Popular Book Reviews

SUSANNA KEARSLEY: THE WINTER SEA (ALLISON AND BUSBY HB) Carolyn McLelland, a writer of historical novels, finds herself with a familiar enemy: writer's block. A change of scenery leads her, and her book, in a whole new direction. Writing about the attempted Jacobite invasion of 1707, Carolyn takes up residence in a cottage in Edinburgh. Inexplicably drawn to Slains Castle, and not so inexplicably drawn to the charming, but somehow familiar Stuart Keith, Carolyn is soon writing with an unusual speed and imagery which leads her to wonder whether her 'fictional' character of Sophia is really so fictional after all. Carolyn soon realises that she is somehow channelling the memories of her distant relative and that her story has a life of its own. One of those time-slip novels that never fail to delight. Beautifully crafted and very readable. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

NICOLA BARKER: DARKMANS (HARPER PERENNIAL PB) Shortlisted for the 2007 Man Booker Prize An epic novel of startling originality which confirms Nicola Barker as one of Britain's most exciting literary talents. This is a rowdy, riotous tale, a tale in which the medieval past takes on a face, name, and occupation and roams around the humdrum town of Ashford, bringing chaos to the lives of those it picks on. No one is safe: not upstanding Beede and his drug-dealing son, nor teen chav Kelly who zestily finds God (much to the dismay of the Reverend responsible), or Gaffar, the tiny, amorous Kurd with an unusual fear of salad. Darkmans is a world where language snaps and crackles like static, twitching with barely containable energy. Past and present mingle and blur, and the lines between fantasy and reality, sanity and madness are continually rubbed out and redrawn - but by whose hand? And what about the grand scheme of things - is life a coincidence or is it a pattern, plotted by all-seeing, unknown forces? The third of Nicola Barker's visionary narratives of the Thames Gateway, Darkmans is a very modern book about very old-fashioned subjects: love and jealousy.It's also about invasion, obsession, displacement and possession, about comedy, art, prescription drugs and chiropody. Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2007 and following on from Wide Open (winner Dublin IMPAC award 2000) and Behindlings it confirms Nicola Barker as one of Britain's most original, innovative and exciting literary talents. Epic is the word all right. Barker's characters are amazing and the settings are compelling. A beautiful read. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

CECILY VON ZIEGESAR: GOSSIP GIRL ~ DON'T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME I cannot believe this series has ended! I became hooked on the series, delvinbg into the lives of Manhattan's elite was entertaining and provided me with no end of laughter. I'll be sad to see Serena, Balir, Nate, Dan, Vanessa, Jenny and all of Cecily von Ziegsar's creations go but all the same I can't wait for a change of scene- after all the Carlisle's are moving into Blair's old home and who said anything about triplets being innocent. It's a new beginning to an end.
The last novel has ended on a cliff hanger and you can only guess who Nate ends up with- will it be the blonde bombshell who sets everyone's hearts on fire or the feisty brunette whose out to be the best she can be? And then there's Dan and Vanessa- will they rekindle their love or will college separate them forever? And then comes Chuck and his monkey, we can only wonder what mischief the two will get involved in! So this is Ziegsar's final goodbye to a series which has captured the interest of readers all over the world. But don't look away yet... Fortunately there is a series, and no it doesn't live up to the plot and the hype created in the book but all the same it has interesting sub plots and the character are made out well. Leighton Meester and Blake Lively make an excellent Blair and Serena, hopefully they will keep it up after all when does B and S relax. What happens to gossip girl?????? This is the question that has me interested. Will she stay in Manhattan or leave for college and have an aprentice will take over?? I have a feeling she's there to stay and will do for a long time. Besides who knows how to report a story better than the one and only Gossip Girl. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

CECILY VON ZIEGESAR: GOSSIP GIRL ~ ONLY IN YOUR DREAMS This book was delicious! Blair finally realises that she may be just too err...American for the English aristocracy (or too nouveau...or too manipulative...). Btw von Ziegesar - or whoever writes the book - should know that NO UPPER-CLASS ENGLISH PERSON WOULD EVER SAY 'love'. NEVER!! Nate realises that he HAS TO GROW UP!! However, he may not like it! Also, Serena and some orange barbie are really not enough to get him over his one true love...B.L.A.I.R. Hilarious! Serena also becomes infatuated by the one guy she really can't have...Unusual occurance! Jenny is not missed at all, although she is very entertaining in the gorgeous It Girl. Read this book - it is still great, numerous books on! Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

