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<metadesc>Book review site, with books from most walks of literary life; fiction, biography, crime, cookery and children's books plus author interviews and top tens.</metadesc>
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<metadesc>Expert, full book reviews from most walks of literary life; fiction, non-fiction, children's books & self-published books plus author interviews & top tens.</metadesc>
<h1 id="mf-title">The Bookbag</h1>
 
Hello from The Bookbag, a book review 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.
 
  
There are currently '''{{PAGESINCATEGORY:Reviews}}''' reviews at TheBookbag.
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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!
  
Want to find out more [[About Us|about us]]?
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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'''],
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==Reviews of the Best New Books==
 
  
'''Read [[:Category:New Reviews|new reviews by genre]]. '''<br>
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There are currently '''{{PAGESINCATEGORY: Reviews}}''' [[:Category:Reviews|reviews]] at TheBookbag.
  
'''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].'''<!-- Remove -->
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Want to find out more [[About Us|about us]]? __NOTOC__
{{newreview
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|author=Michael Kogge
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==The Best New Books==
|title=Star Wars The Force Awakens Novel
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|rating=4
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'''Read [[:Category:New Reviews|new reviews by category]]. '''<br>
|genre=Confident Readers
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|summary=A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…  Actually, it was any place on this planet you care to mentionAdults took their children along to see a proper time machine – one that would take the parents back to a future-seeming science fantasy action film, and would transport children to an ideal place where derring-do did, where spacecraft never bothered with taking fourteen parsecs to do the Kessel Run when they could do it in twelve, and where high-octane action was to be hadThe time machine was called The Force Awakens, the seventh film in the enduring series.  But when they got home there were no books suitable for the young readers to use to engage with what they'd just seen.  The Alan Dean Foster adaptation of the script was for adults – it was a lot longer and more wordy than they were used toThey had to wait months for a book telling the story their way.  But now it’s arrived.
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'''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].'''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405283939</amazonuk>
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=0008385068
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|title=The Midnight Feast
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|author=Lucy Foley
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|rating=4.5
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|genre=Thrillers
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|summary=It's midsummer on the Dorset coast and guests gather at The ManorIt'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 famousHer 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 friendsOld scores are going to be settled and it won't be long before a body is found.
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Stefan Mohamed
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|author=James Baldwin
|title= Ace of Spiders
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|title=Giovanni's Room
|rating= 5
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|rating=4.5
|genre= General Fiction
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|genre=Literary Fiction  
|summary= Stanly is frustrated. Having set himself up as London's protector, he's finding that the everyday practicalities of superheroism are challenging at best, and downright tedious at worst. So it's almost a relief when an attempt is made on his life and Stanly finds himself rushing headlong into a twisted adventure, with enemies new and old coming out of the woodwork. However, even with his friends and his ever-increasing power behind him, he may have bitten off more than he can chew this time. The monsters are coming… and nothing will ever be the same!
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|summary=''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 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's crippling shame and denial of his sexuality that ultimately dooms his relationship with Giovanni.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784630675</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0141186356
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Alex T Smith
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|author=Ashley Hickson-Lovence
|title=Claude Going for Gold!
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|title=Wild East
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=For Sharing
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|genre=Teens
|summary=I've been a fan of Claude from the beginningHe charmed me from the start, with his plump tummy, little legs, red jumper and rather fetching beret. I can't help but love a dog who wears a beret! He also has a charming best friend, Sir Bobblysock, (who is indeed a woolly sock) who always makes me laughIn this particular book they are off on another hunt for an adventure, and although it seems for a while that there is simply no fun to be had outside of the house they finally fall, literally, into a Very Exciting Sports Competition!
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|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 schoolThe 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 rapperBut now, in this new school, his teacher encourages him to be part of a poetry writing workshop group and, slowly, Ronny begins to see the connections between rap and poetry, and the power of creativity and crafting your words.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444926489</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0241645441
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Lisa Beazley
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|isbn=1635866847
|title= Keep Me Posted
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|title=The Lavender Companion
|rating= 4
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|author=Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci
|genre= Women's Fiction
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|rating=4.5
|summary='Keep me Posted' is written in a light-hearted, informal style, narrated by a young mother called Cassie who lives in New York. She and her husband Leo have twin toddlers, and her life is busy, full of technology and fast foodHer older sister Sid is more laid back, and something of a technophobe; although they used to be close, they haven't really been in touch much since Sid and her family moved to Singapore.  
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|genre=Lifestyle
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1925240754</amazonuk>
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|summary=It's strange, the things that make you ''immediately'' feel that this is the book for you.  Before I started reading ''The Lavender Companion'', I visited the author's [https://www.pinelavenderfarm.com/ website] and there's a picture of a slice of chocolate cake on the homepage.  I don't eat cakes and desserts - but I wanted that cake viscerally(There's a recipe in the book, which I'm avoiding with some difficulty!!) Then I started reading the book and I was told to make a mess of it.  Notes in the margins are sanctioned.  You get to fold down the corners of pages.  You suspect that smears of butter would not be a problem.  I ''loved'' this book already.
 
