his misty forest injustice. There was somewhere real no posh public school on Planet Earthhis CV - but he had been to the London School of Economics.'' Twelve Stevenson is bright -yearextremely bright -old Kofi thought he was seeing things when and he spied has a tiny human on a roundabout near facility 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 houseability at what was, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with Citibank. But he wasn't. Rorty Thrutch is Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as real as you or mea trader. But how did Rorty come to be hiding out in the middle of a roundabout in Bradborough? And why is he so insistent that he'll soon be ''bad dead''? |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1786540088</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Sophie GuerriveLeanne Egan|title=Dinosaur Detective's Search-and-Find Rescue MissionLover Birds

|genre=Children's Non-FictionTeens|summary=This is a horrific worldWhen new girl, Isabel, moves to Lou's hometown of Liverpool from London Lou immediately feels Isabel's disdain for everything around her. Monsters leer over all the mountain topsA misunderstanding between them leaves them hating each other, but Lou feels her pulse racing every time she looks at Isabel or speaks with her, there's a giant octopus in one building and a green giantthat's arms coming through the windows of anotherdefinitely because Isabel makes her feel so cross, and everywhere you look someone has lost something. isn't it? Luckily the Dinosaur Detective Because Lou is on hand to help. straight, isn't she? YesEven though none of her relationships with boys have gone very well so far, despite his paws looking incredibly ungainly on the controls and she's never had a good kiss with any of his flying machinethem? So she just finds herself watching Isabel, he and wanting to hang out with her because fighting with her is able to visit all eleven zonesfun, and find the five things requested of him in each. But can youshe definitely just hates Isabel, doesn't she?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1786030713</amazonuk>000862657X

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Helen Doe1009473085|title= The First Atlantic Liner: Brunel's Great Western SteamshipConservative Effect 2010 - 2024|author=Anthony Seldon and Tom Egerton (Editors)|rating= 4.5|genre= HistoryPolitics and Society|summary= Isambard Kingdom BrunelSometimes it's enduring seafaring monuments were the Great Britain simpler to explain a book by describing what it ''isn't'' and Great Easternthat applies to ''The Conservative Effect: 2010-2024 - 14 Wasted Years?''. Their forerunner If you're looking for an easy read which will deliver the Great Westerninside story about what ''really'' happened on certain occasions, which paved then this isn't the way and yet is now largely forgottenbook for you. If that's what you're looking for, I don't think Anthony Seldon's book, {{amazonurl|isbn=B0BH7SKG2S|title=Johnson at last merits 10}}, can be bettered for those tumultuous years. It's a full account compelling read and should be compulsory for anyone who thinks Johnson should return to politics. ''The Conservative Effect'' is an entirely different beast. It's the seventh book in this book. Ms Doe admits a series which looks at the front that she is not an engineer, impact a government has made and co-editor Sir Anthony Seldon regards this as a maritime historian her interests are more social and economic than technicalthe most important. Her aim is to tell This book follows the story well-established format: a series of experts from various fields review the ship, that state of the people who travelled on her as crew or passengersnation when the coalition took over in 2010, the changes that occurred and her influence on subsequent maritime history after an existence of barely two decadesthe situation in 2024.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1445667207</amazonuk>

{{newreview <!-- remove 5/8 -->Frontpage|titleauthor=Eye Spy IIMax Boucherat|authortitle=Tessa BuckleyThe Last Life of Lori Mills|rating=4.5

|summary=Fresh from We meet Lori on the success of solving its first caseevening she's got the house to herself – no neighbour to pop in, Eye Spy Investigations is certainly up for anotherbabysitter poorly, mother at work, just an avidly rule-breaking eleven year old, on her lonesome. So twins Alex What could possibly go wrong? Snuggled in a blanket fort, she has one main intention, and Donna jump at the chance that is to log on to investigate the strange things happening at Voxminer, the Prioryworld-building, home to school friend Jimmy Devlincritter-collecting game that is a hit in Lori's world. Alex But first Lori has a tiny inkling that this stormy night doesn't believe find herself entirely on her own, and then she finds something even more spooky. For the server she and her bestie and nobody else should be able to enter shows signs of tampering. When malevolent eyes spark up on her phone screen, and her safe place in ghosts and he the game has been doctored – well, where is very keen a girl to persuade Donna that they don't exist.turn?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1788032667</amazonuk>0008666482

