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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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==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=Alexander McCall Smith
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==The Best New Books==
|title=The Revolving Door of Life
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'''Read [[:Category:New Reviews|new reviews by category]]. '''<br>
 +
 
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'''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].'''
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|author=Fyodor Dostoyevsky
 +
|title=White Nights
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=General Fiction
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|genre=Short Stories
|summary=I am always happy to sit back down with old friends, to catch up on what has been happening on Scotland Street.  As in the last episode [[Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers by Alexander McCall Smith]] there is plenty of Bertie throughout the whole story. Bertie is my favourite character by far, so this was very pleasing to me!  Our other favourites are there too, however, so there's something to please everyone, from Bruce being, well, Bruce, and dear Angus reciting a poem at the end.
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|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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846973287</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0241619785
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=David Neiwert
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|isbn=0008385068
|title=Of Orcas and Men: What Killer Whales Can Teach Us
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|title=The Midnight Feast
|rating=3.5
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|author=Lucy Foley
|genre=Animals and Wildlife
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|rating=4.5
|summary='Profoundly humbling experiences are good for our souls,' Neiwert asserts in the first pages of his all-encompassing book about killer whales. For him, encountering orcas, one of the world's largest mammals, has been both humbling and inspiring, reminding him that humans are just one among many wondrous species and that it is wrong for us to exploit other creatures for our own benefit. After moving to Seattle, he tried for three years to see the whales, and finally gave up; it was only when he began spending time in the places where the orcas live, simply for the pleasure of it, that he started seeing them all the time.
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|genre=Thrillers
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1468308653</amazonuk>
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|summary=It's midsummer on the Dorset coast and guests gather at The Manor. It's their opening weekend and splendid celebrations are promised.  It's all headed up by Francesca Meadows.  The Manor was her ancestral home and she's converted it into an impressive retreat for the wealthy and famous. Her husband, Owen, was the architect and work is still ongoing on parts of the site.  The heat is oppressive and amongst the guests are enemies as well as friends.  Old scores are going to be settled and it won't be long before a body is found.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Jason M Hough
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|author=James Baldwin
|title=Zero World
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|title=Giovanni's Room
|rating=3.5
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|rating=4.5
|genre=Science Fiction
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|genre=Literary Fiction  
|summary=Memory is an important element of making us who we are.  Do we avoid certain courses of action knowing that the memory of it would haunt us for the rest of our lives?  Most of us would not kill, but what if you could forget that you just ended someone's life?  Then you may be a sociopath, but a useful sociopath that can be trained to be an assassin who kills, forgets and kills again.  This type of person may even forget that they have visited new worlds.
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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>1783295252</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0141186356
 