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}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Helen Docherty and Mark Beech
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|author=Jenny Valentine
|title=Do You Remember?
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|title=Us in the Before and After
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=For Sharing
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|genre=Teens
|summary=We have various picture books in our house that have a tendency to leave me a little blurry eyed, whilst my children remain entirely nonplussed!  Aimed at sparking some parental emotion, the stories behind them are often a little lacking. This book, however, works for both children and grown ups, in a really lovely way.  Beginning with a small child's cry of ''I can't do it!'' the mum in the story reminisces about all the many different (and funny) things that her child has learned to do over the years, encouraging her that she has always got there in the end.
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|summary=Elk and Mab are best friends, or more than that even, their friendship is a once in a lifetime connection.  They meet as children one day on a trip out but unfortunately they don't get each other's contact details at the time.  But then chance brings them back together, and they are inseparable.   Something has happened though, something terrible and tragic, and now they must work through their grief, and their friendship, together.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571321143</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1471196585
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Pippa Goodhart and Sam Usher
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|isbn=1787333175
|title=What Will Danny Do Today?
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|title=You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here
|rating=4.5
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|author=Benji Waterhouse
|genre=For Sharing
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|rating=5
|summary=Every day we face a multitude of choices, from what to wear and what to eat to what to do when we get home in the eveningThis book is all about making decisions, but in a very simple and fun way that encourages discussion with your toddlerThe character we are deciding for is a little boy called Danny, and we follow him through the course of one day, thinking about what he will decide on each page.
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|genre=Popular Science
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405275103</amazonuk>
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|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}}, a glorious mixture of insight into the workings of the NHS, humour and autobiography''You Don't Have to be Mad...'' promised the same elements but moved from physical problems to mental illness and the work of a psychiatristI did wonder whether it was acceptable to 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.  
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Tony Bradman and Tom Morgan-Jones
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|author=Mariana Enriquez
|title= The Boy and the Globe
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|title=A Sunny Place for Shady People
|rating= 4
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|rating=5
|genre= Dyslexia Friendly
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|genre=Short Stories
|summary= This lively and enjoyable story is set in early seventeenth century London where young orphan Toby Cuffe is living on the streets where life is hard. In order to survive, the resourceful Toby joins the gang of boys who work for Moll Cut-Purse as thieves. Moll sends Toby to the Globe Theatre to do some pickpocketing where Toby becomes so engrossed in the play being performed that he forgets about his own safety. Caught by the theatre's owners Toby meets the writer of the play he has just seen performed, the famous playwright William Shakespeare. Then our young hero is given an opportunity that he had not expected. Toby is full of enthusiasm for the theatre and rekindles the Bard's enthusiasm too so that together they team up to save the threatened theatre.
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|summary=Mariana Enriquez writes horror that is disturbingly real, achieving this uncanny familiarity by basing her paranormal plots on gritty realities: her settings include an abandoned field full of disused refrigerators due to an urban planning mishap, an overcrowded homeless shelter and a crime-ridden neighbourhood where safety meetings are routine - all within Argentina. The circumstances of her characters are so plausible that the supernatural or otherworldly horror which seeps into these spaces adopts a similarly tangible texture.  
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781125031</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1803511230
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Kevin MacNeil
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|author=Onyi Nwabineli
|title=The Brilliant and Forever
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|title=Allow Me to Introduce Myself
|rating= 3.5
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|rating=4.5
|genre= Humour
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|genre=General Fiction
|summary= You know sometimes when someone tells a joke, everyone else laughs, and you're sat there wondering what was so funny?
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|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 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 for doing so.  Most importantly, she is desperately worried about her little sister, who is 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?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846973376</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0861546873
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Malorie Blackman
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|author=David Chadwick
|title=Chasing the Stars
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|title=Headload of Napalm
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Teens
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|genre=Thrillers
|summary=Olivia - Vee - and her brother Aidan are trying to get back to Earth after a mystery virus killed everyone, including their parents, on their ship. It's been a lonely three years and a dangerous one, too, as they've tried to avoid the dangerous and xenophobic Mazons. But sometimes the Mazons can't be avoided and this is one of them: when dozens of human beings are being attacked and only Vee and Aidan close enough to launch a rescue mission.
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|summary= It's September 1973 in Hicks, California. Hicks is a Mojave desert town of a few thousand people with its nearest neighbours of LA and Las Vegas both a significant drive away. Not much happens in Hicks. A silver mine and a defence contractor are the main local employers but otherwise, there's not much of note other than dive bars and Joshua trees. Life is quiet, until....
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857531417</amazonuk>
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|isbn= B0D321VJ76
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Hannah Rothschild
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|author=Tom Percival
|title=The Improbability of Love
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|title=The Wrong Shoes
|rating=4
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|rating=5
|genre=General Fiction
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|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=It's set to be the sale of the century: Russian oligarchs, Arab sheikhs, rappers and heiresses are all lined up to bid for ''The Improbability of Love'', a small Antoine Watteau oil painting depicting a courting couple overlooked by a clown. The painting was missing until six months ago, when Annie McDee bought it from a junk shop for £75 as a birthday present for an incompatible fellow she met through Internet dating. When he didn't show for dinner and the junk shop mysteriously burnt down so that she couldn't ask for a refund, the painting became hers. Thirty-year-old Annie had been in a rut: after a painful break-up from Desmond, with whom she ran a cheese shop and café in Devon, she moved to London and was working as a PA to randy Italian film director Carlo Spinetti. She also acquired an unwanted roommate: her alcoholic mother, Evie.
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|summary=Will's life is difficult, in a multitude of ways.  He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and doesn't have enough money for even the most basic of things like food, and 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. Throw into that mix the fact that his mum and dad are separated, and Will's life seems bleak in every direction.  And yet, he still has a tiny amount of hope. He is good at art, and clings to the moments of joy when he is drawing, that feel like a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408862476</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1398527122
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Philip Dent
 