{{newreview <!-- remove 4/8 -->Frontpage|author= Geoffrey ArnoldFyodor Dostoyevsky|title= HuntedWhite Nights|rating= 45|genre= Science FictionShort Stories|summary=Tullia learns about survival As always in the bush when she is taken hostage and later saves a youth's life during a hunt. Adopted into a Bushman family and the tribeDostoyevsky, her presence stirs disparate feelings amongst the young men and women, a mixture of awe, desire, fear and hate. Living a very different life, Qwelby, Tullia's twin, character work is deeply shocked by the violence on Earthsublime. As he One is rescued by his four best friends from the Pit of Despair, he experiences his first feelings for Tamina, a girl he has known for years. Feelings which become much stronger for another girl he tries to help during a violent attack from his own world as he and Tullia seek to restore their telepathic link. Forming never left wondering what a connection with the twins during the attack, the girl, Xaala, character is charged by her master with monitoring thinking or feeling because Dostoyevsky lays bare their attempts to mentally reconnect – innermost dispositions and to prevent them. Xaala is torn between her mixed feelings for the twins and obeying her orders. Meanwhile, on the planet Vertazia and in secret, Quelby's family and friends build what they hope will be the first ever inter-dimensional transport. On a short test run, the village where he is staying is discovered. When Quelby finds out he is being watched, he flees from the village..temperaments with remarkable clarity.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1785891855</amazonuk>0241619785

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Ed McDonald 0008385068|title= Blackwing: The Raven's Mark Book OneMidnight Feast|author=Lucy Foley|rating= 4.5|genre= Fantasy Thrillers|summary= Perfect 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 fans of Scott Lynchthe wealthy and famous. Her husband, Joe Abercrombie and Mark LawrenceOwen, this dark adventure is gripping was the architect and bloody; it work is a twisted story that spins a web still ongoing on parts of deceitthe site. Nothing The heat is oppressive and amongst the guests are enemies as it seems, well as ageless powers manipulate and control the lives of the charactersfriends. The world is a staging ground, all leading Old scores are going to one dramatic confrontation that has been be settled and it won't be long before a century in the makingbody is found.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>147322201X</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jeff Brown and Rob BiddulphJames Baldwin|title=Flat StanleyGiovanni's Room

|genre=Emerging ReadersLiterary Fiction |summary=''Stanley was four feet tall, about a foot wide, and half an inch thick.'' Yes, thereGiovanni's proof that this is the original text of this classic childrenRoom's book – at least it's not been updated to metric. So while follows the illustrations are newnarrator David, we get the real dealan American man living in Paris, as he navigates his torturous affair with the young Stanley squished one nightGiovanni, to such an extent Italian bartender he can limbo under shut doorsmeets in a gay bar. While David is engaged to Hella, get airmailed to America to visit relativeswho is travelling in Spain, become a kite for the real tension in the novel arises not from his younger brother to play with, and moreinfidelity but from the deeper conflict within himself. But then you donIt is David't need to update perfections crippling shame and denial of his sexuality that ultimately dooms his relationship with Giovanni.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1405288108</amazonuk>0141186356

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Kate EllisB0DGDJRHYD|title=The Mermaid's Scream (Wesley Peterson)Nowhere Man|author=Deborah Stone

