Changes

<metadesc>Book review siteExpert, with books full book reviews from most walks of literary life; fiction, biography, crimenon-fiction, cookery and children's books & self-published books plus author interviews and & top tens.</metadesc><h1 id="mf-title">The Bookbag</h1>Hello from The Bookbag, a site featuring books from all the many walks of literary life - [[:Category:Fiction|fiction]], [[:Category:Biography|biography]], [[:Category:Crime|crime]], [[:Category:Cookery|cookery]] and anything else that takes our fancy. At Bookbag Towers the bookbag sits at the side of the desk. It's the bag we take to the library and the bookshop. Sometimes it holds the latest releases, but at other times there'll be old favourites, books for the children, books for the home. They're sometimes our own books or books from the local library. They're often books sent to us by publishers and we promise to tell you exactly what we think about them. You might not want to read through a full review, so we'll give you a quick review which summarises what we felt about the book and tells you whether or not we think you should buy or borrow it. There are also lots of [[:Category:Interviews|author interviews]], and all sorts of [[:Category:Lists|top tens]] - all of which you can find on our [[features]] page. If you're stuck for something to read, check out the [[Book Recommendations|recommendations]] page. We can even direct you to help for [https://www.easywritingservice.com/custom-book-review/ custom book reviews]! Visit [http://www.everychildareader.org www.everychildareader.org] to get free writing tips and [http://www.genecaresearchreports.com www.genecaresearchreports.com] will help you get your paper written for free.

Reviews by readers from all the many walks of literary life. With author interviews, features and top tens. You'll be sure to find something you'll want to read here. Dig in! Find us on [[File:facebook.gif|link=https://www.facebook.com/TheBookbagCoUk|alt=Facebook]] [https://www.facebook.com/TheBookbagCoUk '''Facebook'''], [[File:twitter.gif|link=http://twitter.com/TheBookbag|alt=Follow us on Twitter]] [http://twitter.com/TheBookbag '''Twitter'''], [[File:instagram_classic_logo.png|link=https://www.instagram.com/thebookbag.co.uk/|alt=Follow us on Instagram]] [https://www.instagram.com/thebookbag.co.uk/ '''Instagram'''] and [[File:LinkedIn.png|link=https://www.linkedin.com/in/the-bookbag-1b12a264/|alt=LinkedIn]] There are currently '''{{PAGESINCATEGORY:Reviews}}''' [[:Category:Reviews|reviews ]] at TheBookbag.

==Reviews of the The Best New Books==

 '''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].'''<!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Clare Donoghue1635866847|title= The Night StalkerLavender Companion|author=Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci|rating= 4.5|genre= CrimeLifestyle|summary=DI Mike Lockyer and his preferred sidekick DS Jane Bennett are back – but this time not on home turf. LewishamIt's finest are sent to strange, the things that make you ''immediately'' feel that this is the country book for this outingyou. There Before I started reading ''The Lavender Companion'', I visited the author's been a death down in Somerset[https://www.pinelavenderfarm. Itcom/ website] and there's not a picture of a slice of chocolate cake on the sort of thing youhomepage. I don'd expect the regional murder squad to get involved in, it looks like a hit-t eat cakes anddesserts -run on but I wanted that cake viscerally. (There's a remote road recipe in the Quantocksbook, probably just which I'm avoiding with some drunk driving difficulty!!) Then I started reading the book and I was told to make a big four-by-four who didnmess of it. Notes in the margins are sanctioned. You get to fold down the corners of pages. You suspect that smears of butter would not be a problem. I ''loved't even know he'd done itthis book already.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1447284747</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Nicola PryceJenny Valentine|title= The Captain's GirlUs in the Before and After|rating= 45|genre= Historical FictionTeens|summary=Last year, Bookbag reviewed, Elk and thoroughly enjoyedMab are best friends, [[Pengelly's Daughter by Nicola Pryce|Pengelly's Daughter]]or more than that even, their friendship is a swashbuckling historical romance set once in picturesque Cornwall. Now we have the pleasure of reading the much-anticipated sequela lifetime connection. This time, the story focuses They meet as children one day on a neighbour of trip out but unfortunately they don't get each other's contact details at the Polcarrow familytime. But then chance brings them back together, Miss Celia Cavendishand they are inseparable. Something has happened though, who has been engaged to a cruel man that she does not love. One fateful nightsomething terrible and tragic, she runs away to the Polcarrow house to beg them for helpand now they must work through their grief, and the pivotal events of that night have far-reaching consequences for all involvedtheir friendship, together.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1782398856</amazonuk>1471196585

