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Review of Sea Defences by Hilary Taylor Literary Fiction When we first meet Rachel Bird she's a trainee vicar, sitting in on a PCC meeting and wondering why they're held when you need to pick the children up. Her husband, Christopher, collects six-year-old Hannah and her elder brother, Jamie, whilst Rachel holds a sobbing parishioner. Thelma's daughter-in-law won't let her see her grandson. Holthorpe, on the Norfolk coast, is a lovely place, but Rachel is struggling to develop a real bond with the parish - and she's in awe of the vicar, Gail, but then she's been doing the job for more than thirty years. Rachel and Christopher hoped that a walk on the beach would do them some good - it was stormy but it was probably what they needed. And then Hannah went missing. Full Review

Review of The Daughters of Izdihar by Hadeer Elsbai Fantasy Drawing inspiration from Egypt, The Daughters of Izdihar explores the lives of two women who could not be more different, yet find themselves fighting for the rights of women and weavers – those with magical abilities - in a society pitted against them. Nehal, born into the upper class, wishes to attend the Weaving Academy to learn to control her abilities and then join the military, but instead she is forced into an arranged marriage with Nico. Giorgina on the other hand did not have a privileged upbringing like Nehal and feels great pressure to provide for her family and maintain their reputation, whilst secretly attending meetings of the Daughters of Izdihar – a group campaigning for women's rights. Giorgina also happens to be in love with Nico. What follows is a story of an unjust society, filled with hypocrisy and cruelty, from which blossoms a group of admirable women fighting for their rights and overcoming their personal obstacles. Full Review

Review of Alice Eclair, Spy Extraordinaire! A Spoonful of Spying by Sarah Todd Taylor Confident Readers Last time around, Alice Eclair had to prove herself as a spy and as a master at all things French and fancy and fondant, as the only way to save the day involved being an expert baker and icer on the French railways. Here, we start on a bateau-mouche in Paris, and even though the espionage isn't a complete success it proves to Alice and her handlers that things are afoot. And there will never be more feet than at the World's Fair, reviving the huge expo that gave the city the Eiffel Tower and this time showing all her interwar glories off to the world. Once again Alice will have to present the front to the world of being a humble yet world-class cake decorator, while seeking out clues. At stake? Pioneering flight technology that the enemy just cannot be allowed to smuggle out… Full Review

Review of Beautiful Place by Amanthi Harris Literary Fiction Padma, a young Sri Lankan, has returned to the Villa Hibiscus on the southern coast of her home country. This is a place she spent her formative years. It is not a place she was born into, but the one she thinks of as home. How she came to be at the Villa, how it became her home, and the machinations that have flowed through her life ever since she first arrived there provide the score for this gentle and yet subtly violent novel. Padma's present fails to escape her past and much like the musical score of a film, that strand weaves its way through everything that happens at the Villa. Full Review

Review of A Tricky Kind of Magic by Nigel Baines Emerging Readers Cooper loves to perform magic tricks. His father was a magician, and named Cooper after the great Tommy Cooper. But sadly Cooper's father died suddenly, and now Cooper doesn't quite know who to be, or how to be. And when his dad's prop rabbit starts talking to him, he really doesn't know what's going on anymore! Full Review

Review of Death in Heels by Kitty Murphy Crime Set against the backdrop of Dublin's drag scene, Death in Heels tells the story of Fi McKinnery and her best friend, Robyn, who is about to debut as drag queen Mae B. What is meant to be a night of excitement soon takes a downward turn when fellow drag queen, Eve, takes to the stage to mock Mae B. As if the night could not get any worse, when Fi heads home she discovers Eve dead in a gutter. Fi is adamant that Eve was murdered, yet the drag community, and the Guards, accept it as an accident. Fi takes it upon herself to solve the mystery as she fears for her friends, but instead ruins relationships as she delves deeper. Full Review

