I think we all gave a bit of a collective sigh when we realised The Lie was yet another WWI book. But in fact it was so much more than that, and really was a post-war book. Daniel, returned from the trenches having survived, keeps seeing the ghost of his dead comrade and childhood friend… Read more »Read more

Candace is a Sinclair. One, indeed, of the  Sinclairs. A child of one of three daughters, themselves the children of a rich, rich man, Candace has lived a life of privilege. Never more is that privilege obvious than in the summers that she spends at Beechwood, the Sinclair family island where her grandfather rules from… Read more »Read more

Wave is the harrowing and very raw memoir of Sonali Deraniyagala following the Boxing Day tsuanami that devastated the southern coast of Sri Lanka where her family were taking their Christmas holiday. Tragically – the word seems an understatement – she lost her husband, two children and both parents, and a bit of a miracle… Read more »Read more

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was exactly what it said on the cover – unlikely. While some people might have found his walk to Berwick from Devon to visit dying long lost friend Queenie touching, it struck most of us as utterly absurd and rather selfish, especially given that he was apparently only covering… Read more »Read more

Set in 1920s Alaska; Jack & Mabel attempting the pioneering life although they’re entering their 50s. The arc of the plot wasn’t hard to guess, but the writing was so beautiful nobody minded. The implicit contradictions of the book – did they build a snow child or was she a real girl? – didn’t spoil… Read more »Read more

The Rest of Us Just Live Here takes the idea of a Chosen One and asks: what about everyone else? What about the kids just trying to make it to graduation? What about the boy trying to figure out where he fits in while desperately hoping that his school stays intact this year? Protagonist Mikey… Read more »Read more

Ostensibly about a family of vampires living in suburbia – which doesn’t sound a particularly interesting premise – it was more about a family in crisis, each member struggling in their own ways with life not going exactly as they might have liked; the frustration of living with desires that can’t be fulfilled, the need… Read more »Read more

One of my favourite books. Follet not only manages to bring the 12th Century to life but makes you understand the mind-set of dedicating your life to a building you’ll never see completed. Full of details that flesh out the plot, building the characters world as they build the cathedral. It is an immense book… Read more »Read more

It was a real joy to read Josephine Tey again after years and years, and everyone – and I mean everyone – enjoyed reading her too. Her prose was wonderful – hugely evocative – and despite this book being first published in 1929 it didn’t really feel dated in the slightest, apart from some anachronisms,… Read more »Read more