}}
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Rachel Elliott
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|author=Ashley Hickson-Lovence
|title= Whispers Through A Megaphone
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|title=Wild East
|rating= 4.5
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|rating=4.5
|genre= General Fiction
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|genre=Teens
|summary= Miriam doesn’t speak.  Well, that’s not strictly true.  She does speak, but nothing above a whisper which makes it hard to have a conversation with herParticularly as she hasn’t left her house in three years.  But today is the dayShe’s going to open that door and walk outside.  She really is.  Ralph has finally twigged (and with no small amount of surprise) that his wife Sadie doesn’t actually love him.  And now he’s not sure if she ever really did.  Having spent so much time regurgitating his every moment onto Social Media, Ralph hasn’t really had a chance to think about it.  But now he has, it is so shockingly awful that he has decided to run away.  And of all the places he could run away to, he has chosen the same woods that Miriam has picked to be the first place she will visit out-of-doors.  And Sadie?  Well, she’s had enough of reading Tweets and living vicariously through the posts of others.  Sadie is going to have an adventure of her own.  
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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 troubleHe 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0992918227</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0241645441
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Kelley Armstrong
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|isbn=1635866847
|title=Deceptions
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|title=The Lavender Companion
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|author=Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Paranormal
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|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=Liv is starting to understand the Fae world that has existed in secret, and her place within it. But the more she understands, the less she likes it. Visions of a girl torn between two men continue to plague her – visions that are starting to feel alarmingly similar to her real life relationships with Gabriel and Ricky.
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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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847445136</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Rosemary Hayes
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|author=Jenny Valentine
|title= The Mark
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|title=Us in the Before and After
|rating= 5
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|rating=5
|genre= Teens
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|genre=Teens
|summary='She's his mark'. Rachel's on the run. Naïve, homeless and emotional, she's easy prey. But for whom?
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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>190999118X</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1471196585
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Erin Knightley
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|isbn=1787333175
|title=The Duke Can Go to the Devil
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|title=You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here
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|author=Benji Waterhouse
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|genre=Popular Science
|summary=As Regency ladies go, Mei-li Bradford is anything but conventional. For most of her life, she has travelled the world with her sea-captain father and seen exotic sights and locations that others could only dream of. Her upbringing amongst sailors has clearly rubbed off on her, however. Mei-li, or May to her friends, can drink and curse like a man and has no respect for propriety and convention. She may look like a well-bred lady, but certainly does not act like one. Therefore, disaster surely beckons when an uptight Duke shows an interest in her. His stuffy ways and conventional habits are anathema to May's free-spirited nature.
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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 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.  
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0349410674</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Tony Wilkinson
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|author=Mariana Enriquez
|title=Capitalism and Human Values
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|title=A Sunny Place for Shady People
|rating=4
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|rating=5
|genre=Politics and Society
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|genre=Short Stories
|summary=Tony Wilkinson has a first class honours degree in philosophy and has worked in government service and investment management - the ideal background for a consideration of capitalism and the human values which propel itIt's not too long ago - certainly within my lifetime - that religion largely dictated the values held by individuals, but true religious belief now seems to be the exception rather than the ruleIn its place we have a society for whom consumerism is the driving force - and a widening gap between those who can afford to consume and those who cannotAs Wilkinson says ''Getting and spending have come to define who we are.''
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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>1845407881</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1803511230
 +
}}
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{{Frontpage
 +
|author=Onyi Nwabineli
 +
|title=Allow Me to Introduce Myself
 +
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=General Fiction
 +
|summary=Anuri spent her childhood on display to the world, thanks to her step-mother Ophelia's increasingly popular presence on social media, where she posted every step of Anuri's childhood for sponsorships and influencer deals and, basically, monetary gainNow 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 herAnuri 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 empireCan she save her sister, and perhaps herself and her relationship with her father at the same time?
 +
|isbn=0861546873
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Benjamin Johncock
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|author=David Chadwick
|title=The Last Pilot
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|title=Headload of Napalm
|rating=4
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|rating=4.5
|genre=Literary Fiction
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|genre=Thrillers
|summary=You'd be forgiven for assuming that debut novelist Benjamin Johncock is American: ''The Last Pilot'' has the literary weight of a Great American Novel, with a limitless desert setting plus the prospect of soon dominating space, and the spare yet profound writing style of Ernest Hemingway or Cormac McCarthy. Johncock is British, but you can tell he's taken inspiration from stories about the dawn of the astronaut age, including Tom Wolfe's ''The Right Stuff'' and films like ''Apollo 13''. His protagonist, Jim Harrison, is a fictional Air Force test pilot who rubs shoulders with historical figures like Chuck Yeager and John Glenn in the quest to break the sound barrier and conquer space.
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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>1908434848</amazonuk>
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|isbn= B0D321VJ76
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Gemma Merino
+
|author=Tom Percival
|title= The Cow Who Climbed a Tree
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|title=The Wrong Shoes
|rating= 5
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|rating=5
|genre= For Sharing
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|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Tina is a really curious cow who just wants to know everything there is to know about, well, everything. Her sisters think that's just silly, and when Tina tells them that she climbed a tree and found a dragon they decide the situation has gotten out of hand. But what will they find when they looking for her in the woods? You'll just have to read the book to find out.  
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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>1447214889</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1398527122
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Colin Boyd and Tony Ross
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|author=Sylvie Cathrall
|title= The Bath Monster
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|title=A Letter to the Luminous Deep
|rating= 4.5
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|rating=5
|genre= For Sharing
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|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=A great book for parents and kids alike, with an excellent premise and brilliantly carried out, I can see this being a popular choice for bedtime reading. Even if your children might not be too fond of the bath for a while afterwards...
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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>1783442891</amazonuk>
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|isbn= 0356522776
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre
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|isbn=1786482126
|title=Pugs of the Frozen North
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|title=The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)
|rating=4
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|author=Elly Griffiths
|genre=Confident Readers
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|rating=4.5
|summary= When Shen finds himself stranded in the middle of a frozen sea, with 66 shivering pugs for company and no food, he’s desperate to find help. Little does he suspect that this is just the start of their adventure in the frozen north: with his new friend Sika, and the pugs pulling their sled, he’s suddenly part of a race to the top of the world. Will they make it in time to meet the Snowfather or will one of the other contestants beat them to it?
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|genre=Crime
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0192734571</amazonuk>
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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 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.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Robert Merle and T Jefferson Kline (translator)
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|author=Joan Didion
|title=Fortunes of France: City of Wisdom and Blood
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|title=The Year of Magical Thinking
|rating=3.5
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|rating=4.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|genre=Autobiography
|summary=1566: Brothers Pierre and Samson de Siorac have been sent from their Perigore home to further their education at Montpellier. During their time there they learn more than their ascribed logic, philosophy and medicine.  Indeed Pierre's focus is on his stomach and the affairs of the heart, as befitting a lusty 15 year old.  Not all of the adventures are learned, culinary or romantic though; some lessons are a lot more dangerous.
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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>1782271244</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0007216858
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=David Hollis
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|isbn=0008551324
|title=Practical Landscape Painting: Materials, Techniques & Projects
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|title=The Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)
 +
|author=Neil Lancaster
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Art
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|genre=Crime
|summary=Almost any of us can visit the countryside and capture the view in our memory or on our camera with comparatively consummate easeHowever capturing it in paint is more difficult and yet something some of us (me included) dream ofIt was therefore with great excitement that I picked up this compact book of seven lessons in landscape paintingAs I believe (with good evidence) that I have the artistic ability of a house brick, it would be a challenge but I also have a dream to follow.
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|summary=It's unusual for anyone from the Hardie family to approach the police.  Neither side likes or has any respect for the other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and 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 wantsAnd 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782402802</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Seb Braun
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|isbn=1739526910
|title=The Tiger Prowls: a pop-up book of wild animals
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|title=Where I've Not Been Lost
|rating=4
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|author=Glen Sibley
|genre=For Sharing
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|rating=4.5
|summary=It's a hardback book with a striking cover and when you open it, don't expect endpapers or gentle introductions: as you lift the cover, the tiger of the title appears:
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|genre=General Fiction
 