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= C Robert Cargill1787333175|title= Sea of RustYou Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here|author=Benji Waterhouse|rating= 4.5|genre= Popular Science Fiction|summary=Have you ever watched the I was tempted to read ''TerminatorYou Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here' movies or some similar 'Robo-geddonafter enjoying Adam Kay' franchise and wondered what would have happened if s first book {{amazonurl|isbn=1509858636|title=This is Going to Hurt}}, a glorious mixture of insight into the workings of the robots had actually ''won?'' Well wonder no moreNHS, because humour and autobiography. ''Sea of RustYou Don'' hinges on that exact premise; a world where the robots have wiped out every living thing from planet eartht Have to be Mad. Only artificial life remains; there is no trace of organic matter anywhere, since the robot uprising that devastated the planet. Now two huge mainframes compete for world domination: CISSUS and VIRGIL. They capture robots and turn them into drones; uploading their minds into a hive consciousness. The few remaining bots are called 'freebots,' promised the same elements but moved from physical problems to mental illness and inhabit a desert called the Sea work of Rust, where they do what they can a psychiatrist. I did wonder whether it was acceptable to survive, including cannibalising other bots be looking for spare partshumour in this setting but the laughter is directed at a situation rather than a person and it is always delivered with empathy and understanding.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473212782</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Michelle Robinson Mariana Enriquez|title=A Sunny Place for Shady People|rating=5|genre=Short Stories|summary=Mariana Enriquez writes horror that is disturbingly real, achieving this uncanny familiarity by basing her paranormal plots on gritty realities: her settings include an abandoned field full of disused refrigerators due to an urban planning mishap, an overcrowded homeless shelter and Claire Powella crime-ridden neighbourhood where safety meetings are routine - all within Argentina. The circumstances of her characters are so plausible that the supernatural or otherworldly horror which seeps into these spaces adopts a similarly tangible texture. |isbn=1803511230}}{{Frontpage|author=Onyi Nwabineli|title=Have You Seen My Giraffe?Allow Me to Introduce Myself

|summary=Here we areAnuri spent her childhood on display to the world, back thanks to her step-mother Ophelia's increasingly popular presence on Scotland Streetsocial media, where she posted every step of Anuri's childhood for sponsorships and influencer deals and, basically, eager to see what everyone (especially Bertie…) has been up to! monetary gain. This Now Anuri is now the twelfth book in the Scotland Street series which her twenties and she is remarkable. That a serial novel has such momentum, slowly trying to regain her confidence and that the characters within have become so very familiar to AMS's loyal readersget her life back, is a testament suing her step-mother to his skills as a writer. This time around our nerves are on edge as Pat ventures back towards a relationship with take down the dreadful Bruce! Surely she'll see sense..content about her.won't she?! MatthewAnuri is battling alcoholism, failing to start her PhD, of all undergoing therapy and secretly abusing peopleonline and receiving money from them for doing so. Most importantly, she is in trouble with the policedesperately worried about her little sister, Irene who is busy planning a PhDthe new focus of Ophelia's online empire. Can she save her sister, and Bertie? Could there be a happy ending for Bertie in perhaps herself and her relationship with her father at the airsame time?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1846973821</amazonuk>0861546873

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Martin Edwards (editor)David Chadwick|title= The Long Arm Headload of the LawNapalm|rating= 4.5|genre= CrimeThrillers|summary= When we think of the 'golden ageIt' s September 1973 in Hicks, California. Hicks is a Mojave desert town of crime fiction, we think a few thousand people with its nearest neighbours of the brilliant amateur forever putting the official PLA and Las Vegas both a significant drive away.CNot much happens in Hicks. Plod to shame. Miss Marple, Sherlock Holmes, Poirot, Father Brown A silver mine and so on. I'll admit to being a fan of all of thosedefence contractor are the main local employers but otherwise, but they arenthere't the whole story. The s not much of note other side of the coin shows the official police doing their job than dive bars and getting their manJoshua trees. Life is quiet, until.... |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0712356878</amazonuk>B0D321VJ76

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Katy ColinsTom Percival|title= Chasing the SunThe Wrong Shoes|rating= 45|genre= Women's FictionConfident Readers|summary= Author Katy Colins became BritainWill's life is difficult, in a multitude of ways. He is bullied because he has 'the wrong shoes', he has the wrong shoes because his dad can't work and doesn't have enough money for even the most famous jilted bride when basic of things like food, and his dad can't work because he lost his job at the college, was working a cash-in-hand job on a building site and had an accident. Throw into that mix the fact that his mum and dad are separated, and Will's life seems bleak in every direction. And yet, he still has a tiny amount of hope. He is good at art, and clings to the true story moments of her subsequent lonely hearts backpacking trip went viraljoy when he is drawing, before becoming that feel like a romantic comedy book series with this light at the latest oneend of a long, dark tunnel. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0008202192</amazonuk>1398527122

