'''Read [[Features|new features]].'''
__NOTOC__
{{newreview
|author=Barbara Kingsolver
|title=The Lacuna
|rating=5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Ten years ago, Barbara Kingsolver's [[The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver|Poisonwood Bible]] revealed the grim politics in the Congo. The Lacuna has a similarly political theme, this time turning her focus on Mexico and the USA in the 1940s and 1950s.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>057125263X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Christine Dwyer Hickey
|summary=On a hot August morning in the small town of Willow Creek, Iowa, Calli Clark and Petra Gregory are reported missing. They are both seven years old, live in the same street, and are the very best of friends. Calli has suffered from selective mutism from the age of four when she witnessed a traumatic event in her home. As a result Petra has become Calli’s voice, speaking for her and is even able to tell others what Calli is thinking.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0778303691</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=William Nicholson
|title=Rich and Mad
|rating=4
|genre=Teens
|summary=When Maddy Fisher goes for something, she goes all out. She has decided to fall in love, but not just any kind of love – it has to be the can't-eat-can't-sleep, crazy kind. But then once you get to know Maddy, you'd expect nothing less, for this is a girl who lives with a camel and thinks nothing of choosing her parents' shop over her own well equipped room when she wants to find a bed to curl up in for a think.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405247398</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Angela Thirlwell
|title=Into The Frame: The Four Loves of Ford Madox Brown
|rating=4.5
|genre=Biography
|summary=Ford Madox Brown, born in 1821 in Calais of a Scottish family, raised in France and Belgium before settling in England, was one of the foremost Victorian artists. Throughout his career he was closely associated with the Pre-Raphaelites, and shared many of their same ideals, style and subject matter, though he never officially became a member of the group.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0701179023</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Chris Skidmore
|title=Death and the Virgin: Elizabeth, Dudley and the Mysterious Fate of Amy Robsart
|rating=4.5
|genre=Biography
|summary=When Elizabeth I ascended the throne in November 1558, everyone's dominant concern was the matter of her taking an appropriate husband and securing the succession. The man most likely to become her husband was Robert Dudley, whom she made her Master of the Horse and entrusted with considerable responsibility for her coronation festivities. The fact that he was already married to Amy Robsart did little to quell the speculation, especially since she was believed to be dying of breast cancer.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0297846507</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Ann Kelley
|title=Koh Tabu
|rating=5
|genre=Teens
|summary=Bonnie MacDonald is thrilled to be going to a beautiful tropical island with the rest of the Amelia Earhart Cadets, especially as the only adult present will be the incredibly glamorous Layla Campbell, nicknamed the Duchess, who treats them all like adults. But the dream holiday becomes a nightmare - after landing on the wrong island despite dire warnings from the boatman who took them there, a storm kills him and one of Bonnie's friends and wrecks the boat, leaving them trapped with no-one knowing where they are. With the Duchess shining rather less brightly as she’s revealed to be practically useless in the face of danger, it's left to Bonnie and her friend Jas to try and keep the remaining girls alive and find a way to be rescued.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0192756044</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Sally Gardner
|title=The Red Necklace
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Paris's streets are already humming with talk of revolution, when the young gypsy Yann Margoza is summoned to perform his magic at the chateau of a selfish, debt-ridden marquise. He is to tell the assembled aristocracy their future. But what he hoped would be the ticket to a better life turns into a nightmare when he has a vision of the richly-dressed crowd drowning in a sea of blood.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1842556347</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Alex Bellos
|title=Alex's Adventures In Numberland
|rating=5
|genre=Popular Science
|summary=Maths is a wonderful thing. ...Wait, don't run away. It really is. The way numbers interact with each other, the way counting systems developed, how mathematical breakthroughs are coming from the world of crochet, and how people can mentally calculate the 13th root of a 200 digit number in almost less time than it takes to read it out loud. There's all sorts of weird and wonderful stuff going on in Numberland.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0747597162</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Katherine Hall Page
|title=The Body in the Basement
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=The central character with the unforgettable name of Pix is one of those 'apple pie' moms. The family is her life. Every summer, most members de-camp to the coast, to get away from it all, recharge the batteries. But this particular year, Pix notes, is going to be a ''summer of women.'' Pix is a middle-aged, middle-of-the-road, ordinary person ... until she makes some gruesome discoveries.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0709090390</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Kaye Umansky
|title=Clover Twig and the Perilous Path
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=There's non-stop fun and action in this story. Granny Dismal comes to warn Mrs Eckles that the Perilous Path has been spotted in the forest, and this kicks off a funny story involving witches (both good and bad), trolls, missing little boys, clowns, imps and magic sweeties. It's the sequel to Clover Twig and the Incredible Flying Cottage, but I don't think I lost out too much for not having read that first. Everyone is generally so well described, and previous story arcs are quickly filled in if required. This is the sort of book I would have stayed up late reading under the covers with a torch when I was a little girl myself, and is now the sort of book I would steal from my daughter's room late at night so I can keep reading it without waiting for a chapter a night!
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408801876</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=R A Scotti
|title=The Lost Mona Lisa
|rating=4.5
|genre=History
|summary=One of the few things I remember from those writers' courses and advice books – and I can hear from here you wished I remembered more of them – was the merit in being aware of anniversaries, especially in your area of expertise, and having the ability to sell articles concerning historical events linked into centenaries, modern comparisons, and so on. Well, here is the book equivalent, and although it's early – it's looking back on the summer of 1911 – this stands as quality enough to deny any latecomers shelf room.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0553818309</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Greg Grandin
|title=Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City
|rating=4.5
|genre=History
|summary=In 1927, the Ford Motor company bought a huge tract of land in Brazil, for the purpose of the company growing its own rubber for use in making its cars. They planted rubber trees and built a factory and houses, and a number of top managers from the company were posted to Fordlandia to run the operation. Huge amounts of money were pumped into Fordlandia, and Ford made great claims for their plans. However, the project was a spectacular failure, and it lasted less than twenty years.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848311478</amazonuk>
}}
