Difference between revisions of "Newest General Fiction Reviews"

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[[Category:General Fiction|*]]
 
[[Category:General Fiction|*]]
[[Category:New Reviews|General Fiction]]
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[[Category:New Reviews|General Fiction]]__NOTOC__
==General fiction==
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{{Frontpage
__NOTOC__
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|author=Han Kang
{{newreview
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|title=The Vegetarian
|author=J K Rowling
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|rating=4.5
|title=The Casual Vacancy
 
|rating=4
 
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=It's hard to know how to describe my experience reading JK Rowling's new book, and her first departure from the world of Hogwarts. 'Liked it' doesn't seem appropriate, because I didn't really. I found it very bleak, depressing and disturbing to be honest.  I have a friend who is reading it at the moment and she says she's really enjoying it, which just makes me shake my head because, really, this isn't the sort of book you enjoy.
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|summary=This novel, winner of the International Booker Prize in 2016 and penned by an author who received the Nobel Prize for Literature this year, is as close to unputdownable as it gets. It more than lives up to the acclaim. The story introduces uncanny characters with fragile, vividly tangible bodies yet unknowable, elusive souls.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>140870420X</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1803510056
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Sally Rooney
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|title=Intermezzo
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|rating=4.5
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|genre=General Fiction
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|summary=Sally Rooney has studied the chessboard of life and is something of a grandmaster at putting it into words. Her dialogue is gripping and so brilliantly frustrating, as her characters never quite say exactly what they feel. Among the many relationships woven into this story, the central one for readers to unravel is the fraternal connection—or lack thereof—between Ivan and Peter Koubek. Ivan, a socially awkward chess prodigy, contrasts sharply with his older brother Peter, a successful lawyer living in Dublin. Following their father's passing after a long battle with cancer, the brothers' already strained relationship faces new trials.
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|isbn=0571365469
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=B0DGDJRHYD
|author=Syd Moore
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|title=Nowhere Man
|title=Witch Hunt
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|author=Deborah Stone
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=The history of witchcraft and the complexities of current social politics do not appear to be the easiest ingredients to blend smoothly into a novel. But Moore has achieved this, skilfully weaving the threads of the middle ages with the modern day. This achievement has also been mixed with some fascinating points about feminism, witchcraft and Essex stereotypes, all the while presenting them as the narrative of the protagonist, Sadie.
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|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>1847562698</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1739526910
|author=John E Flannery
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|title=Where I've Not Been Lost
|title=God's Gift
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|author=Glen Sibley
|rating=3
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|rating=4.5
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=
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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.''
An ex-soap actor, Tommy Armstrong now hosts a successful Saturday night chat show. It covers entertainment and current affairs. Recently divorced, single Tommy enjoys bedding his researchers and then firing them. It's something to do, after all, no? And particularly enjoyable if they're willing to take it up the bum. Tommy likes bums. Irritatingly, the ''Dirty Bitch'', aka Susan, Tommy's ex-wife, has forgotten all about bums and become a born-again Christian. Her new partner is a 21st century Mary Whitehouse, leading a campaign to clean up the media.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B009AEUOFS</amazonuk>
 
 
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}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Jenny Lecoat
|author=Rowan Coleman
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|title=Beyond Summerland
|title=Dearest Rose
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|rating=4
|rating=4.5
 
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Rose has finally escaped. For years she has put up with her bullying husband and lived with the sadness of her mother's suicide after her father left when she was a young girl. Only once, when she was heavily pregnant with her daughter Maddie, did anyone show her any warmth and kindness and treat her like a human being in her own right. That person was Frasier McCleod, an art dealer who had been trying to trace Rose's father, John Jacobs,who happened to be a very exciting artist. Although she couldn't help him, Frasier sent a postcard to thank her and it is the village pictured on that postcard that she makes her way to nine years later when she can put up with her husband's cruelty no more.
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|summary=Jean lives on Jersey with her mother where they are celebrating the end of the occupation.  During the war, Jean's father was arrested for listening to a banned radio and soldiers took him away one night, leaving Jean and her mother waiting for years for news of him. As the British finally free the Channel islands from the Nazis, and the war is finally over, their hopes rise that they will finally learn what became of him.  But will the truth come as a relief, or will it raise further questions around what else happened during the war?  Who was the informer who told the Nazis about the radio?  And what other secrets have been kept throughout the occupation?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099551276</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1846976537
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Onyi Nwabineli
|author=Anthony Capella
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|title=Allow Me to Introduce Myself
|title=Love and Other Dangerous Chemicals
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Just when you thought you’d seen (read?) everything, comes this book, the story of the chemistry of Chemistry. Dr Steven J. Fisher is an Oxford scientist whose special area of interest is the female orgasm. His latest work is attracting interest from drug companies and the public alike for it’s an elusive subject: a pill that will do for women what Viagra did for men (and I don’t mean help their cardiac problems). Currently in the clinical trial stage, the results are looking promising until there’s a new addition to his group of guinea pigs in the form of Annie, a literature post-grad from the same university. Her lover (also her PhD supervisor) is keen for her to take part in the hope that Dr Fisher can fix her problem (and it is ‘her’ problem, not theirs). Simply put, Annie would rather read a good book than have a good… well, you can fill in your own rhyme here.
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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>0857890255</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0861546873
 
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}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1529153298
|author=Lucy Dawson
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|title=The List of Suspicious Things
|title=Little Sister
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|author=Jennie Godfrey
|rating=3.5
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|rating=5
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Kate Palmer’s life has been blighted with tragedy. Her sister Emily died at the age of thirteen in a freak accident. Her parents could not cope with the grief and subsequently divorced leading to her mother living in America and her father suffering a breakdown. Years later, she is married to Rob and struggling to cope with being a new mother to two month old Mathias. Kate’s always been the sensible one whereas her younger sister, Anya, has always had a tendency to run away from her troubles and has never managed to settle down. Therefore, it should come as no surprise to Kate that Anya has taken off once again and has gone diving in Mexico. That would have been OK but Anya is now missing.
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|summary=It's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister.  (A woman?  I mean, honestly...)  She's not what's worrying Miv's family, though.  Women have been disappearing.  Well, they've been murdered, but to have 'disappeared' doesn't sound quite so frightening.  Miv's upset because she's overheard that her father wants to move the family 'Down South'. When you're from Yorkshire, Down South is a frightening, foreign place, best avoided. For Miv, the move would mean leaving her best friend, Sharon, and she'll do anything to prevent that. She's not worried about the dangers or that her Mum's stopped talking - to anyone.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751542512</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1035906708
|author=Peter Hoeg
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|title=Diva
|title=The Elephant Keepers' Children
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|author=Daisy Goodwin
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Danish writer Peter Høeg is best known for his third novel [[Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow by Peter Hoeg|Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow]], partly because it was made into one of the more beautiful movie adaptations of modern fiction. While his latest book, ''The Elephant Keepers' Children'' is unlikely to change that association, it is a magical, story told through the eyes of the charmingly precocious fourteen year old Peter, full of farcical events, zany chases and brilliantly named characters. If you are looking for a gritty, realistic novel, this won't fit the bill, but for all its madcap events, Høeg continues his arch view of events and has surprising depth in the form of philosophical consideration of religions and faith.
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|summary=We tend to think of Maria Callas as Greek, but she was born to Greek parents in Manhattan, New York, in December 1923 and only moved to Athens when she was thirteen. Her original surname was Kalogeropoulos but her father changed it to 'Callas' to make it more manageable in the States. When she was back in Athens - supposedly so that she could get appropriate training for her voice - she was raised under the Nazi occupation by a mother who mercilessly exploited her and made no secret of her preference for her elder sister, Jackie.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846555841</amazonuk>
 