|title=Mutable Passions: Charlotte Bronte: A Disquieting Affair
 
|rating=3
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=As the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Brontë's birth approaches, it is a perfect time for reading about her. Philip Dent's second novel chooses a lesser known period of her life to dramatize. All her siblings are now dead; during a hard winter when she is unable to visit her best friend, Ellen Nussey, Charlotte spends her time finishing ''Villette'', her final novel. The family servant, Tabby, ribs Charlotte about her romantic prospects – including Patrick Brontë's curate, Arthur Bell Nicholls. Charlotte responds with indignation: 'I could no more kiss the lips of a man with a beard as big as rooks' nests than I could yours, Tabby.'
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178589093X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Helen Simonson
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|author=Sylvie Cathrall
|title=The Summer Before the War
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|title=A Letter to the Luminous Deep
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=Summer 1914: Beatrice Nash arrives in Rye following the death of her father, hoping to earn a living as a Latin tutor.  Despite being the sort of woman with ideas of her own, she has allies in the family of local pillar of the community Lady Agatha. Agatha may not have realised just how modern Beatrice is but she'll stand by her after having been her sponsor for the post initially.  Meanwhile Agatha's nephew, medical student Hugh soon warms to Beatrice but his heart belongs to Lucy, his surgeon professor's daughter.  Soon, though, the events of a small town summer will fade in importance; the Balkans will explode and Europe is thrown into a war that's far from the swift, romantic, consequence-free conflict of which summer daydreams are made.
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|summary= There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408837641</amazonuk>
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|isbn= 0356522776
|amazonus=<amazonus>1408837641</amazonus>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Rebecca Thornton
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|isbn=1786482126
|title=The Exclusives: No One Can Hurt You More Than a Friend
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|title=The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)
 +
|author=Elly Griffiths
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
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|genre=Crime
|summary=Josephine is a successful archaeologist on a dig in Amman when she gets the email she never expected: Freya wants to meet up with herThe reason isn’t such a surprise thoughIn 1996 Freya and Josephine were best friends at boarding school till the aftermath of a night out clubbingFreya desperately wants to talk to Jo about the events that ripped their friendship apart, the events that Josephine has avoided speaking or thinking about in more than a decade.
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|summary=Builders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the site was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the bones of a child beneath a doorway.  There was no skullWas this a ritual killing or murder?  Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry NelsonIt's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn't, that she is pregnant with his child as a result of the one night they spent together some three months agoHer condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of sickness.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785770128</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Paul Tobin
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|author=Joan Didion
|title=The Genius Factor: How to Capture an Invisible Cat
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|title=The Year of Magical Thinking
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
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|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Delphine is quite a normal 6th grader, if with a few eccentric traits. She has dozens of friends, argues with her siblings, misbehaves in class but not too much, disobeys her parents but not too seriously, and earns extra pocket money by dog-walking. She spends this money on cake. Mostly. Nate is not like Delphine. He has no friends and mostly goes under the radar of 6th grade society. But Delphine has noticed him and for good reason: Nate is a genius. He's so clever that he's even been studied by foreign academics. Not that this gains him much currency with his peers.
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|summary=This book is Joan Didion's heartbreaking autobiographical account of the grief she endured following her husband's sudden death. Books that shed light on taboo topics like death are such a beautiful and necessary resource to help people feel less alone. Didion unpicks unpleasant feelings surrounding death like self-pity, denial and delusion and makes them utterly normal, lends them a human face to wear.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408869977</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0007216858
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Adrian Selby
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|isbn=0008551324
|title=Snakewood
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|title=The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)
|rating=4
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|author=Neil Lancaster
|genre=Fantasy
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|rating=4.5
|summary=Kailen's Twenty are an elite; the type of mercenaries that live on in legendIt therefore stands to reason that the authorities want them dead but they aren't the only onesAs the guerrilla war between rebels and governing classes rages on, a lone assassin, as elite as the Twenty, unknown even to those on the same side is on their trailWho is he and why the vendetta?  The answer will be revealed one day to those still alive to hear it.
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|genre=Crime
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356505529</amazonuk>
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|summary=It's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the policeNeither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he's prepared to tell the police where the body of a missing person is buried and who was responsible for her deathThis person, he promises, is someone big and it will be worth the police doing what he wants.  And what he wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of his sentence and to get an early parole dateNot much to ask, is it?  The new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's even prepared to do the other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening.
|amazonus=<amazonus>0356505529</amazonus>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Peter Popham
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|isbn=1739526910
|title=The Lady and the Generals: Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma's Struggle for Freedom
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|title=Where I've Not Been Lost
 +
|author=Glen Sibley
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Biography
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|genre=General Fiction
|summary=On 13 November 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest after spending 15 of the previous 21 years as a prisoner of Burma's military junta. Political reforms soon followed, culminating with Suu (as she prefers to be known) being elected to parliament. The West rejoiced; leaders, business men, and tourists poured in; and Suu entered the pantheon of modern-day political heroes. Burma was a burgeoning democracy, and Suu was a saint. In reality, as Peter Popham argues in 'The Lady and the Generals', the situation was far more complex.
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|summary=''One year after a suicide attempt blows apart musician Brian O’Malley's life, he arrives in an unfamiliar Devon town to recover. Living with an unexpected housemate at his former manager’s holiday home, he dreams of reconnecting with everything he has lost. But as those tentative plans falter, he becomes swept up in a local world of unlikely friendships, mobile discos and surprising romantic possibilities.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846043719</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Christopher Fowler