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Emilia Dziubak and Przemyslaw WechterowiczSylvie Cathrall|title=The Secret Life of a TigerA Letter to the Luminous Deep|rating=45|genre=For SharingScience Fiction|summary=If David Attenborough has taught us anything is that a lot goes on in the natural world that we There are unaware of. Animals will hunt in interesting ways, or find few greater joys than a mate using secret dances, but did you know that Tigers sometimes sneak book which lives up on apes and give them new haircuts? You will be amazed with the revelations found in Emilia Dziubak and Przemyslaw Wechterowicz's book, but I am not convinced that to a compelling premise. And this kid's book is based on factsone of them.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>191027724X</amazonuk>0356522776

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Steve Martin and Essi Kimpimaki1786482126|title= Scientist Academy: Are You Ready For the Challenge?The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway)|author=Elly Griffiths|rating= 4.5|genre= Children's Non-FictionCrime|summary=Kids seem to have Builders were demolishing an innate curiosity about old house in Norwich - the world around them. They are constantly asking ''How?'' and ''Why?'' Curious kids and budding scientists are site was going to love the new hold seventy-five 'luxury'Scientist Academyapartments - when they discovered the bones of a child beneath a doorway. There was no skull. Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. It's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn' book by Ivy Kidst, which that she is filled pregnant with practical experiments and fun activities with an educational twisthis child as a result of the one night they spent together some three months ago. Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of sickness.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178240502X</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author= Jess RichardsJoan Didion|title= City The Year of CirclesMagical Thinking|rating= 4.5|genre= FantasyAutobiography|summary= Danu This book is a tightrope walker who is mourning her parents, after a disease has ravaged Joan Didion's heartbreaking autobiographical account of the circus where grief she grew upendured following her husband's sudden death. Her mother has entrusted her with a locket Books that hides shed light on taboo topics like death are such a secret. Over the years, Danu pushes away her grief and develops elaborate beautiful and successful high-wire acts with Morrie, a charismatic hunchback who wants necessary resource to marry herhelp people feel less alone. When the circus returns to Danu's birthplace, Matryoshka, Danu is enchanted by the temples, spice mistsDidion unpicks unpleasant feelings surrounding death like self-pity, denial and delusion and pleasure seekers within the intoxicating outer circle district. Here, she finally gains the courage to open her mother's locketmakes them utterly normal, and discovers the name of lends them a stranger who lives behind the locked gate of the Inner Circle. Fated to remain in Matryoshka, Danu attempts human face to resolve this mysterywear. Will she and Morrie ever be reunited, or will something far more unexpected be waiting for her in the mysterious heart of the city?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1473656680</amazonuk>0007216858

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Peter Bently and Charles Fuge0008551324|title=A Home Full of FriendsThe Devil You Know (D S Max Craigie)|author=Neil Lancaster

|genre=For SharingCrime|summary=Bramble Badger was out looking It's unusual for nuts by anyone from the river when Hardie family to approach the storm broke and he was so cold that he decided to go straight homepolice. On Neither side likes or has any respect for the way other. But Davie Hardie is struggling in prison and he met a trail of devastation: Snuffle Dormouse's house has been squashed by prepared to tell the police where the body of a falling treemissing person is buried and who was responsible for her death. She'd like shelter in Bramble's settThis person, he promises, if is someone big and it will be worth the police doing what he has roomwants. He's a ''little'' bit reluctant because And what he thinks wants is to be transferred to an open prison to serve the remainder of his sett is in a mess sentence and there isn't to get an early parole date. Not much space or dinner availableto ask, but what can you do when a friend is in needit? Next itThe new Deputy Police Constable doesn't think so and she's Tipper even prepared to do the Toad whose home other thing that Hardie demanded - make certain that DS Max Craigie and anyone who works with him is full of mud, then Boo the Hedgehogkept well away from what's nest has been covered by leaveshappening.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>144492057X</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Hunter Davies1739526910|title=A Life in the Day: Memories of Sixties London, Lots of Writing, The Beatles and my Beloved WifeWhere I've Not Been Lost|author=Glen Sibley|rating= 4.5|genre= AutobiographyGeneral Fiction|summary= Although I knew the name Hunter Davies before I picked this book up''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, I was unaware just how pivotal a figure he dreams of the Swinging Sixties Hunter Davies really wasreconnecting with everything he has lost. Take himBut as those tentative plans falter, Harold Wilson and he becomes swept up in a certain musical quartet from Liverpool out local world of the decadeunlikely friendships, mobile discos and you are left with a bit of a vacuumsurprising romantic possibilities. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1471161293</amazonuk>''