 
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}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Alexander McCall Smith
|author=Amanda Jennings
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|title=The Perfect Passion Company
|title=Sworn Secret
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=A year ago Anna Thorne was found dead after presumably falling from the roof of her school after drinking vodka. Twelve months later, her parents, Kate and Jon, and her sister, Lizzie, are still trying to make sense of and come to terms with what has happened. They each have their own way of dealing with their grief which, rather than uniting, serves to isolate each of them. Ultimately, they are becoming three sad strangers living under the same roof.
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|summary=The Perfect Passion Company is a dating agency in Edinburgh, run by Ness and operating as an alternative to all the online apps in providing a more personal, tailored service.  Ness has asked her younger cousin Katie if she could come and look after the business, as Ness is planning to take a trip to Canada to get away for a while. Katie is coming out of a break up with a bad boyfriend, and so jumps at the chance to come home to Edinburgh.  And so begins this new story from Alexander McCall Smith, bringing us to an Edinburgh we already love, thanks to 44 Scotland Street and the Isabel Dalhousie novels, but with some new characters who quickly begin to charm.  Katie has no experience in running a business, or in match-making, but Ness has full confidence in her abilities, and there's always her very helpful (and rather handsome) neighbour, William, to lend a hand…
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184901969X</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1846976596
 
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}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Dean Koontz
|author=Julie Corbin
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|title=The Bad Weather Friend
|title=Do Me No Harm
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
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|genre=Paranormal
|summary=Dr Olivia Somers is minding her own business, trying to raise two kids alone in the wake of her divorce, when everything goes wrong and her son, Robbie, ends up in hospital. It’s hard to work out what really happened, or even if Robbie is giving her the full story, but when there’s a further incident, this time involving a break in at their home, it becomes clear that these are no random attacks, and someone is out to get them. With the help of a friendly (and handsome) detective, Olivia tries to piece together the puzzle to work  who is behind the trouble, and it’s a race against time to figure it out before the next unwelcome surprise from the culprit.
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|summary=Benny is having a terrifically bad day.  He loses his job, he loses his fiancee, and his house gets trashed.  Oh, and someone has delivered a really weird, disturbing coffin-sized object to his home, and it's possible that whoever or whatever was inside is the thing that has trashed his house!  The thing is, Benny is the very last person to deserve all this bad luck.  He is a nice person.  A really nice person.  So fortunately for Benny it turns out that the delivery to his house is a new friend, a bad weather friend called Spike, who has been sent to help him since Benny is clearly under attack from nefarious forces for being a good person.  Spike is going to take care of Benny, and will certainly take care of Benny's enemies, if he, Benny, and Harper (a waitress slash Private Investigator who finds herself roped into Benny's wild adventure) can figure out who exactly they are.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340918969</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1662500491
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Katherine Howe
|author=Ian McEwan
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|title=A True Account
|title=Sweet Tooth
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Literary Fiction
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|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Ian McEwan's ''Sweet Tooth'' is part spy novel but more a love story and a tale of deception and half truths. It's also, more subtly, a book about the power, role and importance of fiction. Set in the 1970s, with frequent musical and political references to the UK at that time, Serena Frome is a beautiful, Cambridge-educated daughter of an Anglican bishop with a taste for unsuitable romances. From an early affair with a man who turns out to be homosexual, to an affair with an older lecturer she moves on to a surprise job at MI5 where she had a crush on one of her bosses, again and awkward, repressed and unattractive individual before encountering talented author Tom Haley as part of her job with whom she once again falls in love. Few of these men are what they seem, and neither for that matter is Serena when she has to hide her job from Haley.
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|summary=Hannah Masury is living in Boston, having been sent to live with a family who run an inn, and being made to work there from a young age. When she hears there is to be a hanging of some pirates in the town, she decides to go and watch. Enthralled and horrified in equal measure, Hannah finds herself embroiled in a young boy's death at the hands of two vicious pirates. She hides away, so that they don't find and kill her too, and then to escape them completely she runs away to sea, dressing as a boy and joining the notorious Ned Low's pirate ship as a cabin boy.  She soon finds herself in the thick of things when there is a mutiny on board, and from there we are caught up in her rip roaring tale of life on the ocean waves.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224097377</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0861547438
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1471180158
|author=Alexander McCall Smith
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|title=Maybe Tomorrow
|title=The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds
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|author=Penny Parkes
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=So, here we are with Isabel Dalhousie in her ninth story, and I'm assuming that you know who she is by now because really, if you don't, then you'd better not start with book number nine and instead you should really go all the way back to the beginning of the series and ''The Sunday Philosophy Club.'' If, on the other hand, you are well acquainted with Isabel then settle yourself down for another good read from the master of gentle, funny fiction.
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|summary=Jamie Matson works in an upper-class grocery store, for a man who's a control freak with all the subtlety of a half brick.  Jamie's son, Bo, 'has his problems'.  He's asthmatic and the more you read, the more you'll suspect that he's on the autistic spectrum.  Sometimes Jamie needs to take time off at short notice - she's a frequent flier in the local A&E and sometimes Bo's not fit enough to go to schoolMissed shifts or the need to be away on time to pick Bo up from school are occasions when Jamie can be controlled and put in the wrong.  It was going to come to a head.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408704145</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=B0CKD1L5JL
|author=Favel Parrett
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|title=Radio Free Olympia
|title=Past the Shallows
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|author=Jeffrey Dunn
|rating=5
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|rating=4
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Harry Curren lives with Miles (one of his brothers) and their widowed father in a small Tasmanian fishing community.  Their mother has been killed in a car accident but life goes on even if it's more damaged and disjointed than beforeMiles still goes out on his father's fishing boat to ensure their income and Harry spends his time at school, outside amusing himself or being with his other brother, Joe, who, for some reason, lives with their grandfather.
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|summary= Petr is an orphan. Rescued by the strange, reclusive Bear, he is brought up far from bustling cities and busy human society, in the forests of Washington's Olympic PeninsulaAfter Bear dies and a brief sojourn in human company, and armed with only a pirate radio transmitter, Petr goes on a journey through the forest, broadcasting the strange, wild and rarely heard voices he encounters.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848547501</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Sarah Marsh
|author=Charity Norman
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|title=A Sign of Her Own
|title=After The Fall
 
 
|rating=3.5
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=It’s the middle of the night when five year old Finn falls from the balcony at his home in a remote part of New Zealand. Leaving his twin brother and older sister in the care of a neighbour, his mother Martha stays with him as a helicopter races him to the nearest hospital. But as he is rushed into surgery, she is taken to one side for questioning, with first nursing staff then the police and social workers raising concerns. Was Finn really sleep walking, something he is prone to do? But if so, how did he come to have suspicious bruises on one side of his body, not in keeping with how he landed? And if it wasn’t the accident Martha is saying it was, was his mother involved or is she covering for someone?
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|summary=After a bout of scarlet fever as a child, Ellen Lark loses her hearing.  Suddenly plunged into a world of silence, everything about her life changes. Living in a time when the use of sign language was seen as something only savages do, Ellen is sent to a school where she is taught to lip read, but physically restrained from signing. From here, she ends up in another school studying under Alexander Graham Bell who has been teaching the deaf and using a system called Visible Speech. At the same time, Bell is working on other inventions and ideas, and Ellen finds herself unwittingly caught up in a complicated tangle of espionage.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>174331096X</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1035401614
 
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=B0BC3YTCMR
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|title=Good Girls Die
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|author=Ayura Ayira
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|rating=4.5
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|genre=General Fiction
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|summary=''This story is not for everyone.''
  