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|isbn=0008405026
|title= Bryant and May: Strange Tide
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|title=A Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)
|rating= 3.5
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|author=Jane Casey
|genre= Crime
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|rating=5
|summary= The thirteenth outing for Bryant and May is looking very much like it will be their lastArthur Bryant is on compassionate leave whilst tests are continuing, which are likely to confirm that he is suffering from Alzheimer'sHis condition is worsening almost by the day, memory lapses are morphing into full-scale hallucinations.
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|genre=Crime
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857523422</amazonuk>
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|summary=It's sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night.  She was never found and the investigation ground to a halt.  Now, her mother, Helena, and her father are dead in their bedInitially, it looks like a straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the positioning of the bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious.  What looked as though it was going to be an open-and-shut case is now a complex double murderKerrigan is convinced that the explanation lies in Rosalie's disappearance: others (such as Derwent's boss, Una Burt) are less convinced.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Kim Slater
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|isbn=1529077745
|title=A Seven-Letter Word
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|title=The Dark Wives (D I Vera Stanhope)
 +
|author=Ann Cleeves
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
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|genre=Crime
|summary=Finlay has got more than one PROBLEM.  He lives alone with his father, who chain-smokes in between trips out to do odd jobs for people, and seems to have reduced his worth to just one recipe since his wife, Finlay's mother, vanished two years agoThings are still bitter with him – he says she might as well be dead – but the issue manifests itself badly with Finlay, and he has grown into suffering quite a severe STUTTER, which leads to no end of TEASING at schoolHis one way out, it seems, is for a change an eight-letter word, SCRABBLE – he can hide away from the mismanagement of words that his speaking implies he has over a set of tiles and can play a decent gameBut what happens when he is contacted online by a mysterious Alex – is this possibly a way to combine his love of the word game with his quest for the truth about his mother's ABSENCE?
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|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 teensThe dead man was Josh - one of the care workers who was due to work a shift the night before but who had never turned upD I Vera Stanhope is called in to investigate the murder - but her only clue is the disappearance of one of the residents, fourteen-year-old Chloe SpencerSome people believe that Chloe was responsible for the death but Vera thinks this is unlikely as the girl's diary makes it clear that she adored Josh. She knows that she has to find Chloe to discover what happened to Josh.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>150980112X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Stella J Jones and Alison Edgson
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|isbn=1399613073
|title= The Very Grumpy Day
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|title=Moral Injuries
|rating= 4
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|author=Christie Watson
|genre= For Sharing
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|rating=4.5
|summary= Happiness is contagious, but did you ever consider that grumpiness might be too? If you look at Bear, it's quite plain to see. He's not having a good day, and when he takes it out on Mole, it spreads quickly through the forest, with Hedgehog and Fox and the squirrels and the owls all getting a taste. What a horrible, grumpy day for everyone.
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|genre=Thrillers
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184869203X</amazonuk>
+
|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 century.  Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon.  Laura is a perfectionist and 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 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.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author= Eric Carle
+
|isbn=0241636604
|title= Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother Too?
+
|title=The Trading Game: A Confession
|rating= 4.5
+
|author=Gary Stevenson
|genre= For Sharing
+
|rating=4.5
|summary= Babies have mothers, mothers who may well be reading these books with them. And their mothers have mothers, or they used to at any rate. But what about other animals. Does a kangaroo have a mother? How about lions and dolphins?
+
|genre=Autobiography
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007106165</amazonuk>
+
|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 East End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injustice.  There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the London School of Economics.  Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he has a 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 ability at what was, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with Citibank. Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Lydia Pyne
+
|author=Leanne Egan
|title=Bookshelf (Object Lessons)
+
|title=Lover Birds
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Lifestyle
+
|genre=Teens
|summary=Could you imagine a whole book dedicated to a single lump of wood, or a few sections of metalI can't assume it would be great – with or without said item being ''an object with physical, historical and psychological components''.  But shove some distorted tree by-products on to said wood or metal, and lo and behold you have a bookshelf.  Now you're talking – but could you even now imagine a whole book dedicated to it?
+
|summary=When new girl, Isabel, moves to Lou's hometown of Liverpool from London Lou immediately feels Isabel's disdain for everything around her.  A misunderstanding between them leaves them hating each other, but Lou feels her pulse racing every time she looks at Isabel or speaks with her, and that's definitely because Isabel makes her feel so cross, isn't itBecause Lou is straight, isn't she?  Even though none of her relationships with boys have gone very well so far, and she's never had a good kiss with any of them?  So she just finds herself watching Isabel, and wanting to hang out with her because fighting with her is fun, and she definitely just hates Isabel, doesn't she?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1501307320</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=000862657X
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author= Bethan Woolvin
+
|isbn=1009473085
|title= Little Red
+
|title=The Conservative Effect 2010 - 2024
|rating= 4.5
+
|author=Anthony Seldon and Tom Egerton (Editors)
|genre= For Sharing
+
|rating=5
|summary= We all know the story of Little Red Riding Hood, yes? Like many fairy tales, it's a little dark, so when you hear of a version that reimagines the story, your mind starts to wonder how they may have done this. Maybe a happy ending? That would be nice.
+
|genre=Politics and Society
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1447291395</amazonuk>
+
|summary=Sometimes it's simpler to explain a 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 inside story about what ''really'' happened on certain occasions, then this isn't the book for you.  If that's what you're looking for, I don't think Anthony Seldon's book, {{amazonurl|isbn=B0BH7SKG2S|title=Johnson at 10}}, can be bettered for those tumultuous years.  It's a 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 a series which looks at the impact a government has made and co-editor Sir Anthony Seldon regards this as the most important. This book follows the well-established format: a series of experts from various fields review the state of the nation when the coalition took over in 2010, the changes that occurred and the situation in 2024.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Luis Sepulveda, Satoshi Kitamura and Margaret Sayers Peden (translator)
+
|author=Max Boucherat
|title=The Story of a Seagull and the Cat Who Taught Her to Fly
+
|title=The Last Life of Lori Mills
|rating=4
+
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Confident Readers
 