|genre=CrimeGeneral Fiction|summary=In 1884 a wealthy young woman became infatuated with the man who ran a travelling puppet show. We'll follow the story of John Lipton's courtship through excerpts from quiet suburban house, Patrick is making his journalfinal plans. In August 2016 Zac Wilkinson was writing the biography A meticulous man, he makes sure of every preparation, down to the reclusive novelist Wynn Stanilandlast detail. It's not easy work as Staniland isn't inclined to give more away than Some last reflections, and then he has says goodbye to his wife, the world, and is unwilling to discuss the one thing which the public will want to know about: his wifelife. It's suicide which seemed to follow a scene from horribly sad. At work in her shop, his most famous book. Wilkinson wife Diana is doing his best to drum up interest in the forthcoming book: he does talks at local libraries which are well attended fending off yet another phone call about her ageing and he was seemingly on his way to one of these talks when he disappearedailing mother, who needs extricating from yet another accident. It will be a while before Diana realises what Patrick has done.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0349413118</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Naoki Higashida and David MitchellVirginie Despentes|title=Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight: A Young Man's Voice From the Silence of AutismKing Kong Theory|rating= 54|genre= ReferenceAutobiography |summary=Naoki Higashida was only 13 years old when he wrote the international best-seller ''The Reason I Jump.King Kong Theory'' The book was popular because it gave is a rare glimpse into the workings of the autistic mindhard-hitting memoir and feminist manifesto, which can be seen as told from the unique perspective of a teenager with non-verbal autismcall to arms for women in a phallocentric society broken at its core. Naoki communicates by using an alphabet gridOriginally written in French, or by tracing letters on the palm book is a collection of essays in which Virginie Despentes explores her experiences as a transcriberwoman through the complex prism of her varied life: from rape to sex work and pornography. Despite this slow and laborious method of writingThough these discussions are intertwined, he has published several books in his native Japantheir placement within the book can feel somewhat disjointed, and manages to give public presentations to raise awareness a reflection of his condition. ''Fall Down 7 Times Get up 8'' reintroduces us to Naoki their original form as a young adult in his 20s and explains how his perspectives on life have changed since writing his first bookindependent essays.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1444799088</amazonuk>191309734X

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Caz FrearJames Baldwin|title= Sweet Little LiesGiovanni's Room|rating= 4.5|genre= ThrillersLiterary Fiction |summary= In 1998 ''Giovanni's Room'' 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 girl called Maryanne disappears in Irelandgay bar. In 2017 a woman called Alice While David is found dead in London. In both casesengaged to Hella, Detective Constable Cat Kinsella who is coincidentally close bytravelling in Spain, the real tension in the novel arises not from his infidelity but she's more worried by from the fact her father deeper conflict within himself. It is too. And he cannot be trusted.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785763350</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Mayim Bialik|title= Girling Up|rating= 4.5|genre= ChildrenDavid's Non-Fiction|summary= Aimed at teenagers, this book focuses on growing up as a girl, or ''Girling up'' if you will, crippling shame and what it means to transition from school girl to grown up, via denial of his sexuality that hideous detour of teenage yearsultimately dooms his relationship with Giovanni.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0399548602</amazonuk>0141186356

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Philippa Pearce and Cate JamesAshley Hickson-Lovence|title=The Ghost in Annie's Room (Little Gems)Wild East

|genre=Dyslexia FriendlyTeens|summary=Emma Written in verse, this is on Ronny's story, a young black fourteen year old boy from Hackney who suddenly has to move to Norwich and start at a family holiday in an older relativemostly white school. The move is initiated by Ronny's mum who is worried for Ronny's seaside cottagesafety after a tragic event, where she is and so Ronny finds himself trying to sleep settle in the room in the attica new town, a new school, and keep himself out of trouble. Her brother He listens to music constantly, and has passed on what he says he has overheard – that it is hauntedalways dreamed of being a rapper. But even with the mementos 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 person that once lived there all around herconnections between rap and poetry, and with a strange feeling the power of being watched, even with the stormy winds knocking tree limbs on to the window – Emma can sleep through it allcreativity and crafting your words. But that's not to say things will forever be that way…|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1781126852</amazonuk>0241645441

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Svetlana Alexievich, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (translators)Alba de Cespedes |title=The Unwomanly Face of WarForbidden Notebook|rating=54|genre=HistoryLiterary Fiction|summary=''War'', says Svetlana Alexievich, ''is first of all murder, and then hard This Italian work. And then simply ordinary life: singing, falling in love, putting your hair in curlers…''. This extraordinary book is a collection of first-hand accounts by Russian fighting women in the Second World War. A million women joined Russian military forces as soldiers of all ranks, medics, pilots, drivers, snipers, cryptographers. Most were very young, little more than girls feminist fiction holds an air of 18 or 19. They were passionate about defending their homeland suspense and often extremely keen to join uptension from the moment our protagonist, returning again and again to recruitment offices until someone could be persuaded to take them. Their ambition was to help their brothersValeria Cossati, fatherspurchases her forbidden notebook, husbands to fight the terrible invader. They were trained and sent to learns about herself in the front, where they were greeted at first with disappointment most intimate and disgust by fighting men, who had hoped for reinforcements of able-bodied men. The women had to prove themselvesrevealing ways.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0141983523</amazonuk>1782278222