{{newreview
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Lavender Daniels was three weeks short of her fifteenth birthday when The Incident happened.  She was a very bright student, a bit too nerdy if truth be told, and suffered from vitiligo - people were afraid to hug her in case it's contagiousIt's not easy being a black girl whose skin is 84% whiteShe had a crush on seventeen-year-old Reggie Anderson but never thought he would notice herThen he did: Lavender was very good at math and Reggie asked if she would tutor himShe readily agreed: tutoring was something she gladly did at church: this was just an extensionShe went to his house and he raped herIn shock, she even allowed him to give her a lift home.
|author=Dorothy Koomson
 
|title=The Rose Petal Beach
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=Tamia and Scott met at school and they were friends before they were anything else although it wasn't to the liking of either familyScott's brother referred to Tamia as ''that'' - a reference to the colour of her skin.  Tamia's family weren't racially prejudiced but they knew the Challey family and their reputation for criminalityIt wasn't what they wanted for their daughter: they saw a university education, but were to be disappointed on both countsIt looked to be working well: the marriage seemed stable and they had two beautiful daughters, but then one night it all fell apartScott was arrested in front of his wife and children for a dreadful crimeAs if this wasn't bad enough, Tami's world disintegrated even further when she discovered that Scott's accuser was someone whom she regarded as a close friend.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780874960</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Chris Worthington
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|isbn=1472263936
|title=Setting The Record Straight
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|title=The Figurine
|rating=3
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|author=Victoria Hislop
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|rating=5
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=When he was twelve Geoff Dealer returned to his Texas home and walked in on what looked like a frightening situationA man, trousers round his ankles was pushing his mother up against a wall and she was squealing.  Mindful of his father's advice about using a gun Geoff grabbed it from the gun cabinet and injured the man with his first shotThe second killed himIt was their neighbour and his father's best friend - who'd obviously been more than a friend to his motherLizzie Dealer took the blame - saying that she'd been attacked and had grabbed the gun from her son - but her husband was arrested and was killed in prison a couple of days later.
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|summary=It was in 1968 that Helena McCloud made her first trip to GreeceShe was alone: her mother, Greek by birth, had left the family home and refused to return, but Mary and Hamish (Helena's parents) felt that it would be a pity if Helena grew up without knowing her grandparents or understanding her Greek heritage.  Her trip to the family apartment in up-market Kolonaki would be the first of several annual visitsShe grew to love her grandmother and the family's maid, Dina, but was wary - and frightened - of her grandfather, retired general Stamatis PapagiannisHe was proud of his close connections to the Junta and expected his family to uphold his values but saw no reason to accommodate themHis prejudices included Helena's red hair and green eyes - inherited from her father's Scottish ancestors.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848767080</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Dean Koontz
|author=Herman Koch
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|title=After Death
|title=The Dinner
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|rating=3
|rating=4.5
 
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Serge Lohman, presidential candidate, is not the kind of man to frequent the cafés of ordinary people, and so when his brother Paul and his wife Claire join Serge and wife Babette for dinner, it can only be at the fanciest of locales, and for 'fanciest' read poshest, snootiest, and most overpriced. And while they may be in Holland, going Dutch is not on the menu. This is not Serge’s story, however. It is Paul’s, and what he lacks in terms of income, power and influence compared to his brother, he more than makes up for with dry humour and astute observations.
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|summary= Michael Mace, Head of Security, at a top secret biological research facility, is among 55 people who die when a virus is released in a bio-hazard accident. Finding himself in a makeshift mortuary, covered in plastic, he has a sense that something very, very bad has happened to him – and only him – as he sits up and looks around at the shrouded bodies of his dead friends and former colleagues.  As he recovers his senses, he realises that there is something different about him; he can ''feel'' everything.  ''Everything''.  Michael isn't ''Michael'' anymore.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848873824</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1662500467
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=B0BVDC2VWH
|author=Kim Barnes
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|title=The Grave Listeners
|title=In the Kingdom of Men
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|author=William Frank
|rating=3
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|rating=4
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=This book begins beautifully with all the characters springing to life through fantastically spare and creative description. By the time we reach Gin, living with her her grandfather in the stifling atmosphere of a strict Methodist minister’s home, the story is in full swing and we follow Gin through her teenage years as she tries hard to rebel against all the limitations placed upon her.
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|summary=The village is isolated and poor. It's surrounded by a Witching Forest. And the villagers subsist largely by farming Uphegia plants - its bread-like fruit provides nutrition and its blossom provides herbal medicines. The black wood of the forest provides heat and warmth, roofs on homes, and even gallows, if needed. The fear of being buried alive is an existential superstition in the village and that is the reason Volushka, a drunken, self-indulgent, lazy lout of a man is tolerated.  
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>009194421X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Luis Sepulveda
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|isbn=B0BYF82CXT
|title=The Shadow of What we Were
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|title=Semi-Detached
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|author=Deborah Stone
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Chile, the modern day.  Four elderly men meet for one last time, planning something suspiciously underhand, having made arrangements - and discussed Internet dating - online. We're let into the fact that the grandfather of one was a bank robber in a classic tale of Robin Hood-style wealth distribution, but as to what the outcome of their plans might be we're forced to wait.  Elsewhere a domestic incident leads to a bizarre death - by record player.  And you can just tell I'm suggesting you wait to discover the link...
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|summary=''Bill and Amanda are living in a semi-detached house, stuck in a depressing rut of boredom and disappointment, when Terry and Fiona – glamorous, successful and very much in love – move in next door. Despite their different outlooks on life, the couples befriend each other and life appears to improve for both pairs. But all is not what it seems, and their increasingly interconnected relationships are fated for tragedy.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1609450027</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Shalini Boland
|author=Sophie Duffy
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|title=The Silent Bride
|title=This Holey Life
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|rating=3
|rating=3.5
 