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=In the world of this book, danger brings people together, but adversity brings them together even more firmlyOn the one hand we have Zorba, the big fat black cat, who was once swallowed by a pelican as a kitten, and now has been abandoned – well, temporarily, as his human child owner is away for a long time.  But we also have a seagull, busy fishing when the alarm rings out and therefore left alone to be swamped by an oil slickTrying to take her last flight, she crashlands on Zorba's balcony, and promptly delivers an egg – and with her dying breath procures the promise of the cat to look after the hatchling until Zorba can teach it to fly.  But surely a lesson in flight from a cat is beyond even the binds of adversity?
+
|summary=We meet Lori on the first evening she's got the house to herself – no neighbour to pop in, babysitter poorly, mother at work, just an avidly rule-breaking eleven year old, on her lonesomeWhat could possibly go wrong?  Snuggled in a blanket fort, she has one main intention, and that is to log on to Voxminer, the world-building, critter-collecting game that is a hit in Lori's world.  But first Lori has a tiny inkling that this stormy night doesn't 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 tamperingWhen 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?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846884004</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0008666482
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Miroslav Penkov
+
|author=Fyodor Dostoyevsky
|title=Stork Mountain
+
|title=White Nights
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Short Stories
 +
|summary=As always in Dostoyevsky, the character work is sublime. One is never left wondering what a character is thinking or feeling because Dostoyevsky lays bare their innermost dispositions and temperaments with remarkable clarity.
 +
|isbn=0241619785
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=B0DGDJRHYD
 +
|title=Nowhere Man
 +
|author=Deborah Stone
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=A young man, his grandfather and a stork with a broken wing are the ''company of rebels'' at the heart of this lively tale set in Bulgaria's Strandja Mountains. The storks that return to the mountains each spring are migrants, like so many of the people that have passed through the region over the centuries. The young narrator is also in transit, born in Bulgaria, but raised and educated in America. The story opens with his return to Bulgaria in search of his grandfather who has broken off contact with his family in America. But the young man's motives are not as clear cut as first appears.
+
|summary=In a quiet suburban house, Patrick is making his final plans. A meticulous man, he makes sure of every preparation, down to the last detail. Some last reflections, and then he says goodbye to his wife, the world, and his life. It's horribly sad. At work in her shop, his wife Diana is fending off yet another phone call about her ageing and ailing mother, who needs extricating from yet another accident. It will be a while before Diana realises what Patrick has done.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473622182</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author= Kristie Dean
+
|author=Virginie Despentes
|title= On the Trail of the Yorks
+
|title=King Kong Theory
|rating= 4.5
+
|rating=4
|genre= History
+
|genre=Autobiography
|summary= Just when you wondered whether there was room on your shelves for another book on the Yorkist dynasty, here comes a very enterprising addition. Part biography, part travel guide, this is a guidebook comprising a tour of various places at home and abroad associated with the major figures.  
+
|summary=''King 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1445647133</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=191309734X
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Edith Hall
+
|author=Alba de Cespedes
|title=The Ancient Greeks: Ten Ways They Shaped the Modern World
+
|title=Forbidden Notebook
|rating= 5
+
|rating=4
|genre=History
+
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary= Reading Edith Hall's book on the Ancient Greeks, develops a deep respect for the power of poetry. No poet was more effective in this regard than Homer recounting the sea adventures contained in the ''The Odyssey''. It shaped the self-definition of a nation and engendered self-confidence. The mariners set out in their beautiful ships across the Aegean and established colonies to the West, in the Mediterranean as far as the Pillars of Hercules, to the East as far as the Levant and built trading cities in natural harbours along the fertile edges of the Black Sea. They were, as Plato wrote in the Phaedo, ''around the sea, like frogs and ants around a pond.'' They were encouraged by Delphic oracles and inspired by the company of diving dolphins.
+
|summary=This Italian work of feminist fiction holds an air of suspense and tension from the moment our protagonist, Valeria Cossati, purchases her forbidden notebook, and learns about herself in the most intimate and revealing ways.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>009958364X</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1782278222
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author= Elisa Albert
+
|author=Ottessa Moshfegh
|title= After Birth
+
|title=My Year of Rest and Relaxation
|rating= 4
+
|rating=3
|genre= Literary Fiction
+
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary= This book is definitely not for anyone who has a rosy picture of new motherhood.  In fact, I would probably avoid it if you are contemplating giving birth in the near future.  For any woman who has ever struggled through the first few months of motherhood, however, or a partner of somebody who is going through it, it is an astounding and revelatory read. Never before have I read a more searing, honest and open discussion of the emotional upheaval a woman often goes through after giving birth.
+
|summary=At best, this novel is a 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 unlikeable protagonist. This unlikely heroine, a slim, attractive and newly orphaned girl in her twenties is disillusioned with the world, but resolves not to lose sleep over it: in fact, her solution lies in her hibernation.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>009959014X</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1784707422
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Kathryn Flett
+
|author=Jo Callaghan
|title=Outstanding
+
|title=Leave No Trace
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Women's Fiction
+
|genre=Crime
|summary=Ivy House is a preparatory school with an 'outstanding' Ofsted report.  Eve Sturridge is the head teacher and she puts heart and soul into making certain that it's the best that it can possibly be - well, as far as she's allowed to by the ownerBut it looks as though she's getting into the big time when Stefan and Anette Sorensen (A-list billionaires) choose Ivy House for their son and daughterThere's another bonus too: the Sorensens run a hedge fund and Eve's seventeen-year-old daughter Zoe is keen to have a career in finance.  What could be more natural than that some work experience could be on offer?
+
|summary=When a man is found crucified on the top of a hill in Nuneaton, DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to the case alongside her sidekick, the AI detective LockIt's their first live case together, having previously been very successful with several cold casesBut when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a lot of unwanted attention to their AI Future Policing projectWill they be able to solve the case in time, or will Kat find herself taken off the case and, potentially, out of a career?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784298247</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=139851120X
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Mara Alperin and Sue Eastland
 