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Ellie Irving0008405026|title= The Matilda EffectA Stranger in the Family (Maeve Kerrigan 11)|author=Jane Casey|rating= 4.5|genre= Confident ReadersCrime|summary= When youIt're wrongeds sixteen years since nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall disappeared from her bed one summer night. She was never found and the investigation ground to a halt. Now, her mother, Helena, and you know you've been wrongedher father are dead in their bed. Initially, itlooks like a straightforward murder/suicide but there's something about the worst feeling in positioning of the worldbodies that makes DS Maeve Kerrigan and her boss DI Josh Derwent suspicious. When someone takes credit for something you have done, claiming What looked as though it was going to be an open-and-shut case is now a prize that complex double murder. Kerrigan is rightfully yours, it's a horrible, horrible injustice, and convinced that's the same whether itexplanation lies in Rosalie's a Nobel Prize or simply the blue ribbon disappearance: others (and excessive amounts of dog food) given away at a school science fair. Now parents might tell you that lifesuch as Derwent's not fairboss, you win some you lose some, or any of a number of clichés, but if your name is Matilda you just can't let it lieUna Burt) are less convinced. And, when she finds out that her granny was side-lined for a much bigger award, for work she did 50 years ago, she makes it her mission to right the wrong and let the world know exactly what happened. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0552568376</amazonuk>

{{newreview <!-- remove 24/8 -->Frontpage|isbn=1529077745|title=My Psychosis Story: A Story of Fear and Hope Through AdversityThe Dark Wives (D I Vera Stanhope)|author=Emmanuel OwusuAnn Cleeves|rating=4.5|genre=LifestyleCrime|summary=''My Psychosis Story'' recounts Emmanuel Owusu's journey into and eventually out A man walking his dog in the early morning discovered the body of psychosis. In late 2014a man in the park near Rosebank, during a visit care home for Christmas, he found himself exhausted, anxious and unable to sleeptroubled teens. Symptoms persisted and soon he The dead man was suffering from noise sensitivity and intense headaches. Various visits Josh - one of the care workers who was due to A&E failed to diagnose work a physical causeshift the night before but who had never turned up. Things deteriorated further and possible diagnoses D I Vera Stanhope is called in to investigate the murder - but her only clue is the disappearance of one of anxiety and post traumatic concussion were suggestedthe residents, fourteen-year-old Chloe Spencer. And ''still'' things got worse. Eventually, OwusuSome people believe that Chloe was responsible for the death but Vera thinks this is unlikely as the girl's condition deteriorated so far diary makes it clear that he was suffering from delusions and hallucinationsshe adored Josh. An ambulance was called and he was detained - sectioned - under the Mental Health Act in 2015She knows that she has to find Chloe to discover what happened to Josh.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1524680559</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Kate Ling1399613073|title=The Glow of Fallen StarsMoral Injuries|author=Christie Watson|rating=4.5|genre=TeensThrillers|summary=''The Glow Olivia, Laura and Anjali met on the first day of medical school and their friendship would keep them inseparable for a quarter of Fallen Stars'' a century. Olivia is ruthlessly ambitious, which is a bonus when you aim to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Laura is a perfectionist and a trauma doctor. Anjali is the second book in Kate Ling's ''Ventura'' series - you can read our review free spirit of the group and she becomes a GP. When we first instalment [[The Loneliness of Distant Beings by Kate Ling|here]]. Seren meet them they're at a drug and Dom, together with Ezra alcohol-fuelled party and Mariana, have escaped it's going to end in tragedy. We don't know who suffered the Ventura, tragedy or the spaceship on which they have spent their whole lives, and crash landed on consequences. Twenty-five years later there will be an eerily similar event that will impact the planet Huxley 3three friends. At last This time, they it's their teenage children who are away from the stifling authoritarianism of life on board the ship and free to pursue their own lives underneath a real sky, walking on real landinvolved.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1510200185</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Dan Walker0241636604|title=Sky ThievesThe Trading Game: A Confession|author=Gary Stevenson|rating=4.5|genre=Confident ReadersAutobiography|summary=Zoya Delarose never quite fitted If you were to bring up an image of a city banker in at your mind, you're unlikely to think of someone like Gary Stevenson. A hoodie and jeans replaces the orphanage pin-stripe suit and she's about his background is the East End, where he was familiar with violence, poverty and injustice. There was no posh public school on his CV - but he had been to learn why. Abducted at the end London School of a school trip, Zoya Economics. Stevenson is knocked unconscious bright - extremely bright - and wakes up in he has a creaking sky ship in the dead facility with numbers which most of nightus can only envy. She attempts He also realised that most rich people expect poor people to escape but when she's caught and brought in front of the ship's captainbe stupid. It was his ability at what was, essentially, Zoya discovers a history and card game which got him an internship with Citibank. Eventually, this turned into permanent employment as a threat that will change her life forevertrader.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0192747010</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jill Atkins and Barbara VagnozziLeanne Egan|title=Peck, Hen, Peck! and Ben's Pet (Early Reader)Lover Birds|rating=4.5|genre=For SharingTeens|summary=It probably sounds obviousWhen new girl, but you really shouldn't keep your pet chickens in a bag! WellIsabel, thatmoves to Lou's what I learned hometown of Liverpool from this book which tells us first the story of Tom who puts his hen in a bagLondon Lou immediately feels Isabel's disdain for everything around her. The hen pecks through the bagA misunderstanding between them leaves them hating each other, as hens are wont to dobut Lou feels her pulse racing every time she looks at Isabel or speaks with her, and escapes! that's definitely because Isabel makes her feel so cross, isn't it? A simple and somewhat tragic tale! This Because Lou is swiftly followed by a story about Benstraight, isn's pet. t she? Will it be another henEven though none of her relationships with boys have gone very well so far, I wonderedand she's never had a good kiss with any of them? NoSo she just finds herself watching Isabel, actuallyand wanting to hang out with her because fighting with her is fun, after several incorrect guessesand she definitely just hates Isabel, we discover that Bendoesn's pet is only a rabbit!t she?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1848862482</amazonuk>000862657X