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Vicky's husband has found faith and since he's working as a curate now rather than a plumber Vicky has been dragged into church life whether she likes it or not.  She's struggling to raise her family whilst dealing with her own grief when suddenly into the mix come her irritating big brother and his little boyAs Vicky's patience is stretched paper-thin the lies woven within her family begin to unravel and she struggles to keep everything and everyone together.
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|summary= Alice and Seth are a match made in heaven.  He is everything she has been searching for; handsome, accomplished, clever, funny; total and utter husband-material.  She is all he could possibly want in a wife; beautiful, successful, confident… and so the inevitable proposal is eagerly accepted by Alice and the wedding is planned and setWhen the much-anticipated day arrives, Alice is walked down the aisle by her father, beaming with pride and excitement as she surveys the congregation – their friends assembled to celebrate this joyful day and when Seth turns to face his approaching bride, Alice's world implodes because she has absolutely no idea who the man at the altar is, who is waiting for her to become his wife.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908775971</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1662507089
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1787636003
|author=Cath Staincliffe
+
|title=The Girls of Summer
|title=Split Second
+
|author=Katie Bishop
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=On a late December evening, Emma Curtis is on a bus travelling home from work when she becomes aware of a young lad being picked on by three others. Too scared to intervene, she sits alone feeling guilty but taking everything in. To her shame, nineteen year old student, Jason Barnes, comes downstairs on the bus and immediately challenges the three youths. Luke, the young victim, leaps off the bus and a chase follows. Jason continues to try and defend Luke, and they end up in Jason's front garden where his parents witness the brutal attack. Eventually the trio run off leaving Luke unconscious on the snowy ground. Worse still, is the realisation that Jason has been stabbed and tragically it turns out to be fatal.  
+
|summary=It was the summer when Rachel Evans turned eighteen that she and Caroline went backpacking around Greece and arrived on the island. Rachel wasn't exactly innocent but she was, perhaps, naive, so when thirty-four-year-old Alistair Wright started to take an interest in her, she was flattered rather than wary. It was quite a while before he made any sort of physical approach to her and by that time she was obsessed by him.  Alistair worked for Henry Taylor, looking after his interests on the island and in particular in the bar where all the girls either worked or partied.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849013462</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Amanda Craig
|author=Peter Heller
+
|title=Three Graces
|title=The Dog Stars
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=
+
|summary= Few styles of contemporary fiction interest me like the state-of-the-nation novel. There's something so utterly compelling about any writer who can catch hold of the atmosphere of the day and capture it, crafting an image of the country as it stands in one particular moment. To say that Amanda Craig is skilled at doing this would be embarrassingly inadequate: she's practically synonymous with the genre of contemporary social fiction at this point. She has such a gift for weaving the ongoing issues of the day into the lives of her characters in a way that feels natural and lived-in, never making them ciphers for social commentary but instead fully realised people, grappling with issues far larger than themselves.
We are in North America in a near but post-Apocalyptic future. Those few humans to survive a pandemic have to be treated as carriers, and/or armed and desperate, and so are particularly of note to military-minded survivalist Bangley. And climate and eco-problems have killed off many common species, something closer to narrator Hig's heart, as he's a more placid, huntin', shootin' and fishin' guy. These two solitary men are an unlikely partnership, but both look out for each other in complementary ways. Bangley has his watch-tower, while Hig takes off in his Cessna to get away from it all, and his flights act as a first line of defense. But is it all life could be, for Hig and his dog and Bangley? What is Hig still to make of the last inviting contact he heard on his plane's radio - even if that was three years ago?
+
|isbn= 140871468X
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755392590</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=152915118X
|author=Michael Frayn
+
|title=Pineapple Street
|title=Skios
+
|author=Jenny Jackson
|rating=3.5
+
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Set on a Greek island, a cultural foundation is preparing for the biggest event in its year at which renowned academic Dr Norman Wilfred is due to give the keynote speech. Also heading to the island on the same plane is Oliver Fox, a morally vacant but charming Lothario, who has arranged an assignation with a girl who he has met for only five minutes but has invited to spend a week with him at the villa that he was due spend a week with his ex-girlfriend before she threw him out. But when the girl sent to collect Dr Wilfred from the airport, Nikki, turns out to be irresistibly charming Oliver decides to play the role of Dr Wilfred and follow her to the foundation while the real Dr Wilfred, minus luggage is transported to the villa at the other end of the island. Someone still has to give the speech though - will it be the real Dr Wilfred or the fake Dr Wilfred?
+
|summary=''Pineapple Street'' is the story of three women: Sasha, Darley and Georgiana.  Darley and George are sisters and Sasha is married to their brother Cord. They're Stocktons, only Sasha isn't a Stockton by birth so she isn't readily accepted into the tribe. The problem's exacerbated when the clan matriarch, Tilda, asks Cord and Sasha if they'd like to move into the Pineapple Street property.  Tilda and Chip have renovated and downsized to another property, a street or so away, which they own.  They won't need any of the furniture from Pineapple Street, so Sasha and Cord can move straight in.  Nominally, they had a choice but that wasn't the reality. Darley and Georgiana start to call Sasha 'the gold digger'.  She's living in ''their'' family home. They use it so often that they abbreviate it to 'the GD'.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571281419</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Emily Critchley
|author=Ned Beauman
+
|title=One Puzzling Afternoon
|title=The Teleportation Accident
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
+
|genre=Crime
|summary=It's hard to know where to start in reviewing Ned Beauman's Booker long-listed ''The Teleportation Accident''. Reading it, you feel like the parent of an ADHD-suffering child. At times it is lovable, brilliant and entertaining, at others you just want to reach for the Ritalin and tell it to sit in a corner quietly while it composes itself. A clue to both the brilliance and frustration of Beauman is in the vast range of writers to whom he has been compared in both this and his first novel [[Boxer, Beetle by Ned Beauman|Boxer, Beetle]]. There are hints of people as wide ranging as [[:Category:David Mitchell|David Mitchell]], [[:Category:P G Wodehouse|P G Wodehouse]], [[:Category:Douglas Adams|Douglas Adams]], Raymond Chandler even [[:Category:Angela Carter|Angela Carter]] to name just a few. Beauman takes a huge range of styles and genres and pushes them and bends them often to glorious effect, but it can be a challenge keeping up with him at times.
+
|summary=84 year old Edie has lived in the same small town for almost her whole life, but now she is facing a move as her son wants to move to another house and bring Edie to live with his family, as Edie is starting to lose her memory. However, Edie is tormented by the memory of her childhood friend, Lucy, who went missing over 60 years ago, and the worry that there was a secret she was keeping for Lucy that somehow might be the thing that reveals the truth of what happened all that time ago.  After 'seeing' Lucy in the high street, just as she was the last time she saw her, she starts to find pockets of memories coming back to her. And yet as she remembers the past, she is forgetting more and more in her day to day life. Will she uncover the truth about Lucy's disappearance before her move, and before her memories are gone forever?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340998423</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1804181250
 
}}
 
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|author=Madelaine Lucas
 +
|title=Thirst for Salt
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Literary Fiction
 +
|summary= ''Love, I'd read, was supposed to be a light and weightless feeling, but I had always longed for gravity''
  