|title=The Ugly Duckling
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=For Sharing
 
|summary=There are certain fairy tales that you need to know as a child, not only because they are fun stories themselves, but because they inform other stories too.  How are you going to know what is happening in future books when they play off a classic; unless you know the classic?  Therefore, before embarking on Meta novels that reimagine old stories, get the basics down pat first.  How about the story of an unfortunate duckling who was incredibly ugly?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848690371</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=A A Milne and E H Shepard
 
|title=Eeyore Loses a Tail (Winnie the Pooh Classics)
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Emerging Readers
 
|summary=Eeyore, the Old Grey Donkey stood in the thistly corner of the forest and thought about thingsHe was quite a philosopher in his own way, but his most profound thought occured when Winnie-the-Pooh came along and enquired as to how he was.
 
 
 
''Not very how'', he said.  ''I don't seem to have felt at all how for a long time.''
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405281359</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Emery Lord
+
|isbn=B0DB64PYV5
|title=When We Collided
+
|title=The White Rose
 +
|author=Dave Baines
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Teens
+
|genre=Dystopian Fiction
|summary=Jonah's father died. His mother has locked herself away in grief, leaving Jonah and his two older siblings to not only run their own lives but also take care of their three younger siblings. It's a lot and Jonah is grieving, too. Unsurprisingly, he has fallen into the fog of depression. And then Vivi comes along. Vivi and her artist mother are spending the summer in Jonah's town. And Vivi is bright and beautiful and vivid and amazing and ever-so-slightly eccentric. She bursts into Jonah's life like a shower of meteors and changes everything. But Vivi has her own problems...
+
|summary=In 2033, a superstorm known as the White Rose devastates the Northern Hemisphere. And it's not a storm that gathers, wreaks havoc, then dissipates. Instead, it hovers across half the Earth with its octopus-like tentacles, not giving up and never going away.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408870088</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Matt Sewell
 
|title=Penguins and Other Sea Birds
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Animals and Wildlife
 
|summary=I've always been fascinated by Penguins: I think it's because they look so ''smart'' and striking, yet survive in extreme conditions, so the opportunity to review a book which contains fifty penguins and other seabirds was too good to miss. Just the pictures would have been enough - the minimalist watercolours of street artist and ornithologist Matt Sewell - but Sewell's whimsical wit and ability to teach without being preachy makes this a book to treasure.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785032224</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author= John Aubrey
 
|title= Brief Lives
 
|rating= 4
 
|genre= Biography
 
|summary= John Aubrey was a modest man, an antiquarian and the inventor of modern biography. His lives of the prominent figures of his generation include Shakespeare, Milton, and Sir Walter Raleigh. Funny, illuminating and full of historical details, they have been plundered by historians for centuries. Here Aubrey's biographical writings are collected, painting a series of unforgettable portraits of the characters of his day – all more alive and kicking than in a conventional history book.  
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784870331</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}

Latest revision as of 09:14, 30 October 2024

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!