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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.''
''The tiger prowls, stalking through the jungle.''<br>
 
''Paw after heavy paw crunches on the forest floor.''
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1471122158</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Rob Biddulph
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|isbn=0008405026
|title=Grrrrr!
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|title=A Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)
 +
|author=Jane Casey
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=For Sharing
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|genre=Crime
|summary= Fred has won the contest for best bear in the wood for three years in a row. He's the best at everything from catching fish, doing the hula-hoop and scaring humans, to the all-important growling competition. But everything changes when another bear arrives and decides to enter the contest. Fred's no longer the best bear in town and, to make matters worse, he's lost his 'Grrrrr'. Fred's going to need help to find his 'Grrrr' in time for the start of the competition. But will the other animals want to help him look given he's been too busy training to make friends?
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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 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007594127</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Gregoire Delacourt
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|isbn=1529077745
|title=The First Thing You See
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|title=The Dark Wives (D I Vera Stanhope)
|rating=3.5
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|author=Ann Cleeves
|genre=General Fiction
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|rating=4.5
|summary=Arthur Dreyfuss is a fairly run of the mill young manHe likes big breasts, cars, Juplier beer and big breastsHe’s also rather keen on big breasts. A good-looking boy, even if he does say so himself
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|genre=Crime
 
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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 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 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.
''…like Ryan Gosling, only better looking''
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}}
 
