|summary=When Gregory receives a letter from an ageing actress requesting his presence, he takes the only sensible action: he hops on a plane to Switzerland to visit her home. Whilst there, she reveals a multi-layered story that helps him understand more about his parents' life, and by association, his life.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>148006632X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Jesse Bullington
|title=The Folly of the World
|rating=4
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=It is the 1420s, and a lot of what we now think of as The Netherlands is underwater. Crossing the deluge is a most unlikely trio – a posh man seeking something with the help of the others, including a girl who has survived his sometimes-fatal test, and a manic fellow fresh from saving himself upon the gallows, who might or might not have been down to hell in the interim. What that quest is, and how it will lead to nightmares, deaths galore and a lot of other interesting parts of the story, is for you to discover, in this absorbing cross-genre piece.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356500888</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Darcie Chan
|title=The Mill River Recluse
|rating=5
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=The elderly Mary McAllister is a recluse, and most of the residents of Mill River know very little about her other than that she lives alone in the grand marble house overlooking the town, never venturing out. Father O’Brien, the local priest, is the exception, having known Mary since she was young and officiated at her wedding. Only he knows her secrets and the motives behind why she stays tucked away from prying eyes. As the story moves from her early marriage to the present day, he is her constant companion and link to the outside world.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751550213</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Stephen Gallagher
|title=The Kingdom of Bones
|rating=4
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary='If you like this sort of thing…' reads a line from Stephen Gallagher's 'The Kingdom of Bones', 'then here comes the kind of thing you’ll like'. It’s describing the opening music for a theatrical number, but it’s an almost perfect tagline for ''The Kingdom of Bones'' itself. If you like Victorians, vaudeville and villainy, if you like prize-fighting and police chases and possession by the Devil, then here comes 'The Kingdom of Bones'. It’s the kind of thing that you’re really going to like.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091950139</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Dashiell Hammett
|title=The Return of the Thin Man
|rating=4
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=I've recently been discovering the original works of Raymond Chandler which, like many people, I'd only really known from the Hollywood renditions. A natural, if backwards, progression from there was clearly to the writer that Chandler called 'the ace performer', the man 'who did over and over again what only the best writers ever do at all'.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908800208</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Ian Rankin
|title=Standing in Another Man's Grave
|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=I've always had the suspicion that Ian Rankin thought too much of John Rebus to allow him to fade away and he'd certainly not kill him off, so it's an elegant solution to bring him back as a civilian attached to the police force and working on cold cases. It's purely by accident that he encounters Nina Hazlitt whose daughter Sally disappeared whilst on a trip to Aviemore many years before. Her body has never been found and her mother is still determined that she will find out what happened to her. She has some other information too - other girls have gone missing and there's a common thread. They all disappeared from close to the A9 over a period of years. Rebus is intrigued - and it won't hurt to have a look at the files, will it?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1409144712</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=John Jackson and Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini
|title=Tales for Great Grandchildren
|rating=5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=
I love old folk tales and fables. The treasure chest of myth and legend contains universal stories, as relevant today as they were in the ancient communities in which they were first told. They speak of love, loss, jealousy, courage, cowardice and grief. They wonder about the world in which we live. They offer explanations, some magical, some plain common sense. They're joyful. They're sad. And sometimes they're frightening. They have all the light and shade that adds up to the human experience.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>095692123X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Kate O'Hearn
|title=Pegasus and The Origins of Olympus
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=As Emily watches her beloved Pegasus fade away due to a mysterious deadly plague she knows that she must do everything she can to save her old friend. This decision sends her on a thrilling and dangerous journey back in time to Ancient Greece and the origins of mythology. She discovers new allies from both ancient times and the modern day but also terrifying enemies who test her powers and courage. In addition Emily also has to struggle with her long running conflict with the secret government agency, the sinister C.R.U. Together with her friend Joel, Emily finds herself facing a colossal battle that she must win in order to save the Olympians in this fantasy adventure.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444910949</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Robin Jones and Ashley Stokes (Editors)
|title=Unthology: No. 3
|rating=4.5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=Unthank Books have brought out their third annual short story 'unthology'. (See what they did there?) The series is described as showcasing the ''unconventional, unpredictable and experimental'' which is correct as far as it goes. They omit words that I personally would have included; words like 'refreshing' and 'excitingly different' because, if I needed to be convinced about short stories (and, being a fan, I don't) they would be the clincher.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0957289707</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Harlan Coben
|title=Seconds Away
|rating=4.5
|genre=Teens
|summary=Mickey Bolitar has had enough excitement to last him a lifetime. Helping the Abeona Shelter to rescue his girlfriend Ashley almost saw his best friend Ema killed, but it seems Mickey and his friends aren't out of the woods yet. A shooting has left Rachel - gorgeous, popular Rachel, whose smile makes Mickey's stomach flip - in hospital, her mother dead. The Chief of Police - also Rachel's boyfriend's father - is acting shady, and Rachel herself is sending Mickey cryptic text messages, begging him not to tell anyone else she's speaking to him.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1409124487</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Camilla de la Bedoyere, John Farndon, Ian Graham, Richard Platt and Philip Steele
|title=Discover the Awesome World
|rating=4
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=Back in 2011 I was impressed by [[Discover the Extreme World by Camilla de la Bedoyere, Clive Gifford, John Farndon, Steve Parker, Stewart Ross and Philip Steele]]. I said that In my day it would have been called an encyclopaedia. It would have had a lot more text, been rather dull – and remained largely unread by those who received it as a worthy present, but with that book you needed to start at the opposite end of the scale. It's about visual impact. A fact is linked to a picture and the more striking the better – and only then is it explained. The text is as simple as possible – clear, unambiguous wording which drives the point home as quickly as possible. The layout encourages you to move the book so that you see the pictures better and can read the words. It's fun and (say it quietly) it's educational. Now I'm not in the habit of recycling reviews (honest!) but sometimes you know that you can't say it any better as exactly the same comments apply to Discover the Awesome World.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848108559</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Philip Caveney
|title=Crow Boy
|rating=5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Life is tough for Tom Afflick. He's the new boy at school — never a happy situation — and some of his classmates take every opportunity to bully him. They laugh at his accent, and once they find out his mum ran away from her English husband and is now living with the unlovely Hamish, then things go from bad to worse. He misses his friends back in Manchester, and his dad seems to be making barely any effort whatsoever to contact him. Then he makes a huge mistake: on the school trip to Mary King's Close (a real place, by the way, which you can visit next time you're in Edinburgh) he reveals that he already knows a lot about the beginnings of the plague because his class had already studied it, back in his old school. His fate is sealed, and number-one bully Gillies promises to thump him as soon as the teacher is out of sight.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1905916558</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Geraldine McCaughrean and Sophy Williams
|title=The Oxford Treasury of Fairy Tales
|rating=4.5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=In this lovely collection of twenty fairy tales there's a brilliant range of stories. There are familiar favourites, such as 'Sleeping Beauty' and 'Hansel and Gretel', but then there are others which were new to me such as 'The Three Oranges' and 'The Thirteenth Child'. There's something for everyone really, with princess stories, witches and frogs, magical items and mysterious happenings!