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Alison JayOttessa Moshfegh|title= Alison Jay's ABCMy Year of Rest and Relaxation|rating= 4.53|genre= For SharingLiterary Fiction|summary= At first glancebest, this novel is a beautiful but fairly standard alphabet book: one letter per page with a nice big picture scathing critique of modern society and reveals the fragility of human relationships; at worst, it is the cynical, predictable and slightly trite tale of an apple or unlikeable protagonist. This unlikely heroine, a panda front slim, attractive and centre - after all, newly orphaned girl in her twenties is disillusioned with the ABC format is pretty restrictiveworld, isn't but resolves not to lose sleep over it? And truth be told: in fact, that's all most small people will see first time round. But look a little closer . . her solution lies in her hibernation. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1787410196</amazonuk>1784707422

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Anna KovecsesJo Callaghan|title=Opposite ThingsLeave No Trace|rating=4.5|genre=For SharingCrime|summary=Rearing When a child man is not found crucified on the top of a competitionhill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the case alongside her sidekick, the AI detective Lock. It's their first live case together, but have having previously been very successful with several cold cases. But when there is a conversation second body found crucified a few days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with a certain type potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a lot of parent and they won't agree. Their child can speak four languages. Their child wrote unwanted attention to their first sonnet at the age of threeAI Future Policing project. Their child can Will they be seen wistfully looking into the middle distance just wanting able to play on solve the bouncy castle. For me, I am happy, if my child is happy; be that doing sumscase in time, or eating play-doh. Howeverwill Kat find herself taken off the case and, even with a relaxed attitude to educating your kidpotentially, it can be fun to learn a little, especially when out of a book is as fun as Little Mouse's ''Opposite Things''.career?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1786030381</amazonuk>139851120X

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Michael Morpurgo and Shoo RaynerB0DB64PYV5|title= Mudpuddle Farm: Hee-Haw Hooray|rating= 4|genre= Emerging Readers|summary=Two collected stories from Mudpuddle Farm series – ''Nowt to Worry About'' and ''Tickety-Boo''. How will the animals react when the sky goes strange and horrifying noises abound? Changes are afoot that could mark the end of Mudpuddle farm; or is it just a new beginning?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0008241988</amazonuk>}}{{newreview <!-- remove 1/8 -->|author=Stephan Santiago|title=Returning Home|rating=3.5|genre=Spirituality and Religion|summary=[[:Category:Stephan Santiago|Stephan Santiago]] has experienced life in a way that's led him to believe we're all on a soul journey back home – that place we inhabited before we were born. This book is a guide as to how we can optimise this journey for ourselves, those around us and our children.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1504305272</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewThe White Rose|author=Julia Blackburn|title=Threads: The Delicate Life of John CraskeDave Baines|rating=4.5|genre=BiographyDystopian Fiction|summary=John Craske was a fishermanIn 2033, from a family of fishermen, who became too ill to go to sea. He was born in Sheringham on superstorm known as the north Norfolk coast in 1881 and would eventually die in White Rose devastates the Norwich hospital in 1943 after a life which could have been defined by ill healthNorthern Hemisphere. There were various explanations for what ailed him, what caused him to sink into a stupour, sometimes for years at a time and he was on occasions described as And it'an imbecile'. But John had s not a natural artistic talent, albeit storm that his work had to be done on the available surfaces in his home. Chair seatsgathers, window sillswreaks havoc, the backs of doors all carried his wonderful pictures of the seathen dissipates. Then he moved on to embroideryInstead, producing wonderful pictures of it hovers across half the Norfolk coast Earth with its octopus- like tentacles, not giving up and, most famously, of the evacuation at Dunkirknever going away.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099582198</amazonuk>