Review of The Lensky Connection by Conrad Delacroix Thrillers When we first meet Major Valeri Grozky, it's June 1995 and he's at the Serafimov Cemetry in St Petersburg. He's a pallbearer for his elder brother, Timur, whose death was drug-related. Valeri and Timur's father, Keto, is also a pallbearer and he's disgusted by what his son had become. Valeri thinks differently: he's determined to make his own stand against organised crime and avenge Timur's death. Within a matter of months, his obsession will have cost him his marriage to Marisha and created a dubious link with Natassja Petrovskaya, a journalist. She's determined to expose any and all corruption - and she's less concerned than she ought to be about her own safety. To her, he's a good source. For him, it's a way to get information published, which wouldn't otherwise be possible. Full Review

Review of A World of Curiosities (Chief Inspector Gamache) by Louise Penny Crime After a harsh winter, the tiny Canadian village of Three Pines is enjoying the arrival of spring. But something is worrying Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and Inspector Jean-Guy Beauvoir of the Sûreté du Québec. Gamache had offered help to a young woman after the murder of her mother: he'd been less certain about her charismatic brother. For Jean-Guy, it had always been the other way around. Now they're both in the village and neither can fathom what's happening. Armand will soon find that they're not just in Three Pines but in his home and in his life. Full Review

Review of Dukkha by Martin Hyde Horror Sam wakes up chained in a basement. He rails against his captor and the injustice of his imprisonment? Why? Why? But of course, he knows why. Sam is an erstwhile drug dealer who escaped this down and dirty life by going to a retreat and emerging as a neophyte Buddhist monk. Recently returning to join the community in his old neighbourhood, he knew his past would be hard to escape but he hadn't imagined it exploding into this new life in quite such a violent fashion. Full Review

Review of Maestro Orpheus and the World Clock by Robert Penee and Joanne Grodzinski Confident Readers Frederick (or Fred, but never Freddy, please) couldn't sleep. A tune, rather like the ticking of a clock was playing over and over in his mind. It happened every time he came to visit his grandfather. He hadn't really wanted to come; after all, he's ten now and all those old clocks don't appeal to him anymore. Who needs old clocks anyway? All they do is tell the time. And time isn't good for anything... And that was why he was looking at the clock beside the bed. It was nearly twelve o'clock but at midnight the clock chimed only six times. There was nothing for it but to go and find grandad - but where was he? And why had all the clocks stopped at twelve o'clock? Full Review

Review of CDC: The happy years with a spectacular IT 'Phenomena' by Hans Bodmer History The history of the development of IT could fill books of several hundred pages. Author Hans Bodmer is quite right about that. He has chosen to tell us about the short, but explosive, history of the Control Data Company, CDC, for whom he worked. It's a fascinating tale, told in a mixture of technological summary and wry anecdote. Full Review

Review of The Sanctuary by Emma Haughton Thrillers It was the quiet which woke Zoey up - or, rather, the absence of the noise which was a constant in New York. Here it was silent and the heat was overwhelming. When she looked out of the window all she could see was the desert. How did she get here? Zoey was house-sitting for Uncle Dan and his two Manx cats and she remembered that she'd been out with Franny and Rocco last night. She knew that she'd had quite a lot to drink but how could she have got to the desert from New York? She had no memory of getting on a plane but as she thought back, a memory of sirens, flashing lights and of being pushed into a car snagged on the edge of her mind. Full Review

Review of Road of Bones by Christopher Golden Horror The Kolyma Highway… the 'Road of Bones'… the R504. Stretching for over a thousand miles across Siberia, it's one of the world's most notorious routes. For months of the year it's a spread of sheet ice suspended above the permafrost surrounding it, while its 'spring' sees it turn into a huge blodge of unremitting, apocalyptic-level mud, which dries into rutted, puddly dust. I don't think google streetview updates it very often. Built because Stalin wanted so much uranium and other Siberian minerals, and because he wanted to give too many people a lesson, it legendarily cost a life every metre it covers. You can easily find documentaries about it online, but that's a bit rich, for one of our main characters, Felix 'Teig' Teigland, is a film-maker, doing a recce with his cameraman buddy, John Prentiss – who's mostly there to encourage the project to fruition to claw back some of the funds he'd invested in the pair's prior TV projects. They pick up their oh-so-chatty local guide, gain the company of a local beauty, and fetch up at the guide's childhood village. And that's where things start to go awry… Full Review