{{newreview
+
Told from a retrospective view, a young woman unravels the year-long relationship that once defined her. Overlaid with later wisdom, the narrator relives the affair with a man twenty years her senior from its inception – the summer after finishing university – to its sorrowful end the summer after. Set against the backdrop of an isolated Australian coastal town ''Thirst for Salt'' details the 24-year-old narrator's deepening relationship with her older lover, depicting its all-consuming nature, how it changed her perspective on both romantic and familial relationships and how it altered her irrevocably.
|author=Howard L Anderson
+
|isbn=0861546490
|title=Albert of Adelaide
+
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=0008506337
 +
|title=The Garnett Girls
 +
|author=Georgina Moore
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Albert the Duck-Billed Platypus lives in an Adelaide zoo but knows there's more to life than thisThere must be as he's heard the storiesSomewhere beyond the cages is Old Australia, a land of dreams where there are no zoos and no human captors, just animals who are free to govern themselves and live in perpetual peace and happinessThat's a world that Albert wants to be a part of and so he escapes, realising that for the first time in his short life his future is in his own webbed paws.
+
|summary=The love affair between Margo Garnett and poet Richard O'Leary was all-consuming, apparently on both sides.  Margo was just sixteen when they fell in love.  Richard was twenty-one and described by Margo's mother as 'an older man'.  Her parents worried that Richard's influence would take her away from what they felt she could achieve - going to Oxford and having a glittering careerIn the event, they eloped and Richard took her away from the Isle of Wight.  Margo did go to Oxford and went on to become a well-respected journalist.  The couple had three children: Rachel, Imogen and Sasha.  Life was lived in London and holidays were spent at Sandcove, the family home on the Isle of WightEven then the doubts about Richard's drinking were never far from Margo's mind: ''she would never be able to leave him in charge''.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184668840X</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
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Then Richard left them.
|author=Manu Joseph
 
|title=The Illicit Happiness of Other People
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|summary=Meet what the first chapter calls ''the underdog family''.  Tamil immigrants to Madras, they are below the breadline due to Ousep's constant drinking, and by him being a failed writer and mediocre journalist.  His wife Mariamma has, shall we say, problems, their younger son is fixated on the beautiful girl next door.  But their other son Unni is a ''cartoonist hottie'' - a handsome prodigy of the comic strip world - or he was until he took a nosedive off their roof three years ago, aged 17.  Ousep is still tracking through his son's friends and output, trying to seek the cause of this suicide, and what we have here is the journey of the family as he struggles towards the truth.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848543093</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
  
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Charles McLeod
+
|isbn=1914585402
|title=American Weather
+
|title=Dashboard Elvis is Dead
|rating=4
+
|author=David F Ross
 +
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Jim Haskin is a very odd man, doing a very odd job, in a very odd country if this book is to be believed. An advertising guru in San Francisco, he owns a touchy feely company which boasts such wonders as a ‘Dream Pod’, a room for his team to relax in with sleeping bags, TVs and a cooler brimming with organic fruit tea. That’s for their down time in between saving the world, promoting one eco-friendly item after another and doing other worthy things. Except behind the scenes, Jim Haskin is not that man. While his team are organising poetry slams to help homeless prostitutes, he’s coming up with fight-back campaigns, showing that bleach makes a beach better, chemical spills aren't as bad as you first might think, and other quite inexplicable things.
+
|summary=I reviewed David F Ross's book [[There's Only One Danny Garvey by David F Ross|There's Only One Danny Garvey]] a couple of years back and remember being absolutely floored by how powerful and affecting it was. It was a gripping, emotionally wounding read, and rereading my review of it my main takeaway was that I might not have lavished enough praise on it.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099542226</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Lucy Ashe
|author=Alexander McCall Smith
+
|title=Clara and Olivia
|title=Sunshine on Scotland Street
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=I can hardly believe this is the eighth book about Scotland Street, and it's so nice to just pick up where we left off and discover what's been happening to all our friends. This time we have Angus and Domenica's wedding, Cyril's adventures whilst they're away on their honeymoon, Bruce encounters a rather strange gentleman and of course there's plenty of Bertie to entertain us!
+
|summary=The year is 1933. The place? Sadler's Wells. Ballerinas Clara and Olivia are sisters, twins no less. Identical on the outside but not, we learn, on the inside. And not on stage, either. Because there's a lot that builds a dancer. Some things that can be taught or learnt – discipline, attention to detail – and some things, that ''je ne sais quoi'', that don't come from the classroom. A stage presence, a charm, a ''joie de vivre''. The difference between a hard-worker, and a star.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846972329</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0861544080
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Heather Fawcett
|author=Michael Palin
+
|title=Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries
|title=The Truth
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Keith Mabbutt was at one of those points in life when everything seemed to be changing.  His marriage was on the rocksHis relationship with his children was not good.  He knew that he was a writer - he had a British Gas Award to prove it - but the investigative journalist which he once was had been replaced by someone who did corporate vanity projectsHe skated over the unpalatable and accentuated what there was that was positive and he was paid passably well for doing itWhen he was offered the chance to write a biography of Hamish Melville, the influential humanitarian activist, he seized the chance and not just because the money on offer was beyond his wildest dreams.
+
|summary=Emily Wilde is an expert academic scholar on faerie lore, and she has travelled extensively, and researched meticulously, to write her life's work, the very first encyclopaedia of faeriesWhilst she is brilliant at research and speaking to faeries, she is not so good with peopleSo when she finds herself far, far North in the small village of Hrafvsnik, having somehow offended the village matriarch, she is not sure what she has done, nor how to redeem herself and put her final investigations for her book back on the right trackEnter Wendell Bambleby, her dashingly handsome and insufferable rival who arrives unexpectedly, all charm and delight, much to Emily's frustrationBut why is he here?  What does he want?  And what exactly is going on with the faerie folk around Hravsnik?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0297860216</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0356519120
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1398515388
|author=Steven Amsterdam
+
|title=The Boy and the Dog
|title=What the Family Needed
+
|author=Seishu Hase and Alison Watts (translator)
|rating=3
+
|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
 
|summary=Steven Amsterdam's first novel [[Things We Didn't See Coming by Steven Amsterdam|Things We Didn't See Coming]] won several awards including The Guardian First Boom Award. His second book, 'What the Family Needed', is similar in that it too contains a large dose of the strange, yet it doesn't quite work as well. The book is centred around the families of two sisters, with each member having their own chapter told at different stages of their lives. In each one the various family members are facing problems of some sort or other and each mysteriously achieves some sort of super-power that they 'need' to partly overcome these, although not always with the desired results. From early on, the reader suspects that Alek, elder sister Natalie's younger son who appears as an imaginative kid when we first meet him, is at the heart of the weirdness and sure enough he has the final chapter in the book. Just don't expect everything to be explained.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846555809</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Andrey Kurkov
 
|title=The Milkman in the Night
 
|rating=4
 
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=If you're going to go sleepwalking, there are better places to do so than in Kiev in the grip of its usual snowy, cold and bleak winter - even if there is a lovely blonde at the end of your journeySemyon is living this reality, unaware of the strange consequences, just as others around him are unaware of the strange consequences of their actions - such as the airport security men who purloin some impounded drugs and test them on the catWe also have a young single mother selling herself - just not in that way - commuting into a capital where some are rich enough to try and stave of ageing, and to cheat death in various ways...
+
|summary=First of all, it was the earthquake, deep in the ocean floor, which created the tsunami and this, in turn, caused the nuclear meltdown.  The result was complete and utter devastationThe deaths were uncountable, and the loss of livelihoods was widespread.  The fact that many pets were separated from their owners came far down the list of priorities but - six months after the tsunami - Kazumasa Nakagaki discovered a dog outside a convenience storeHe wasn't a dog person but the convenience store owner's comment that he would call Public Health prompted Kazumasa to open his car door and Tamon the dog jumped in.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099548860</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
  