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0008385068.jpg

Review of

The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley

4.5star.jpg Thrillers

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. Full Review

0141186356.jpg

Review of

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

4.5star.jpg Literary Fiction

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 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's crippling shame and denial of his sexuality that ultimately dooms his relationship with Giovanni. Full Review

0241645441.jpg

Review of

Wild East by Ashley Hickson-Lovence

4.5star.jpg Teens

Written in verse, this is Ronny's story, a young black fourteen year old boy from Hackney who suddenly has to move to Norwich and start at a mostly white school. The move is initiated by Ronny's mum who is worried for Ronny's safety after a tragic event, and so Ronny finds himself trying to settle in a new town, a new school, and keep himself out of trouble. He listens to music constantly, and has always dreamed of being a rapper. But now, in this new school, his teacher encourages him to be part of a poetry writing workshop group and, slowly, Ronny begins to see the connections between rap and poetry, and the power of creativity and crafting your words. Full Review

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Review of

The Lavender Companion by Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci

4.5star.jpg Lifestyle

It's strange, the things that make you immediately feel that this is the book for you. Before I started reading The Lavender Companion, I visited the author's website and there's a picture of a slice of chocolate cake on the homepage. I don't eat cakes and desserts - but I wanted that cake viscerally. (There's a recipe in the book, which I'm avoiding with some difficulty!!) Then I started reading the book and I was told to make a mess of it. Notes in the margins are sanctioned. You get to fold down the corners of pages. You suspect that smears of butter would not be a problem. I loved this book already. Full Review

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Review of

Us in the Before and After by Jenny Valentine

5star.jpg Teens

Elk and Mab are best friends, or more than that even, their friendship is a once in a lifetime connection. They meet as children one day on a trip out but unfortunately they don't get each other's contact details at the time. But then chance brings them back together, and they are inseparable. Something has happened though, something terrible and tragic, and now they must work through their grief, and their friendship, together. Full Review

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Review of

You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here by Benji Waterhouse

5star.jpg Popular Science

I was tempted to read You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here after enjoying Adam Kay's first book This is Going to Hurt, a glorious mixture of insight into the workings of the NHS, humour and autobiography. You Don't Have to be Mad... 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 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. Full Review

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Review of

A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez

5star.jpg Short Stories

Mariana Enriquez writes horror that is disturbingly real, achieving this uncanny familiarity by basing her paranormal plots on gritty realities: her settings include an abandoned field full of disused refrigerators due to an urban planning mishap, an overcrowded homeless shelter and a crime-ridden neighbourhood where safety meetings are routine - all within Argentina. The circumstances of her characters are so plausible that the supernatural or otherworldly horror which seeps into these spaces adopts a similarly tangible texture. Full Review

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Review of

Allow Me to Introduce Myself by Onyi Nwabineli

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

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 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 for doing so. Most importantly, she is desperately worried about her little sister, who is 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? Full Review

B0D321VJ76.jpg

Review of

Headload of Napalm by David Chadwick

4.5star.jpg Thrillers

It's September 1973 in Hicks, California. Hicks is a Mojave desert town of a few thousand people with its nearest neighbours of LA and Las Vegas both a significant drive away. Not much happens in Hicks. A silver mine and a defence contractor are the main local employers but otherwise, there's not much of note other than dive bars and Joshua trees. Life is quiet, until.... Full Review

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Review of

The Wrong Shoes by Tom Percival

5star.jpg Confident Readers

Will's life is difficult, in a multitude of ways. He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and doesn't have enough money for even the most basic of things like food, and 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. Throw into that mix the fact that his mum and dad are separated, and Will's life seems bleak in every direction. And yet, he still has a tiny amount of hope. He is good at art, and clings to the moments of joy when he is drawing, that feel like a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel. Full Review

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Review of

A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall

5star.jpg Science Fiction

There are few greater joys than a book which lives up to a compelling premise. And this is one of them. Full Review

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Review of

The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway) by Elly Griffiths

4.5star.jpg Crime

Builders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the site was going to hold 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, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. It's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn't, that she is pregnant with his child as a result of the one night they spent together some three months ago. Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of sickness. Full Review

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Review of

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

4.5star.jpg Autobiography

This book is Joan Didion's heartbreaking autobiographical account of the grief she endured following her husband's sudden death. Books that shed light on taboo topics like death are such a beautiful and necessary resource to help people feel less alone. Didion unpicks unpleasant feelings surrounding death like self-pity, denial and delusion and makes them utterly normal, lends them a human face to wear. Full Review

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Review of

The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie) by Neil Lancaster

4.5star.jpg Crime

It's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police. Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he's prepared to tell the police where the body of a missing person is buried and 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 be 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's even prepared to do the other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is kept well away from what's happening. Full Review