CECILY VON ZIEGESAR: GOSSIP GIRL ~ WOULD I LIE TO YOU This is the tenth installment of GOSSIP GIRL, the wildly popular and very scandalous series with the kind of characters that you know you want to hate but can't. Just because they are who they are! Serena van der Woodsen, Blair Waldorf, and Nate Archibald are still caught in their never-ending love triangle. Serena and Blair were hanging out at Bailey Winter's house as his "inspiration" until they get fed up with the annoying look alike "Eurotrash" models also staying with Bailey! And guess who happens to live next door??? Nate was working at his Coach's house for "you know what" until he figures out that his Coach's wife has a crush on him! Vanessa walks out of her summer nanny job that she really hates! Dan finds a friend in the new employee at Strand, the hottest bookstore in New York City. They start a "parlor" and things end up getting pretty wild! Some old couples reunite at Serena's eighteenth birthday party, toward the end of the book. If you're like me and have read the entire GOSSIP GIRL series, then WOULD I LIE TO YOU? definitely makes the whole story just a little bit more twisted. If you decide to read this book, I would advise you to read the books in order, other wise you might get a little confused! And that would totally ruin the first nine books! Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

LAURA SPINNEY: THE QUICK (HARPER PERENNIAL PB) Patient DL lies motionless in a small room at the end of a hospital corridor. She has suffered massive damage to her brain, and it's not clear whether she can see or hear the world around her. When Sarah Newman, the narrator of this ghostly tale, is charged with finding a spark of light in her lifeless body, she is drawn into a drama which extends far beyond the hospital walls. What accident befell DL to cause her such massive brain damage? Why does her family behave in such unsettling and perplexing ways? Why is DL's estranged husband visiting the patient after hours, in the dead of night? And what is troubling the narrator herself, who seems to carry a burden from her past? As the tension builds and the strange case of Patient DL becomes known to the outside world, Sarah Newman finds herself at the heart of a personal and an ethical dilemma. ‘The Quick’ is the thrilling account of an obsession, charged throughout with a sense of the mystery of consciousness. Chilling, but a little too highbrow for my tastes. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

MELVYN BRAGG: REMEMBER ME (Hodder HB) A passionate but ultimately tragic love affair starts when two students - one French, one English - meet at university at the beginning of the sixties. From its tentative, unpromising early stages, the relationship develops into a life-changing one, whose profound impact continues to reverberate forty years later. REMEMBER ME...takes one of the oldest stories in the world and gives it renewed, visceral force. Here are characters who spring from the page, brought to vivid life with exceptional empathy and insight into the workings of the heart and mind. And here, captured in intimate, telling detail, are the emotions that bind two people together, and the subtle shifts in thought and feeling that can prise them apart. This is a novel of great emotional intensity, which leaves an unforgettable impression.

TIM ECOTT: STEALING WATER (Hodder HB) Tony Parsons
'Tim Ecott's Stealing Water is the greatest memoir to come out of white Africa since Rian Malan's My Traitor's Heart - and what is remarkable about it is that it reads like Angela's Ashes rewritten by Nick Hornby under a baking Johannesburg sun - ultimately it is the story of a family fighting to survive, and a tale told with warmth, humanity and humour to burn.' Emma Thompson ~ 'An extraordinary account of childhood in a baroque South Africa, peopled with a vast, positively Dickensian collection of people - never sentimental, extremely honest and, I found, quite unputdownable.' Fergal Keane ~ 'Tim Ecott's story of growing up in Ireland and Africa is both haunting and funny. He writes with compassion and honesty to give us a truly memorable account of an extraordinary upbringing.'