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Alice Hemming and Louise Forshaw1009473085|title=Buzz The Conservative Effect 2010 - 2024|author=Anthony Seldon and Jump! Jump! Tom Egerton (Early ReaderEditors)

|genre=For SharingPolitics and Society|summary=After hearing Sometimes it's simpler to explain a mysterious buzzing in book by describing what it ''isn't'' and that applies to ''The Conservative Effect: 2010-2024 - 14 Wasted Years?''. If you're looking for an easy read which will deliver the kitcheninside story about what ''really'' happened on certain occasions, mum traps then this isn't the book for you. If that's what you're looking for, I don't think Anthony Seldon's book, {{amazonurl|isbn=B0BH7SKG2S|title=Johnson at 10}}, can be bettered for those tumultuous years. It's a fly compelling read and should be compulsory for anyone who thinks Johnson should return to politics. ''The Conservative Effect'' is an entirely different beast. It's the seventh book in a jarseries which looks at the impact a government has made and co-editor Sir Anthony Seldon regards this as the most important. This book follows the well-established format: a series of experts from various fields review the state of the nation when the coalition took over in 2010, but then she hears the buzzing againchanges that occurred and the situation in 2024.}}{{Frontpage|author=Max Boucherat|title=The Last Life of Lori Mills|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=We meet Lori on the first evening she's got the house to herself – no neighbour to pop in, babysitter poorly, mother at work, just an avidly rule-breaking eleven year old, on her lonesome.what What could be going onpossibly go wrong? MeanwhileSnuggled in a blanket fort, Ken the Kangaroo (who declares himself she has one main intention, and that is to log on to be Voxminer, the best at jumping)world-building, critter-collecting game that is jumping everywhere he cana hit in Lori's world. In But first Lori has a tiny inkling that this red level bookstormy night doesn't find herself entirely on her own, aimed generally at those who have completed their reception year in schooland then she finds something even more spooky. For the server she and her bestie and nobody else should be able to enter shows signs of tampering. When malevolent eyes spark up on her phone screen, there are two simple, sweet stories and her safe place in one bookthe game has been doctored – well, perfect for those who are just learning where is a girl to read.turn?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1848862504</amazonuk>0008666482