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{{Frontpage
we will take him at his word, although one would had thought a better looking Ryan Gosling would have had his fill of Zepplin chested females so as to dilute his desire for themIn any event, I suspect his longings stem from the fact that a young mechanic living a quiet and uneventful life in a tiny village in rural France is unlikely to have a multitude of such femmes crossing his path in search of their daily baguetteThat said, when Arthur one day opens his front door to find a rather distressed but undeniably luscious Scarlett Johansson on his doorstep, he does not question his luckHe invites her inAs you do.
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|isbn=1399613073
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0297871021</amazonuk>
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|title=Moral Injuries
 +
|author=Christie Watson
 +
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=Thrillers
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|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 doctorAnjali 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.
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=0241636604
 +
|title=The Trading Game: A Confession
 +
|author=Gary Stevenson
 +
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=Autobiography
 +
|summary=If you were to bring up an image of a city banker in your mind, you're unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson.  A hoodie and jeans replaces the pin-stripe suit and his background is the East End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injusticeThere 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 CitibankEventually, this turned into permanent employment as a trader.
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|author=Leanne Egan
 +
|title=Lover Birds
 +
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=Teens
 +
|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 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?
 +
|isbn=000862657X
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Bradley Beaulieu
+
|isbn=1009473085
|title=Twelve Kings: The Song of the Shattered Sands
+
|title=The Conservative Effect 2010 - 2024
|rating=4
+
|author=Anthony Seldon and Tom Egerton (Editors)
|genre=Fantasy
+
|rating=5
|summary=When she was a young child Ceda took a blood oath to seek vengeance against the twelve kings of Sharakhai and with good reasonNow, years later, the oath hasn't been fulfilled but Ceda has plenty of other things to keep her occupiedWhether couriering suspect packages, avoiding the asirim or risking her life in the combat pits to satisfy the blood thirsty crowdCeda has been biding her time and that time is approachingHowever, she's only one 19 year old girl whereas the kings are legion and have powers to call on that aren't altogether natural. Blood must be avenged with blood; the only question is whose blood will it be?
+
|genre=Politics and Society
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473203007</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 youIf 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 yearsIt's a compelling read and should be compulsory for anyone who thinks Johnson should return to politics''The Conservative Effect'' is an entirely different beastIt'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.
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Max Boucherat
|author= John Samuel
+
|title=The Last Life of Lori Mills
|title= What I Tell You in the Dark
+
|rating=4.5
|rating= 3.5
+
|genre=Confident Readers
|genre= Humour
+
|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 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?
|summary=A man called Will is fighting fiercely against corruption – desperate to expose his company's dodgy dealings to the press. Overcome with doubt and fear, he goes to kill himself. But, at the exact moment he attaches his noose to the back of the door, he is saved. By a curious housemate or a concerned girlfriend? No, by an Angel. Not the white-feathered guardian Angel you may expect, but one who wishes to help Will achieve his ends, and so possess the body of the hapless Will in order to finish what he started. It goes without saying that the Angel is hoping things go better than they did with the last guy he possessed – a hapless young man from Galilee called Jesus…
+
|isbn=0008666482
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0715650505</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Jemima Brigges
+
|isbn=B0DGDJRHYD
|title=Brothers at Arms
+
|title=Nowhere Man
 +
|author=Deborah Stone
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Historical Fiction
+
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Certain decisions are pivotal points in time; key moments that define everything that follows and create waves that ripple with repercussions for years to come. Kindly squire Tom Norberry could never have foreseen the impact that taking in two orphaned relatives would have on his future happiness. This single, altruistic act of kindness would set in motion a chain of events that would eventually cause a deep household rift and threaten to sully the good family name that he had worked to hard to uphold.
+
|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>1784624454</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Ann Cleeves (editor)
+
|author=Virginie Despentes
|title=The Starlings and Other Stories
+
|title=King Kong Theory
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Crime
+
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Six authors, known collectively as 'The Murder Squad', and their six accomplices were given twelve photographs of the remote landscape of Pembrokeshire by acclaimed photographer David Wilson and asked to come up with a short story inspired by what they saw. Some of the stories will be more to your taste than others, as is only to be expected in such a varied anthology, but none are weak and if you enjoy crime short stories then this book could be a real treat.
+
|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>1909823740</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=191309734X
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Tessa Hadley
+
|author=Alba de Cespedes
|title=The Past
+
|title=Forbidden Notebook
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Tessa Hadley writes beautifully subtle stories of English family life. Her understated style has a touch of the 1950s or 1960s about it, calling to mind Elizabeth Taylor or early Margaret Drabble, and she seems to adapt classic genres like the novel of manners or the country house novel. Here she deliberately channels Elizabeth Bowen with a setup borrowed from ''The House in Paris'': the novel is divided into three parts, titled 'The Present', 'The Past', and 'The Present'. That structure allows for a deeper look at what the house and a neighbouring cottage have meant to the central family, and paves the way for one final shocker of a secret.
+
|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>0224101692</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1782278222
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Miriam Moss
+
|author=Ottessa Moshfegh
|title=Girl on a Plane
+
|title=My Year of Rest and Relaxation
|rating=5
+
|rating=3
|genre=Teens
+
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary= It's September 1970 and 15 year old Anna is on her way back to boarding school in England. Friends of her family joke about the recent hijackings but Anna is far more concerned about leaving her home in Bahrain and their mongrel dog, Woofa. These worries are, however, wiped from her mind when her plane is hijacked by Palestinian guerrillas and diverted to a disused airstrip in the Jordanian desert. Here they are forced to wait for days with almost no food and very little water while their captors issue their demands to the British government. If these demands are not met within three days, they will blow up the plane killing all the hostages.  
+
|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>1783443316</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1784707422
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Laura Wood
+
|author=Jo Callaghan
|title=Poppy Pym and the Pharaoh's Curse
+
|title=Leave No Trace
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
+
|genre=Crime
|summary= Poppy Pym is leaving the only home she's ever known (in Madame Pym's Spectacular Travelling Circus) to become a boarding school student at Saint Smithen's School. And, if starting school for the first time at age 11 isn't enough, Poppy and her new friends – Kip and Ingrid – find themselves in the middle of a mystery. Dangerous accidents start to occur at Saint Smithen's the moment a temporary exhibition of Egyptian artefacts enter the school. While everyone else attributes these to the Pharaoh's curse, Poppy and her friends are determined to discover who is really causing the accidents. Then, when the priceless ruby at the heart of the collection is stolen, their investigation broadens as they try to uncover the thief.
+
|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 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?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1407158546</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=139851120X
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Phyll MacDonald-Ross and I D Roberts
+
|isbn=B0DB64PYV5
|title=Bandaging the Blitz
+
|title=The White Rose
|rating=5
+
|author=Dave Baines
|genre=Autobiography
+
|rating=4
|summary=''Why would anyone want to know about me, dear?'' she said.
+
|genre=Dystopian Fiction
 