JACQUELINE WALKER: PILGRIM STATE (Hodder HB) PILGRIM STATE is a stunning memoir which tells the story of Dorothy Walker -- equal parts beautiful, headstrong, brave and tragic. Her life is lovingly recreated by her daughter Jacqueline in homage to the remarkable woman she was. In the haunting opening pages, set in Pilgrim State mental facility in New York State in 1951, Dorothy has been forcibly sectioned and is battling to keep her children and her sanity. She will struggle all her life to retain both. Dorothy and her children return to Jamaica before finally making a home in post-Windrush London in the early 60s. Dorothy and her children face prejudice and loss but are bound by incredible love and their unique sense of family. This will prove to be Dorothy's greatest gift. Stories like PILGRIM STATE don't come along that often. And when they do you recognise you have something very special. And when a voice is this strong and original, you stop to listen. PILGRIM STATE celebrates place, the life-affirming nature of family and the bonds between mothers and daughters that can never be broken. The story is haunting and powerful and speaks for generations of women, resonating long after the story ends.Jacqueline Walker has done her mother proud.

PHIL LAMARCHE: AMERICAN YOUTH (Hodder PB) In this taut and powerful novel, a young teenager is confronted by a terrible moral dilemma following a firearms accident at his home. Coerced by his mother to lie about his role in the incident, he finds he has nonetheless earned the admiration of a sinister group of boys at his school - calling themselves 'American Youth', they subscribe to a twisted notion of traditional, puritanical values. As he gets sucked into their orbit, and entangled with the girlfriend of the group's leader, he struggles to hold on to a sense of right and wrong. Set in a New England town riven by social and ideological tensions -- as newcomers encroach on an old rural culture - this is a classic portrait of a boy's rites of passage in an America ill at ease with itself.

MELISSA HILL: THE LAST TO KNOW (Hodder PB) Twenty-something Australian Brooke Reynolds works as commissioning editor for Sydney-based popular fiction publishers Horizon books. One morning, she stumbles across a manuscript submission from a would-be author entitled "The Last to Know", a contemporary story about the interconnecting lives and loves of three women based in Dublin. At first, the novel reads like a feel-good, light-hearted tale about life, friendship and the problems modern women face; exactly the kind of book Horizon usually publish. But when Brooke tries to contact the author with a view to offering her a publishing deal, she proves strangely difficult to locate. And as Brooke becomes more and more absorbed in the manuscript, she gradually realises that there is a lot more to this story than meets the eye. Who is the elusive author of "The Last to Know", and what story is she really telling?

JOSHILYN JACKSON: THE GIRL WHO STOPPED SWIMMING (Hodder PB) Laurel Hawthorne has worked hard to create a good life for her family, determined not to raise her daughter in the subdued, secretive household that she herself grew up in. And everything is just fine until the night she is awoken by a ghost in her bedroom; the ghost of 14-year-old neighbour Molly, whose body is now floating, face-down and lifeless in Laurel's swimming pool ...The whole town thinks it was an accident, but Laurel knows in her bones that there is something more sinister afoot. And that's when her perfect world begins to crumble. With the help of her eccentric sister, Laurel sets off on a mission to investigate what really happened to the girl who stopped swimming. But along the way she starts to uncover the truth about her family, and just what did happen in the woods all those years ago -- on a day she has managed to blank out, until now ...

KAREN ROBARDS: OBSESSION (Hodder PB) Katharine Lawrence remembers the vicious burglars who shot her best friend, the terror she felt the night she nearly died.
But there are things she doesn't remember at all. Like her lover's voice on the phone. Like her clothes in her luxurious Washington townhouse. Like the face in her mirror. Everything in her life feels utterly wrong, as if the trauma has given her some kind of amnesia. As Katharine acts on her instincts and runs for her life, she's rescued by Dan Howard, the handsome doctor who lives next door. She thinks she can trust him, but she will have to decide fast. Because the killers are back.