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Alice Hemming and Julia SealFyodor Dostoyevsky|title=Bamboo and I Wish (Early Reader) White Nights

|genre=For SharingShort Stories|summary=With two stories As always in one bookDostoyevsky, there's plenty to like about this simple, and funny, early reader. The first story, Bamboo, deals with a cheeky panda who has run off to hidethe character work is sublime. Where can he be? The second story One is about never left wondering what a wishing well which character is granting wishes left, right thinking or feeling because Dostoyevsky lays bare their innermost dispositions and centre! Evaluated as a red level book, it sets itself as being about the right level for those around the end of their reception yeartemperaments with remarkable clarity.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1848862512</amazonuk>0241619785

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Naomi Hamill0008385068|title= How to be a Kosovan BrideThe Midnight Feast|author=Lucy Foley|rating= 4.5|genre= Women's FictionThrillers|summary=It's midsummer on the Dorset coast and guests gather at The Manor. It'How to be a Kosovan Bride'' recounts tales of two women, who s their opening weekend and splendid celebrations are of a similar age and live in Kosovo, one of the worldpromised. It's youngest and most unstable countries, in the aftermath of the Balkan warall headed up by Francesca Meadows. The first girl, the Kosovan Wife, follows the archaic, traditional path that has long been the norm for women from Manor was her country - ancestral home and she marries before she is twenty, 's converted it into an impressive retreat for the wealthy and soon produces childrenfamous. The second girl follows a starkly different path - returned to her parents after a disastrous wedding night Her husband, Owen, and thus labelled was the Returned Girl, she scorns tradition, architect and studies endlessly until she work is accepted into university, where she discovers still ongoing on parts of the distinctly modern, Western world of political activismsite. The girls' stories heat is oppressive and amongst the guests are enemies as well as friends. Old scores are interwoven with both Kosovan folk tales going to be settled and memories of the recent war, really giving readers a feel of what it is like to call such an unstable place home. This is undoubtedly won't be long before a political book, with distinctly feminist undertones, but it body is also thoroughly enjoyable, and beautifully written to bootfound. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784630950</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Sarah Brennan and Jane TannerJames Baldwin|title= Storm WhaleGiovanni's Room|rating= 4.5|genre= For SharingLiterary Fiction |summary= This is one of the most beautiful picture books that I have read for a while. ''Bleak was the day and the wind whipped downWhen I and my sisters walked to town…Giovanni's Room'' So begins this story of three sisters who set off to walk to follows the beach together narrator David, an American man living in Paris, as he navigates his torturous affair with Giovanni, an Italian bartender he meets in this stunning and rather special picture booka gay bar. The cover illustration While David is engaged to Hella, who is reminiscent of traditional family holidays depicting three girlstravelling in Spain, hand the real tension in hand and wearing sunhats disappearing over sand dunes on their way to the beach. The story then departs novel arises not from his infidelity but from a typical seaside theme as the sisters find a stranded whale on the beach deeper conflict within himself. It is David's crippling shame and spend the day in desperate attempts to save itdenial of his sexuality that ultimately dooms his relationship with Giovanni. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1910646253</amazonuk>0141186356

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Roald DahlB0DGDJRHYD|title= FearNowhere Man|author=Deborah Stone|rating= 54|genre= Short StoriesGeneral Fiction|summary=Do you enjoy being scared? Featuring fourteen classic spine-chilling stories chosen by Roald DahlIn a quiet suburban house, Patrick is making his final plans. A meticulous man, these terrible tales he makes sure of ghostly goings-on 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 have you shivering with fear as you turn the pagesbe a while before Diana realises what Patrick has done.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405933216</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Roald DahlVirginie Despentes|title= War|rating= 5|genre= Short Stories|summary=In war, are we at our heroic best or our cowardly worst? Featuring the autobiographical stories from Roald Dahl's time as a fighter pilot in the Second World War as well as seven other tales of conflict and strife, Dahl reveals the human side of our most inhumane activity.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405933194</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Chloe Seager|title=Editing EmmaKing Kong Theory

|genre=TeensAutobiography |summary=Emma Nash is a typical 16 year old with all the insecurities and obsessions that come with this age. When the love of her life ''ghostsKing Kong Theory'' her (iis a hard-hitting memoir and feminist manifesto, which can be seen as a call to arms for women in a phallocentric society broken at its core.e. breaks up with her by acting as if she doesn't exist)Originally written in French, she spends the summer moping book is a collection of essays in which Virginie Despentes explores her pyjamas. However, September arrives all too soon bringing with it experiences as a woman through the start complex prism of Sixth Form and a resolution to make some important ''edits'' to her varied life: from rape to sex work and pornography. This includes e-tweaking herself with disastrousThough these discussions are intertwined, and often hilarioustheir placement within the book can feel somewhat disjointed, consequences. The whole experiment is recorded in Emma's private blog: a blog that she might just regret ever writingreflection of their original form as independent essays.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0008220972</amazonuk>191309734X