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0192794469</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=John O'Connell
|title=For the Love of Letters: The Joy of Slow Communication
|rating=4.5
|genre=History
|summary=With the advent of mobile phones and e-mail, is there still a place for good old-fashioned letter-writing in the world today? John O'Connell certainly thinks there is, and has written a compelling argument in this book which, if you haven't put pen to paper for some time, may be enough to remind you of the benefits of slower correspondence in today's high-speed world.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780721099</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Neil Griffiths and Peggy Collins
|title=The Pelican Who Couldn't
|rating=3
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=Two pelicans stood on a rock attempting to outdo each other over what they could eat, getting more outrageous with every mouthful and with most of their fun coming from their ''can'', ''can't'' arguments with each other. Every parent will recognise the symptoms! But beware for this is a cautionary tale and it doesn't have a happy outcome. When one pelican attempted to gobble up a shark what happened was inevitable, with just the one pelican left standing on the rock...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908702044</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Patrick Kingsley
|title=How To Be Danish: From Lego to Lund. A Short Introduction to the State of Denmark
|rating=4.5
|genre=Travel
|summary=First, the bad news. This slim volume won't actually tell you how to become a Danish person, despite the title. What it will do, though, is give you a new appreciation for the people of Denmark, and quite possibly make you want to jump on the first plane to Copenhagen to savour what is, according to the United Nations, the happiest country in the world.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780721331</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Chloe Rhodes
|title=Black Cats and Evil Eyes: A Book of Old-Fashioned Superstitions
|rating=4.5
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=If you had asked me I would have said that I was not in the least superstitious. I don't have a horseshoe hung outside the house, don't have any concerns about the date 'Friday the 13th' and accept that a broken mirror is an unfortunate accident rather than a blight on my life for the next seven years. After all, it's simply a matter of applying logic to the situation. There are sensible reasons for not walking under ladders or opening an umbrella is the house. Not passing someone on the stairs is just being safety conscious, isn't it? Then my husband sneezed.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1843178877</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Alex Churton
|title=The Babylon Gene
|rating=2.5
|genre=Thrillers
|summary=Author of popular scientific philosophy, Dr Toby Ashe, is also a covert member of 'Oddballs', a multi-skilled section of British Intelligence. Their purpose is to profile and identify the rise of terrorists and their organisations before too much damage is done.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908800119</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Erlend Loe
|title=Doppler
|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Meet Doppler. He describes himself late in this as 'a failed man of my time. Or just a man of a failed time. Depending on how you look at it.' The typical Oslo resident, a diligent career man with a young family, he falls off his mountain bike one day and has a kind of epiphany, deciding to avoid everyone else and live alone in the forest. The book starts when he gains a companion however – he is short of food and drink and kills an elk, only to find the animal's baby latching on to him and forming an unbreakable bond…
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781851050</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Tania Hershman
|title=My Mother Was An Upright Piano: Fictions
|rating=5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=It's said that the art of short-story writing is totally different from that of novels as the writer only has ten or so pages to accomplish what others do in two to three hundred. Imagine, therefore, telling an entire story in prose conveying depth and meaning in fewer words than this review. It may be difficult but, apparently, not downright impossible as [[:Category:Tania Hershman|Tania Hershman]] has nailed it with honours. In fact her first collection [[The White Road by Tania Hershman|The White Road]] was commended by the Orange Prize judges of 2009.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906477604</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Essie Fox
|title=Elijah's Mermaid
|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=Author Augustus Lamb receives a shocking letter from his publisher and old friend Frederick Hall. Hall has discovered Lamb's small grandchildren, Lily and Elijah, in a London home for foundlings. Lamb's son Gabriel had died after a socially unacceptable liaison with beautiful Italian Isabella who subsequently disappeared. Delighted beyond words at Hall's discovery, Augustus adopts the twins, raising them in his Herefordshire country home, Kingsland House. There the children grow, happy and loved.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1409123340</amazonuk>
}}