JESSICA STIRLING: THE FIELDS OF FORTUNE (Hodder) On the brink of a disastrous marriage Nicola Templeton finally rebels, and flees to Edinburgh to seek refuge with her sister. Charlotte's own runaway marriage has already turned their father into an implacable foe and it seems that Nicola too may be cut off from her share of the Craigiehall estate if she does not bow to his will. The bustling Georgian city, a hotbed of intrigue and corruption, draws Nicola swiftly into its web. She is courted by Grant's dashing young brother, Gillon, fresh home from fighting in the American wars. Innocent country girl or not, she is not dazzled by Gillon's wit or deceived by his promises, for Gillon is penniless, if no less ambitious than his brother. Meanwhile, though, incensed by his daughters' ingratitude, Lord Craigiehall has plans of his own for the future of the Ayrshire estates. Plans that involve him with the notorious society hostess, Lady Valerie Oliphant, and a pretty little actress from London whose wiles are more than equal to his own.

SKYE SINCLAIR: RUNAWAY (Hodder PB) Skye's story is one of survival against the odds. Abandoned by her mother at the age of four and placed in a series of horrible institutions, she learnt to fend for herself from an early age. After a horrific rape when she was ten, she ran from the care home and went to live with the gypsies in the New Forest. She always yearned for freedom and was fearless and impulsive. Her curiosity took her all over the world -- from the abattoirs of France at the age of 15 to the dizzy heights of the Paris fashion world, on to the underbelly of Amsterdam where she became a diamond smuggler at the age of 17 and then to the film studios of Hollywood where she worked as a stunt woman on films like Blues Brothers. Her life took a very different turn when she moved to the island of Phuket in Thailand, adopted four children from different backgrounds, Angelia Jolie-style, and started to sponsor another three. With a group of friends she helped set up an orphanage for street children in neighbouring Cambodia who were eking out a miserable existence on one of the municipal rubbish dumps in Pnom Phen.At the age of 45 her life revolves around children, both her own four and the Cambodians she has pledged to help. The runaway street child has finally found a reason to stop running.

ROMA TEARNE: BONE CHINA (Fourth Estate HB) An epic novel of love, loss and a family uprooted, set in the contrasting landscapes of war-torn Sri Lanka and immigrant London. Grace de Silva, wife of the shiftless but charming Aloysius, has five children and a crumbling marriage. Her eldest son, Jacob, wants desperately to go to England. Thornton, the most beautiful of all the children and his mother's favourite, dreams of becoming a poet. Alicia wants to be a concert pianist. Only Frieda has no ambition, other than to remain close to her family. But civil unrest is stirring in Sri Lanka and Christopher, the youngest and the rebel of the family, is soon caught up in the tragedy that follows. As the decade unfolds against a backdrop of increasing ethnic violence, Grace watches helplessly as the life she knows begins to crumble. Slowly, this once happy family is torn apart as four of her children each make the decision to leave their home. In London, the de Silvas are all, in their different ways, desperately homesick. Caught in a cultural clash between East and West, life is not as they expected. Only Thornton's daughter, Meeka, moves confidently into a world that is full of possibilities.But nothing is as easy as it seems and she must overcome heartbreak, a terrible mistake and single parenthood before she is finally able to see the extraordinary effects of history on her family's migration.

CRISTINA ODONE: THE DILEMMAS OF HARRIET CAREW (Fourth Estate HB) Harriet Carew is the endearing heroine of Cristina Odone's popular weekly 'Daily Telegraph' column, 'Posh But Poor'. Based on the character from the column, 'The Dilemmas of Harriet Carew' is the story of her struggle to juggle family life, work and money. Meet Harriet Carew, mother of three and juggler of work, home and family. Harriet only wants to do her best for her husband Guy, her children, and herself. But while their friends flourish, and other parents look on pityingly, the Carews are struggling -- and sliding down the ladder of fortune and happiness. Guy is a writer, with a starry past, a humdrum present and unrealistic optimism about the future. His starchy family still treat Harriet as a newcomer to the family. Alex (12) is lazy, Tom (10) is bullied at school and Maisie (3) just misses her mum. Harriet is torn between wanting to be at home more and the need to work longer hours to help pay the school fees. When Harriet's ex-boyfriend James turns up, super-successful and single, Harriet must make some tough decisions. Funny, witty, warm and page-turning, this is the novel that every woman will want to read.