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Pascal Garnier and Melanie Florence (translator)James Baldwin|title=Low HeightsGiovanni's Room

|genre=General Literary Fiction |summary=Edouard is an exemplary example of a crotchety old man – changing his mind, and blaming anything and everything – even that decision – on other people. He''Giovanni's physically fineRoom'' follows the narrator David, apart from one hand disabled by a strokean American man living in Paris, but mentally, what with forgetting as he navigates his past, assuming too many days are Sundays when they're not and buying too many inappropriate things, he needs a nurse – Therese, who has formed an unlikely and almost unwanted couple torturous affair with him. For EdouardGiovanni, the memory of his wife who died ten years ago is still a little too strong. But this unusual 'family' is about to be upset by an unexpected arrival, who will stir the emotions and life of their remote house no end…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910477427</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Liam Brown|title= Broadcast|rating= 4.5|genre= Thrillers |summary=When David Callow is offered the lead role Italian bartender he meets in a revolutionary new online show, he snatches at the opportunitygay bar. Rapidly becoming a viral sensation, While David is propelled to stratospheric levels of celebrity. However, he soon realises the downside of sharing every secret with the world. A prisoner engaged to both his fame and his own thoughtsHella, David seeks to have the chip removed, only to discover the chilling secret lurking at the heart of MindCast, and the terrifying ambition the show's creator has for him.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1787199932</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Elizabeth Peters and Joan Hess|title= The Painted Queen: an Amelia Peabody Mystery|rating= 4|genre= Crime (Historical)|summary= Amelia Peabody is a no-nonsense lady who endures all manner of murder attempts, kidnappings and sundry other crimes while on various archaeological digs in Egypt with equanimity and composure. She is either revered or feared (or both) by villains, museum curators, family and workmen alike for her caustic tongue and the steel-reinforced parasol she brandishes at the first sign of danger. And yet, once the evil-doers have been locked up, precious objects returned to their owners and all injuries bandaged, she still insists on all the decorum of the English abroad: formal dress for dinner and only the politest and least contentious topics for dinner-table conversation. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472126823</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Barney Saltzberg|title= Chengdu Can Do|rating= 5|genre= For Sharing|summary= There's something utterly delightful (and, it must be said, sometimes infuriating, especially when you're travelling in a hurry) about the toddler's determination to be independent. Scrambling along using any handy piece of furniture or, if they don't move fast enoughSpain, the family pet as a prop, exploring cupboards full of the most enticing objects, and the daily struggle to get as much dinner real tension in his or her own mouth as on the walls – all that requires grit and a refusal to fail which augurs well for the little one's future. That can-do attitude, so lauded by education, enterprise and big business, is a quality Chengdu the panda has in bucket-loads! |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1484758471</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= John Grisham|title= The Innocent Man|rating= 4.5|genre= True Crime|summary=Many readers may be drawn by the fact that the internationally bestselling John Grisham is the author here. I however, must admit that although I have enjoyed some of the films based on novel arises not from his books, I have never actually read any of them. This hasn't been due to deliberate avoidance, I just haven't gotten around to it. I was keen then to read this True Crime title and see what Grisham would bring to the table, so to speak.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784759414</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Rebecca Jones|title=The Colouring Book of Cards and Envelopes: Unicorns and Rainbows|rating=5|genre=Crafts|summary=I've a problem with many colouring books for children: some initial effort goes into the colouring, infidelity but from the chances are that little will be kept on a long-term basis and it's not particularly satisfyingdeeper conflict within himself. How much better would it be if the colouring produced something which could be sent to someone else, who would appreciate that itIt is David's unique crippling shame and denial of his sexuality that effort and care has gone into the card? How much better to give a child something like ''The Colouring Book of Cards and Envelopes: Unicorns and Rainbows'' than an ordinary colouring book which will soon be discarded?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1788000897</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Dina Nayeri|title= Refuge|rating= 5|genre= General Fiction|summary= Sinking boats in stormy seas, national borders boosted ultimately dooms his relationship with barbed wire, and overcrowded shelters – the media's portrayal of seeking asylum focuses on the process in its darkest, most dangerous form. What happens after tumultuous journeys and temporary shelter is not news; and life after decades in the new country is rarely headline material either. But in Dina Nayeri's ''Refuge'', it is the life after that takes centre stageGiovanni. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0735219389</amazonuk>0141186356