Review of Her Majesty the Queen Investigates: Murder Most Royal by S J Bennett Crime The Queen, like the sunrise and the tides, was generally a reliable way of marking time. It seemed to begin as a cold. Hardly surprising, really, as Prince Philip had been suffering for a couple of days but seemed to be getting better. Hopefully, the Queen thought, her cold would go the same way. She'd probably caught it from one of the great-grandchildren. Unfortunately, it didn't get better and when the doctor called he diagnosed full-blown flu. She and the Duke were due to go to Sandringham by train that day but the doctor put his foot down. He'd have preferred that the queen have a few days' bed rest before venturing out but had to be satisfied with the thought that they'd go by helicopter the following day. It was annoying: people would be ready for her today and Her Majesty did not like to disappoint. Full Review

Review of Conversations with Nature by Peter Owen Jones Spirituality and Religion One of the comments made when I was offered this beautiful book for review was that it's not very long. Having read the book twice over, I'm brought back inescapably to the Spanish proverb that Life may be short, but it is broad. In this case I'm brought to the idea that the length of life is not the point; the point is its depth. Peter Owen Jones dives deep. Full Review

Review of Squeakily Baby by Beth Webb For Sharing Much as mothers love their babies, there's something they all dread - a squeakily baby. He's so tired but he can't - or won't - go to sleep: instead, he just lies on his blanket and wails. The sea offers to help. It rocks Baby gently and the waves sing hush, hush. Think of gentle wavelets falling onto a sandy beach and you have the sound perfectly. The mermaids join in - la lou, la lay... And for a moment it seems to have worked as Baby closes his eyes. Then a seagull shouts and we know exactly what's going to happen next. Full Review

Review of The Ministry of Unladylike Activity by Robin Stevens Confident Readers May Wong is a long way from her family in Hong Kong. She’s stuck in her school, Deepdean, and desperate to get away, and do something useful to help end the war and to get home. She just knows that she would make the perfect spy! And when she finds herself turned away by the Ministry, she takes matters into her own hands, along with a boy she meets outside the Ministry, Eric. They both go undercover in a large country house, pretending to be evacuees, in an attempt to prove that someone there is passing secrets to the Nazis. But there is a lot more going on in Elysium Hall than either them have imagined, and suddenly they find themselves in the middle of a murder scene, with even more to try to unravel and solve. Full Review

Review of A Thief to Catch a Killer by Kitt Townsend Teens Solomon Klyne isn't a bad lad, so why is he running around London committing a series of robberies? And how did he learn to crack safes? You'll have to wait to get an answer to the second question because I avoid spoilers. But I'll answer the first one: for his grandmother... Full Review

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

Review of Britain's Best Political Cartoons 2022 by Tim Benson Humour Seeking some light relief from the current political turmoil which is coming to seem more and more like an adrenaline sport, I was nudged towards Britain's Best Political Cartoons of 2022. Sharp eyes will have noted that we're not yet through the year: the cartoons run from 4 September 2021 to 31 August 2022. Who can imagine what there will be to come in the 2023 edition? Full Review

Review of The Dark Room by Lisa Gray Crime What if you knew someone was dead, because you'd watched them die several years ago, but then you come across a photograph that seemed to show their murder happened in a different place and time? This is what happens to Leonard in this story. He is an ex-crime reporter for a newspaper, and since leaving journalism he's found himself an unusual hobby where he finds old, undeveloped rolls of film and develops them in his own dark room at home. One of these photographs turns out to show the murder scene of a young woman he met some years ago, and who he thought he had watched die in front of him one night in a hotel. He'd felt guilty ever since that night, and lost everything because of it - his fiancee and his career - but now finds himself wondering if she hadn't really died the night she was with him, what on earth actually happened? Full Review

Review of The Miraculous Sweetmakers: The Frost Fair by Natasha Hastings and Alex T Smith Confident Readers The River Thames had frozen to death in its sleep. And thus the Frost Fair could happen – people trading on the completely iced-over river, like our heroine Thomasina's father with his gingerbread and confectionery shop. Thomasina will be working the Fair too – but her twin brother won't, as he dies in Chapter One. It was a tragedy she feels no small guilt for, and which has made her father a sullen, closed shop – and her bed-bound mother has spoken not a word – not even opened her eyes, more or less – in the four years since, either. But into the dark, frosted London comes Inigo, with supreme magical powers, and a willingness to help Thomasina. Not only can he introduce her to the fantastical Other Frost Fair, using the river surface at night for no end of mystical beasts and characters and their happenings, but he has a unique proposal for Thomasina, which will shake her world to its core. Full Review