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Simon Rich
+
|author=Christopher Bowden
|title=What in God's Name
+
|title=Mr Magenta
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=In ''What in God's Name'', Simon Rich imagines Heaven Inc as a corporate entity, with all the dysfunctional trappings of many a large company. At the head of the operation, as you might expect, is God, although he seems to have lost his interest in planet Earth and certainly in the operation of heaven. In fact, he'd rather be watching the religious channels on satellite television or opening a restaurant. Although he would like to see rock group ''Lynyrd'' ''Skynyrd'' re-form before he's done with the planet. In fact the only two who really care about what goes on down here are a workaholic angel named Craig who works in the Miracles Department and the recently promoted Eliza who has been labouring away, somewhat fruitlessly it seems, in the Prayers Department. When Eliza finds that her work on preparing prayers for God has been for nothing, her anger threatens the end of the world, unless Craig and Eliza can help a couple of hopeless humans find love with each other.
+
|summary= Christopher Bowden's latest novel is a patient untangling of a seemingly ordinary woman's life, carried out by her nephew after she has died. The aunt who always provided a safe harbour and a little bit of indulgence to a young nephew had had a much more interesting life than that nephew Stephen had ever realised and it seems to him an obligation to find it all out.  
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846688485</amazonuk>
+
|isbn= B0B6Z9VJDW
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Jennifer Mason
|author=Jon Canter
+
|title=Partitions of Unity
|title=Worth
 
|rating=3
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|summary=Richard, an Ad man, and Sarah, a city lawyer meet, get married, and decide to leave London behind for an idyllic country life instead. He’ll do some drawing, maybe look into illustrating. She’ll do voluntary work. They will start to Enjoy Life a bit more. They will become Better People. They will be the envy of all their friends still toiling away in the big smoke.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099546825</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Melanie Gideon
 
|title=Wife 22
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=Alice and William Buckle have been married for quite a few years and have two teenage children and a dog. With their busy lives, they end up having little time for each other and rarely get the opportunity to talk about the things that matter. In order to do something about her feelings of discontent, Alice googles 'happy marriage?' and although there seem to be no magic secrets for success, a little later she is invited to take part in an online survey about modern marriage. She is given the label, Wife 22, and is assigned to her caseworker, Researcher 101, who sends her questions periodically, and is also available through email to answer any queries. Alice soon enjoys being able to pour her heart out through the questions that she has to answer but also finds that she is becoming more than a little attracted to her faceless caseworker. They start chatting through facebook and Alice finds it quite exciting to mildly flirt with her new friend. However, the more she does so, the more disgruntled she becomes with her own husband. There comes a point though where Alice has to decide whether to take things further and if she does, what will become of her marriage?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007481772</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Ivo Stourton
 
|title=The Book Lover's Tale
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Matt will admit that his writing career failed, and so he had to join his wife in interior design, where he can use his love of books to arrange - at a cost - the contents, design and most importantly the colours, of upper class people's home libraries for them. He'll concede that it's a good way to get into the houses, and beds, of rich women, such as his latest flame, Claudia.  But why is this, his confession, talking of murder?
+
|summary= Here at Bookbag Towers, we first met Elizabeth Cromwell, dominatrix and unintentional detective in [[Preposterous: An Elizabeth Cromwell Mystery by Jennifer Mason|Preposterous]], when she investigated and unravelled a series of disappearances. In ''Partitions of Unity'', she sets her mind to solving a murder...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0552773875</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=B09LQR9FRF
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Heather Gudenkauf
 
|title=One Breath Away
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|summary=Mrs Oliver has spent her life in the classroom. Educating. Guiding. Nurturing. But on the last day of term all she really wants is to get to the afternoon bell without any drama. A gunman walking in to her classroom really does not fit in with her plans.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848451326</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
  
{{newreview
+
Move on to [[Newest Graphic Novels Reviews]]
|author=Timeri N Murari
 
|title=The Taliban Cricket Club
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|summary=We all know, or think we know, how oppressive life was for Afghans, particularly Afghan women, under the Taliban regime, but when you read this novel, boy do you get a sense of how tough it really was.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1742378846</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Kerry Hudson
 
|title=Tony Hogan Bought Me an Ice-cream Float Before He Stole My Ma
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|summary=Janie Ryan is born into a definitely underprivileged family.  Despite a mother who tries to make the right decisions, growing up becomes a fight for survival (both figuratively and literally) as Janie encounters social services, tough schools, domestic violence and an array of 'uncles', all promising a better future that seems as tangible as the holy grail.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0701186399</amazonuk>
 
}}
 

Latest revision as of 09:59, 6 December 2024

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Review of

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

This novel, winner of the International Booker Prize in 2016 and penned by an author who received the Nobel Prize for Literature this year, is as close to unputdownable as it gets. It more than lives up to the acclaim. The story introduces uncanny characters with fragile, vividly tangible bodies yet unknowable, elusive souls. Full Review

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Review of

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

Sally Rooney has studied the chessboard of life and is something of a grandmaster at putting it into words. Her dialogue is gripping and so brilliantly frustrating, as her characters never quite say exactly what they feel. Among the many relationships woven into this story, the central one for readers to unravel is the fraternal connection—or lack thereof—between Ivan and Peter Koubek. Ivan, a socially awkward chess prodigy, contrasts sharply with his older brother Peter, a successful lawyer living in Dublin. Following their father's passing after a long battle with cancer, the brothers' already strained relationship faces new trials. 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

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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

1846976537.jpg

Review of

Beyond Summerland by Jenny Lecoat

4star.jpg General Fiction

Jean lives on Jersey with her mother where they are celebrating the end of the occupation. During the war, Jean's father was arrested for listening to a banned radio and soldiers took him away one night, leaving Jean and her mother waiting for years for news of him. As the British finally free the Channel islands from the Nazis, and the war is finally over, their hopes rise that they will finally learn what became of him. But will the truth come as a relief, or will it raise further questions around what else happened during the war? Who was the informer who told the Nazis about the radio? And what other secrets have been kept throughout the occupation? Full Review

0861546873.jpg

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

The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey

5star.jpg General Fiction

It's 1979 and Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister. (A woman? I mean, honestly...) She's not what's worrying Miv's family, though. Women have been disappearing. Well, they've been murdered, but to have 'disappeared' doesn't sound quite so frightening. Miv's upset because she's overheard that her father wants to move the family 'Down South'. When you're from Yorkshire, Down South is a frightening, foreign place, best avoided. For Miv, the move would mean leaving her best friend, Sharon, and she'll do anything to prevent that. She's not worried about the dangers or that her Mum's stopped talking - to anyone. Full Review

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Review of

Diva by Daisy Goodwin

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

We tend to think of Maria Callas as Greek, but she was born to Greek parents in Manhattan, New York, in December 1923 and only moved to Athens when she was thirteen. Her original surname was Kalogeropoulos but her father changed it to 'Callas' to make it more manageable in the States. When she was back in Athens - supposedly so that she could get appropriate training for her voice - she was raised under the Nazi occupation by a mother who mercilessly exploited her and made no secret of her preference for her elder sister, Jackie. Full Review