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Review of

Where I've Not Been Lost by Glen Sibley

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

One year after a suicide attempt blows apart musician Brian O’Malley's life, he arrives in an unfamiliar Devon town to recover. Living with an unexpected housemate at his former manager’s holiday home, he dreams of reconnecting with everything he has lost. But as those tentative plans falter, he becomes swept up in a local world of unlikely friendships, mobile discos and surprising romantic possibilities. Full Review

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Review of

A Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11) by Jane Casey

5star.jpg Crime

It's sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and the investigation ground to a halt. Now, her mother, Helena, and her father are dead in their bed. Initially, it looks like a straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the positioning of the bodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. What looked as though it was going to be 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, Una Burt) are less convinced. Full Review

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Review of

The Dark Wives (D I Vera Stanhope) by Ann Cleeves

4.5star.jpg Crime

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 before but who had never turned up. D I Vera 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's diary makes it clear that she adored Josh. She knows that she has to find Chloe to discover what happened to Josh. Full Review

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Review of

Moral Injuries by Christie Watson

4.5star.jpg Thrillers

Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of a century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is a perfectionist and 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 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. Full Review

0241636604.jpg

Review of

The Trading Game: A Confession by Gary Stevenson

4.5star.jpg Autobiography

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 East End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injustice. There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to the London School of Economics. Stevenson is bright - extremely bright - and he has a 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 ability at what was, essentially, a card game which got him an internship with Citibank. Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader. Full Review

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Review of

Lover Birds by Leanne Egan

4.5star.jpg Teens

When new girl, Isabel, moves to Lou's hometown of Liverpool from London Lou immediately feels Isabel's disdain for everything around her. A misunderstanding between them leaves them hating each other, but Lou feels her pulse racing every time she looks at Isabel or speaks with her, and that's definitely because Isabel makes her feel so cross, isn't it? Because Lou is straight, isn't she? Even though none of her relationships with boys have gone very well so far, and she's never had a good kiss with any of them? So she just finds herself watching Isabel, and wanting to hang out with her because fighting with her is fun, and she definitely just hates Isabel, doesn't she? Full Review

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Review of

The Conservative Effect 2010 - 2024 by Anthony Seldon and Tom Egerton (Editors)

5star.jpg Politics and Society

Sometimes it's simpler to explain a 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 inside story about what really happened on certain occasions, then this isn't the book for you. If that's what you're looking for, I don't think Anthony Seldon's book, Johnson at 10, can be bettered for those tumultuous years. It's a 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 a series which looks at the impact a government has made and co-editor Sir Anthony Seldon regards this as the most important. This book follows the well-established format: a series of experts from various fields review the state of the nation when the coalition took over in 2010, the changes that occurred and the situation in 2024. Full Review

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Review of

The Last Life of Lori Mills by Max Boucherat

4.5star.jpg Confident Readers

We meet Lori on the first evening she's got the house to herself – no neighbour to pop in, babysitter poorly, mother at work, just an avidly rule-breaking eleven year old, on her lonesome. What could possibly go wrong? Snuggled in a blanket fort, she has one main intention, and that is to log on to Voxminer, the world-building, critter-collecting game that is a hit in Lori's world. But first Lori has a tiny inkling that this stormy night doesn't 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 the game has been doctored – well, where is a girl to turn? Full Review

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Review of

White Nights by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

5star.jpg Short Stories

As always in Dostoyevsky, the character work is sublime. One is never left wondering what a character is thinking or feeling because Dostoyevsky lays bare their innermost dispositions and temperaments with remarkable clarity. Full Review

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Review of

Nowhere Man by Deborah Stone

4star.jpg General Fiction

In a quiet suburban house, Patrick is making his final plans. A meticulous man, he makes sure of every preparation, down to the last detail. Some last reflections, and then he says goodbye to his wife, the world, and his life. It's horribly sad. At work in her shop, his wife Diana is fending off yet another phone call about her ageing and ailing mother, who needs extricating from yet another accident. It will be a while before Diana realises what Patrick has done. Full Review

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Review of

King Kong Theory by Virginie Despentes

4star.jpg Autobiography

King 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. Full Review

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Review of

Forbidden Notebook by Alba de Cespedes

4star.jpg Literary Fiction

This Italian work of feminist fiction holds an air of suspense and tension from the moment our protagonist, Valeria Cossati, purchases her forbidden notebook, and learns about herself in the most intimate and revealing ways. Full Review

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Review of

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

3star.jpg Literary Fiction

At best, this novel is a 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 unlikeable protagonist. This unlikely heroine, a slim, attractive and newly orphaned girl in her twenties is disillusioned with the world, but resolves not to lose sleep over it: in fact, her solution lies in her hibernation. Full Review

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Review of

Leave No Trace by Jo Callaghan

4star.jpg Crime

When a man is found crucified on the top of a hill 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, having previously been very successful with several cold cases. But when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a lot of 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? Full Review

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Review of

The White Rose by Dave Baines

4star.jpg Dystopian Fiction

In 2033, a superstorm known as the White Rose devastates the Northern Hemisphere. And it's not a storm that gathers, wreaks havoc, then dissipates. Instead, it hovers across half the Earth with its octopus-like tentacles, not giving up and never going away. Full Review