ANNA BURNS: LITTLE CONSTRUCTIONS (Harper Perennial PB) The new novel from Anna Burns, critically acclaimed author of 'No Bones'. An irate woman bursts into the best gun shop in the town of Tiptoe Floorboard, helps herself to a Kalashnikov rifle and sets off in a taxi on her mission of retribution. So begins this kaleidoscopic, surreal and enigmatic tale of dark deeds in a small town. At the centre of Anna Burns's startling new novel lies the Doe clan, a closely knit family of criminals and victims whose internal conflicts and convoluted relationships propel this simultaneously funny and terrifying story. Bound together by love and loyalty, fear and secrets, the Does and other inhabitants of Tiptoe Floorboard make up an unforgettable cast of characters. In a voice that is by turns chilling and wickedly funny, the narrator documents their struggle to make and maintain connections with each other, and -- weaving back and forth in time -- examines what transpires when unspeakable realities, long pushed from consciousness, begin to break through. Anna Burns's first novel 'No Bones' was shortlisted for the Orange Prize. This second work secures her reputation as a writer of mesmerising originality and rare talent.

DANIEL ALARCON: LOST CITY RADIO (Harper Perennial PB) 'Lost City Radio' is a poignant and deeply moving novel from a promising new author, which looks intensely at war's damaging effect on society and the individual. Ever since the civil war that took her husband ended, Norma has been the voice of consolation to a people broken by violence. Every week, bereft families listen to her radio show as she reads out the names of the missing, those who vanished in the clamour and brutality of the drawn-out conflict, with the hope of reuniting the few survivors with their families. Successes are few; her true gift is the offer of hope. Although her face is unknown to her listeners, her name and spirit are celebrated by a wayward nation searching for a guiding force. But her life is forever changed when a young boy from a jungle village enters her radio studio and provides a connection to the husband she thought lost -- the husband she has not seen for ten years since departing for the war. Her story and those tangled up in it reveal a country in flux, desperately seeking signs of life, and reasons to continue, amongst pain and uncertainty.Stunning, timely, powerful and absolutely mesmerizing, 'Lost City Radio' probes the deepest questions of war: from its wide reaching affect on a society to its intimate emotional impact on every person involved.

ISABEL ALLENDE: INES OF MY SOUL (Harper Perennial PB) The vibrant new novel from Isabel Allende takes her back to her homeland of Chile, and tells the story of the first Spanish woman to arrive on its shores with the Conquistadors in the 1500s. A real historical figure, Ines Suarez came to Chile with the Conquistadors in 1540, helping to claim the territory for Spain and to found the first Spanish settlement in Santiago. In this remarkable novel, Isabel Allende -- one of the world's most spellbinding storytellers -- re-imagines Ines's life and that of the two men who become her lover and husband respectively. 'Ines of My Soul' evokes the conflict and drama of the Conquistadors' arrival in Chile, as well as helping restore the reputation of Ines, a powerful woman long neglected by history and a patriarchal society. It also finds Allende returning to territory beloved of her and her readers -- imaginative historical fiction, evocatively told -- and to the familiar landscape of her native country. The novel gives Ines the recognition and glory that are rightfully hers; but more than that it is an epic tale of love and conquest, lyrically written and enchantingly told by a writer at the peak of her powers.

ROMA TEARNE: MOSQUITO (Harper Perennial PB) A lyrical and profoundly moving story of love, loss and civil war, set in Sri Lanka, London and Venice. When author Theo Samarajeeva returns to his native Sri Lanka after his wife's death, he hopes to escape his gnawing loss amid the lush landscape of his increasingly war-torn country. But as he sinks into life in this beautiful, tortured land, he also finds himself slipping into friendship with an artistic young girl, Nulani, whose family is caught up in the growing turmoil. Soon friendship blossoms into love. Under the threat of civil war, their affair offers a glimmer of hope to a country on the brink of destruction! But all too soon, the violence which has cast an ominous shadow over their love story explodes, tearing them apart. Betrayed, imprisoned and tortured, Theo is gradually stripped of everything he once held dear -- his writing, his humanity and, eventually, his love. Broken by the belief her lover is dead, Nulani flees Sri Lanka to a cold and lonely life of exile.As the years pass and the country descends into a morass of violence and hatred, the tragedy of Theo and Nulani's failed love spreads like a poison among friends sickened by the face of civil war, and the lovers must struggle to recover some of what they have lost and to resurrect, from the wreckage of their lives, a fragile belief in the possibility of redemption.