1846976596.jpg

Review of

The Perfect Passion Company by Alexander McCall Smith

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

The Perfect Passion Company is a dating agency in Edinburgh, run by Ness and operating as an alternative to all the online apps in providing a more personal, tailored service. Ness has asked her younger cousin Katie if she could come and look after the business, as Ness is planning to take a trip to Canada to get away for a while. Katie is coming out of a break up with a bad boyfriend, and so jumps at the chance to come home to Edinburgh. And so begins this new story from Alexander McCall Smith, bringing us to an Edinburgh we already love, thanks to 44 Scotland Street and the Isabel Dalhousie novels, but with some new characters who quickly begin to charm. Katie has no experience in running a business, or in match-making, but Ness has full confidence in her abilities, and there's always her very helpful (and rather handsome) neighbour, William, to lend a hand… Full Review

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Review of

The Bad Weather Friend by Dean Koontz

4.5star.jpg Paranormal

Benny is having a terrifically bad day. He loses his job, he loses his fiancee, and his house gets trashed. Oh, and someone has delivered a really weird, disturbing coffin-sized object to his home, and it's possible that whoever or whatever was inside is the thing that has trashed his house! The thing is, Benny is the very last person to deserve all this bad luck. He is a nice person. A really nice person. So fortunately for Benny it turns out that the delivery to his house is a new friend, a bad weather friend called Spike, who has been sent to help him since Benny is clearly under attack from nefarious forces for being a good person. Spike is going to take care of Benny, and will certainly take care of Benny's enemies, if he, Benny, and Harper (a waitress slash Private Investigator who finds herself roped into Benny's wild adventure) can figure out who exactly they are. Full Review

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Review of

A True Account by Katherine Howe

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

Hannah Masury is living in Boston, having been sent to live with a family who run an inn, and being made to work there from a young age. When she hears there is to be a hanging of some pirates in the town, she decides to go and watch. Enthralled and horrified in equal measure, Hannah finds herself embroiled in a young boy's death at the hands of two vicious pirates. She hides away, so that they don't find and kill her too, and then to escape them completely she runs away to sea, dressing as a boy and joining the notorious Ned Low's pirate ship as a cabin boy. She soon finds herself in the thick of things when there is a mutiny on board, and from there we are caught up in her rip roaring tale of life on the ocean waves. Full Review

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Review of

Maybe Tomorrow by Penny Parkes

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

Jamie Matson works in an upper-class grocery store, for a man who's a control freak with all the subtlety of a half brick. Jamie's son, Bo, 'has his problems'. He's asthmatic and the more you read, the more you'll suspect that he's on the autistic spectrum. Sometimes Jamie needs to take time off at short notice - she's a frequent flier in the local A&E and sometimes Bo's not fit enough to go to school. Missed shifts or the need to be away on time to pick Bo up from school are occasions when Jamie can be controlled and put in the wrong. It was going to come to a head. Full Review

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Review of

Radio Free Olympia by Jeffrey Dunn

4star.jpg General Fiction

Petr is an orphan. Rescued by the strange, reclusive Bear, he is brought up far from bustling cities and busy human society, in the forests of Washington's Olympic Peninsula. After Bear dies and a brief sojourn in human company, and armed with only a pirate radio transmitter, Petr goes on a journey through the forest, broadcasting the strange, wild and rarely heard voices he encounters. Full Review

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Review of

A Sign of Her Own by Sarah Marsh

3.5star.jpg General Fiction

After a bout of scarlet fever as a child, Ellen Lark loses her hearing. Suddenly plunged into a world of silence, everything about her life changes. Living in a time when the use of sign language was seen as something only savages do, Ellen is sent to a school where she is taught to lip read, but physically restrained from signing. From here, she ends up in another school studying under Alexander Graham Bell who has been teaching the deaf and using a system called Visible Speech. At the same time, Bell is working on other inventions and ideas, and Ellen finds herself unwittingly caught up in a complicated tangle of espionage. Full Review

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Review of

Good Girls Die by Ayura Ayira

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

This story is not for everyone.

Lavender Daniels was three weeks short of her fifteenth birthday when The Incident happened. She was a very bright student, a bit too nerdy if truth be told, and suffered from vitiligo - people were afraid to hug her in case it's contagious. It's not easy being a black girl whose skin is 84% white. She had a crush on seventeen-year-old Reggie Anderson but never thought he would notice her. Then he did: Lavender was very good at math and Reggie asked if she would tutor him. She readily agreed: tutoring was something she gladly did at church: this was just an extension. She went to his house and he raped her. In shock, she even allowed him to give her a lift home. Full Review

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Review of

The Figurine by Victoria Hislop

5star.jpg General Fiction

It was in 1968 that Helena McCloud made her first trip to Greece. She was alone: her mother, Greek by birth, had left the family home and refused to return, but Mary and Hamish (Helena's parents) felt that it would be a pity if Helena grew up without knowing her grandparents or understanding her Greek heritage. Her trip to the family apartment in up-market Kolonaki would be the first of several annual visits. She grew to love her grandmother and the family's maid, Dina, but was wary - and frightened - of her grandfather, retired general Stamatis Papagiannis. He was proud of his close connections to the Junta and expected his family to uphold his values but saw no reason to accommodate them. His prejudices included Helena's red hair and green eyes - inherited from her father's Scottish ancestors. Full Review

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Review of

After Death by Dean Koontz

3star.jpg General Fiction

Michael Mace, Head of Security, at a top secret biological research facility, is among 55 people who die when a virus is released in a bio-hazard accident. Finding himself in a makeshift mortuary, covered in plastic, he has a sense that something very, very bad has happened to him – and only him – as he sits up and looks around at the shrouded bodies of his dead friends and former colleagues. As he recovers his senses, he realises that there is something different about him; he can feel everything. Everything. Michael isn't Michael anymore. Full Review

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Review of

The Grave Listeners by William Frank

4star.jpg General Fiction

The village is isolated and poor. It's surrounded by a Witching Forest. And the villagers subsist largely by farming Uphegia plants - its bread-like fruit provides nutrition and its blossom provides herbal medicines. The black wood of the forest provides heat and warmth, roofs on homes, and even gallows, if needed. The fear of being buried alive is an existential superstition in the village and that is the reason Volushka, a drunken, self-indulgent, lazy lout of a man is tolerated. Full Review

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Review of

Semi-Detached by Deborah Stone

4star.jpg General Fiction

Bill and Amanda are living in a semi-detached house, stuck in a depressing rut of boredom and disappointment, when Terry and Fiona – glamorous, successful and very much in love – move in next door. Despite their different outlooks on life, the couples befriend each other and life appears to improve for both pairs. But all is not what it seems, and their increasingly interconnected relationships are fated for tragedy. Full Review

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Review of

The Silent Bride by Shalini Boland

3star.jpg General Fiction

Alice and Seth are a match made in heaven. He is everything she has been searching for; handsome, accomplished, clever, funny; total and utter husband-material. She is all he could possibly want in a wife; beautiful, successful, confident… and so the inevitable proposal is eagerly accepted by Alice and the wedding is planned and set. When the much-anticipated day arrives, Alice is walked down the aisle by her father, beaming with pride and excitement as she surveys the congregation – their friends assembled to celebrate this joyful day and when Seth turns to face his approaching bride, Alice's world implodes because she has absolutely no idea who the man at the altar is, who is waiting for her to become his wife. Full Review