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Sean Taylor and Kasia MatyjaszekAshley Hickson-Lovence|title=I am Actually a PenguinWild East

|genre= For SharingTeens|summary= Do you know Written in verse, this is Ronny's story, a child young black fourteen year old boy from Hackney who loves suddenly has to move to dress up? Well this Norwich and start at a mostly white school. The move is initiated by Ronny's mum who is the perfect picture book worried for that childRonny's safety after a tragic event, and so Ronny finds himself trying to settle in a new town, a new school, and keep himself out of trouble. He listens to music constantly, and has always dreamed of being a rapper. Quite probably But now, in this new school, his teacher encourages him to be part of a poetry writing workshop group and, slowly, Ronny begins to see the perfect picture book for connections between rap and poetry, and the parent power of that child toocreativity and crafting your words.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1783704519</amazonuk>0241645441

{{newreview <!-- remove 20/8 -->Frontpage|author=Annie IngramAlba de Cespedes |title=Conversations with KammieForbidden Notebook

|genre=PetsLiterary Fiction|summary=It was something This Italian work of a relief when I encountered Annie Ingram feminist fiction holds an air of suspense and tension from the moment our protagonist, Valeria Cossati, purchases her cocker spaniel Kammieforbidden notebook, and learns about herself in the most intimate and revealing ways. You see|isbn=1782278222}}{{Frontpage|author=Ottessa Moshfegh|title=My Year of Rest and Relaxation|rating=3|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=At best, Annie knows something which has been self-evident to me for this novel is a long time: dogs are perfectly capable scathing critique of communicating with humans modern society and not just on a level reveals the fragility of ''food!''human relationships; at worst, it is the cynical, ''walk!'' or ''play!''predictable and slightly trite tale of an unlikeable protagonist. You do require extensive training to become fluentThis unlikely heroine, a slim, attractive and newly orphaned girl in her twenties is disillusioned with the world, but most dogs will be perfectly willing to give their time to teach you and all you have resolves not to do is listen. Annie has studied hardlose sleep over it: Kammie has trained in fact, her solution lies in her well and the pair have allowed us to share some of their conversationshibernation.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1785451995</amazonuk>1784707422

{{newreview <!-- remove 20/8 -->Frontpage|titleauthor=High Spirits (Spirits 4)Jo Callaghan|authortitle=Rob KeeleyLeave No Trace

|genre=Confident ReadersCrime|summary=''Millions When a man is found crucified on the top of people will die a hill in the warNuneaton, Ellie. And it's our job DCS Kat Frank finds herself assigned to make sure it happens. That's why our work isn't easy.'' And if that's not ominousthe case alongside her sidekick, I don't know what isthe AI detective Lock.  It's their first live case together, having previously been two years since Ellie's last adventure in the spirit world or talked to her friendvery successful with several cold cases. But when there is a second body found crucified a few days later, the ghost Kat is suddenly struggling with a potential serial killer and a very high profile case that draws a lot of Edward Fitzberrangerunwanted attention to their AI Future Policing project. She has tried Will they be able to do what Viewpoint asked her to do and live a normalsolve the case in time, boring, human life. Mum is still working for or will Kat find herself taken off the Journeyback historical re-enactment company but it looks as though her job won't last much longer. Money is tight case and Mum, as ever, is stressed. Dad got compensation for his accidentpotentially, so he is living the life of Riley. He's eager to help out but Mum won't hear of it. And Ellie has a romantic interest in Luke. All in all, things could be better but they could also be worse. No more spirits. No more corrupting of timelines.career?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1788036158</amazonuk>139851120X

{{newreview <!-- remove 19/8 -->Frontpage|authorisbn=Hawa L CrickmoreB0DB64PYV5|title=Across the OceanThe White Rose|author=Dave Baines

|genre=General Dystopian Fiction|summary=A young cage fighterIn 2033, Martin Grandson, was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder which required a bone-marrow transplant, preferably from a sibling. Only recently he'd been a fit young man, in superstorm known as the prime of life, but now he was suffering from a rare type of bone cancer: without White Rose devastates the transplant he would be paralysed for life and might be dead within the next twelve weeks if he didn't receive the transplant within the next fourteen daysNorthern Hemisphere. Unfortunately MartinAnd it's parents had died in not a car crash and there were no siblings or other close relativesstorm that gathers, wreaks havoc, then dissipates. His girlfriendInstead, Celiait hovers across half the Earth with its octopus-like tentacles, was not a matchgiving up and never going away.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1524666971</amazonuk>