Review of The Book of Hope by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams Politics and Society The done thing is to read a book all the way through before you sit down to review it. I’m making an exception here, because I don’t want to lose any of the experience of reading this amazing book, I want to capture it as it hits me. And it is hitting me. This beautiful book has me in tears. Full Review

Review of The Christmas Doll (The Repair Shop Stories) by Amy Sparkes and Katie Hickey For Sharing Susan was very young when she was evacuated from London in 1939 and nervous about how she would be greeted when she got to her final destination. She needn't have worried though as she went to the home of Mr and Mrs Russell, who couldn't have been kinder to her. She even had her own room - all to herself. Gradually she relaxed and began to enjoy her life. She'd help Mrs Russell with the baking and when it came to Christmas Eve Susan and Mr Russell put the decorations on the Christmas tree. The best surprise happened the following morning. Full Review

Review of Red as Blood by Lilja Sigurdardottir and Quentin Bates (translator) Thrillers When Flosi’s wife goes missing, all the evidence seems to point towards her having been kidnapped. The ransom note tells him not to have any contact with the police, so instead he enlists the help of Arora, a financial investigator. She manages to persuade Flosi that they will need the help of the police, and she calls her detective friend, Daniel, whom she met when he was investigating her sister’s disappearance. Together, they start to secretly investigate Gudrun’s disappearance, trying not to arouse the suspicion of anyone, since they have no idea who the kidnappers might be, yet the more they uncover, the more confusing things become. Full Review

Review of Wolf Pack by Will Dean Crime The story began when Tuva Moodyson drove her Hilux pickup truck on the road north of Visberg. She sees blood on the road and a creature on its side near the pine trees. It will turn out to be Bronco, a Swedish Elkhound, who has been attacked by a wolf. Tuva takes Bronco and his owner, Bengt Nyberg, to the vet. Bronco didn't make it but on the way, Nyberg told Tuva that he was out looking for his niece, twenty-year-old Elsa Nyberg, who had gone missing. She'd been working at Rose Farm and Moodyson's journalist's instincts are soon brought to the fore. Rose Farm is now home to a group of survivalists but back in 1987 the then owner, Johan Svenson murdered his wife, and his two eldest children and then killed himself. His newborn child, just four weeks old survived. Does this have any connection to the disappearance of Elsa Nyberg? Full Review

Review of Fly by Alison Hughes Confident Readers This is a very impressive read, as it does a lot of what mainstream teen and tween fiction still struggles with. Its focus is courtesy of the first-person narration from Fly, a secondary school lad with cerebral palsy, a down-on-her-luck single mom nearing retirement from being a cleaner, a carer while at school, and a bundle of assumptions people lay on him. First they assume that with a broken body comes a broken mind, then they decide he's a maths savant – they even believe they can get away with calling him Fly, which isn't his real name, but everybody just uses it. Full Review

Review of New European Baking: 99 Recipes for Breads, Brioches and Pastries by Laurel Kratochvila Cookery This is probably one of the most unusual baking books I've encountered. It's built around 99 recipes for breads, brioches and pastries but the recipes are interwoven with some thought-provoking writing on how bread - and baking - have changed in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. We start with the basics - the equipment you'll need (there's nothing extravagant or indulgent) and the ingredients, where the author is particular. You might not have realised that different salts can change the flavour and sensation on the tongue of the finished product but, apparently, they do. Full Review

Review of Soul Fraud (The Debt Collection Book 1) by Andrew Givler Fantasy Matt has a terrible life. Seriously—it's awful. It is so bad that Dan the Demon is shocked when Matt turns down his infernal offer: 10 years of a blissful life in exchange for his soul. Poor Dan! I know, I know, we shouldn't feel sorry for soul-catching demons. But he really is a terrible salesman. He never hits his targets and, when he fails to get even Matt to sign on the dotted line, he's so desperate that he simply forges Matt's signature. Full Review