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Review of

The Girls of Summer by Katie Bishop

5star.jpg General Fiction

It was the summer when Rachel Evans turned eighteen that she and Caroline went backpacking around Greece and arrived on the island. Rachel wasn't exactly innocent but she was, perhaps, naive, so when thirty-four-year-old Alistair Wright started to take an interest in her, she was flattered rather than wary. It was quite a while before he made any sort of physical approach to her and by that time she was obsessed by him. Alistair worked for Henry Taylor, looking after his interests on the island and in particular in the bar where all the girls either worked or partied. Full Review

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Review of

Three Graces by Amanda Craig

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

Few styles of contemporary fiction interest me like the state-of-the-nation novel. There's something so utterly compelling about any writer who can catch hold of the atmosphere of the day and capture it, crafting an image of the country as it stands in one particular moment. To say that Amanda Craig is skilled at doing this would be embarrassingly inadequate: she's practically synonymous with the genre of contemporary social fiction at this point. She has such a gift for weaving the ongoing issues of the day into the lives of her characters in a way that feels natural and lived-in, never making them ciphers for social commentary but instead fully realised people, grappling with issues far larger than themselves. Full Review

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Review of

Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

Pineapple Street is the story of three women: Sasha, Darley and Georgiana. Darley and George are sisters and Sasha is married to their brother Cord. They're Stocktons, only Sasha isn't a Stockton by birth so she isn't readily accepted into the tribe. The problem's exacerbated when the clan matriarch, Tilda, asks Cord and Sasha if they'd like to move into the Pineapple Street property. Tilda and Chip have renovated and downsized to another property, a street or so away, which they own. They won't need any of the furniture from Pineapple Street, so Sasha and Cord can move straight in. Nominally, they had a choice but that wasn't the reality. Darley and Georgiana start to call Sasha 'the gold digger'. She's living in their family home. They use it so often that they abbreviate it to 'the GD'. Full Review

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Review of

One Puzzling Afternoon by Emily Critchley

4star.jpg Crime

84 year old Edie has lived in the same small town for almost her whole life, but now she is facing a move as her son wants to move to another house and bring Edie to live with his family, as Edie is starting to lose her memory. However, Edie is tormented by the memory of her childhood friend, Lucy, who went missing over 60 years ago, and the worry that there was a secret she was keeping for Lucy that somehow might be the thing that reveals the truth of what happened all that time ago. After 'seeing' Lucy in the high street, just as she was the last time she saw her, she starts to find pockets of memories coming back to her. And yet as she remembers the past, she is forgetting more and more in her day to day life. Will she uncover the truth about Lucy's disappearance before her move, and before her memories are gone forever? Full Review

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Review of

Thirst for Salt by Madelaine Lucas

5star.jpg Literary Fiction

Love, I'd read, was supposed to be a light and weightless feeling, but I had always longed for gravity

Told from a retrospective view, a young woman unravels the year-long relationship that once defined her. Overlaid with later wisdom, the narrator relives the affair with a man twenty years her senior from its inception – the summer after finishing university – to its sorrowful end the summer after. Set against the backdrop of an isolated Australian coastal town Thirst for Salt details the 24-year-old narrator's deepening relationship with her older lover, depicting its all-consuming nature, how it changed her perspective on both romantic and familial relationships and how it altered her irrevocably. Full Review

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Review of

The Garnett Girls by Georgina Moore

5star.jpg General Fiction

The love affair between Margo Garnett and poet Richard O'Leary was all-consuming, apparently on both sides. Margo was just sixteen when they fell in love. Richard was twenty-one and described by Margo's mother as 'an older man'. Her parents worried that Richard's influence would take her away from what they felt she could achieve - going to Oxford and having a glittering career. In the event, they eloped and Richard took her away from the Isle of Wight. Margo did go to Oxford and went on to become a well-respected journalist. The couple had three children: Rachel, Imogen and Sasha. Life was lived in London and holidays were spent at Sandcove, the family home on the Isle of Wight. Even then the doubts about Richard's drinking were never far from Margo's mind: she would never be able to leave him in charge.

Then Richard left them. Full Review

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Review of

Dashboard Elvis is Dead by David F Ross

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

I reviewed David F Ross's book There's Only One Danny Garvey a couple of years back and remember being absolutely floored by how powerful and affecting it was. It was a gripping, emotionally wounding read, and rereading my review of it my main takeaway was that I might not have lavished enough praise on it. Full Review

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Review of

Clara and Olivia by Lucy Ashe

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

The year is 1933. The place? Sadler's Wells. Ballerinas Clara and Olivia are sisters, twins no less. Identical on the outside but not, we learn, on the inside. And not on stage, either. Because there's a lot that builds a dancer. Some things that can be taught or learnt – discipline, attention to detail – and some things, that je ne sais quoi, that don't come from the classroom. A stage presence, a charm, a joie de vivre. The difference between a hard-worker, and a star. Full Review

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Review of

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

4star.jpg General Fiction

Emily Wilde is an expert academic scholar on faerie lore, and she has travelled extensively, and researched meticulously, to write her life's work, the very first encyclopaedia of faeries. Whilst she is brilliant at research and speaking to faeries, she is not so good with people. So when she finds herself far, far North in the small village of Hrafvsnik, having somehow offended the village matriarch, she is not sure what she has done, nor how to redeem herself and put her final investigations for her book back on the right track. Enter Wendell Bambleby, her dashingly handsome and insufferable rival who arrives unexpectedly, all charm and delight, much to Emily's frustration. But why is he here? What does he want? And what exactly is going on with the faerie folk around Hravsnik? Full Review

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Review of

The Boy and the Dog by Seishu Hase and Alison Watts (translator)

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

First of all, it was the earthquake, deep in the ocean floor, which created the tsunami and this, in turn, caused the nuclear meltdown. The result was complete and utter devastation. The deaths were uncountable, and the loss of livelihoods was widespread. The fact that many pets were separated from their owners came far down the list of priorities but - six months after the tsunami - Kazumasa Nakagaki discovered a dog outside a convenience store. He wasn't a dog person but the convenience store owner's comment that he would call Public Health prompted Kazumasa to open his car door and Tamon the dog jumped in. Full Review

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Review of

Mr Magenta by Christopher Bowden

4star.jpg General Fiction

Christopher Bowden's latest novel is a patient untangling of a seemingly ordinary woman's life, carried out by her nephew after she has died. The aunt who always provided a safe harbour and a little bit of indulgence to a young nephew had had a much more interesting life than that nephew Stephen had ever realised and it seems to him an obligation to find it all out. Full Review

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Review of

Partitions of Unity by Jennifer Mason

4star.jpg General Fiction

Here at Bookbag Towers, we first met Elizabeth Cromwell, dominatrix and unintentional detective in Preposterous, when she investigated and unravelled a series of disappearances. In Partitions of Unity, she sets her mind to solving a murder... Full Review

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