+
|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.
Everyone has an interesting story to tell. Yet how many life stories actually make it into printed form, perhaps because the individuals involved did not feel that anyone would be interested in their lives? This was almost the case for Phyllis Macdonald-Ross, who served as a nurse in a busy London hospital during the Blitz. It was only thanks to her determined grandson and devoted husband that she finally decided to put her memoirs down on paper and submit them for publication. The result is an exciting and emotional coming-of-age story about a young nurse entering her training during one of the most turbulent times in British history.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751559911</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Kevin Sands
 
|title= The Blackthorn Key
 
|rating= 5
 
|genre= Confident Readers
 
|summary= Seventeenth century England isn't always a comfortable place to live. Apart from the obvious differences from the modern day – no National Health Service, no laws to protect orphans like Christopher from cruelty and exploitation, and a constant foul smell from poor sanitation - fear and suspicion are a daily fact of life. In 1665 Charles II has been back on the throne for several years, but not everyone is happy about his extravagant and luxurious life-style, even among those who found the Puritan rules of Cromwell's time excessively strict. There are spies everywhere, and rumours of conspiracies fill the streets. It's a time to keep your head down and avoid attention from the authorities.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>014136064X</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Teal Triggs and Daniel Frost
 
|title=The School of Art: Learn How To Make Great Art With 40 Simple Lessons
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
 
|summary=Written with an interesting approach, this book treats the reader as a new art student to The School of Art. The five professors of the school take the student through 40 different lessons, looking at a huge range of ideas right from how to draw a line, perspective and proportion, composition and aesthetics.  Aimed probably at senior school children it could, however, also be used by older primary children who are particularly interested in art, and if you were working through the book with your child then a younger child could also try out some of the lesson ideas and suggestions.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847806112</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}

Latest revision as of 08:50, 31 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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0241619785.jpg

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

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

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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

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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

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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

0008405026.jpg

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

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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

1009473085.jpg

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

0008666482.jpg

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

B0DGDJRHYD.jpg

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

191309734X.jpg

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

1782278222.jpg

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

1784707422.jpg

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