BEN DOLNICK: ZOOLOGY (Harper Perennial PB) A funny, wise and heartwarming story of a young man's first forays into love during a long, hot summer in New York City. Henry likes to think of himself as a promising jazz musician. The truth, however, is slightly less glamorous. At 18, he's dropped out of university, lives at home with his bickering parents, and spends most of his time with the family dog. The outlook, it seems, is bleak. So when his brother offers to put him up for the summer in his New York City apartment, Henry leaps at the chance to start living the life of his dreams! But jazz gigs are not immediately forthcoming so Henry lands a job at the Central Park Children's Zoo. Over weeks spent chopping vegetables and shovelling dung, his world gradually expands to include a motley crew of zoo keepers, doormen and animals of every description. Amongst these, the undisputed star is Newman, the zoo's stoic Nubian goat, in whom Henry confides his growing love for Margaret, the girl upstairs, like him in town for the summer.As the months unfolds in a haze of jazz bars, ill-advised romance and hard truths about family, Henry learns what what it is to love -- and to lose -- in this hilarious, inventive and touching debut novel.

ARYN KYLE: THE GOD OF ANIMALS (Orion PB) When her older sister runs away to elope, Alice Winston is left to bear the brunt of her family's troubles - a depressed, bed-ridden mother, a reticent, overworked father, and a rundown horse ranch. Faced with the hottest summer in fifteen years and a pile of bills, the Winstons are forced to board the pampered horses of rich neighbors, and Alice must confront the power and security that class and wealth provide. As the summer unfolds, her family and their well-being become intertwined with the lives of their clients Alice begins a dangerous friendship. Drawn into an adult world of secrets, hard truths, and even harder consequences, Alice experiences her first kiss, her first beer, and her first infatuation. But when the rain comes and brings the summer to an end, Alice's choices lead to a devastating betrayal and a shocking, violent series of events that will forever change her family's world. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

REBECCA SHAW: THE VILLAGE GREEN AFFAIR (ORION HB) A mysterious visitor has arrived in Turnham Malpas. What can Titus Bellamy want? Is it true, the villagers ask each other, that he has discovered a medieval charter which grants the right to hold a market on their picturesque village green? And if it is true, can he be stopped? It appears not. Meanwhile, after twenty-five years, the marriage of Liz and Neville Neal, the ambitious local accountant, is on the rocks. Or so the unhappy Liz thinks. But Neville, to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary, has decided to throw a lavish party. The anniversary party and the market on the green mark both the beginning and end of two quite different relationships. But is it really all the fault of Titus Bellamy? The village is divided - before a spate of burglaries on market day adds fuel to the hot debate. Feisty Grandmama Charter-Plackett decides to do something about it, and becomes both a militant protestor and England's oldest private detective... The ancient village green has been at the centre of Turnham Malpas life for many lively centuries. But the events of this short passionate summer are a match for anything it has witnessed before. Rebecca Shaw brings the warmth, humour and drama that enliven all these village books in this, the thirteenth of her bestselling Turnham Malpas series. Rebecca Shaw writes about the kind of village we'd all like to live in. It's Midsomer Murders without the murders. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

JOAN LINGARD: AFTER YOU'VE GONE (ALLISON AND BUSBY PB) When Willa met Tommy Costello, a handsome, smooth-tongued sailor, she thought she had thought she had finally found what she was looking for. With no family of her own, Willa longed for unity, love and adventure. Tommy appeared to offer her all of that. But life is never that simple… Now a wife and mother, Willa is left behind with her controlling mother-in-law when Tommy begins a year-long round-the-world tour with the Navy. Her only escape is through reading books. And it is at the local library that she meets Richard Fitzwilliam, whose friendship gradually begins to change Willa’s life. Despite her initial reluctance, she finds herself beginning to enjoy – even prefer – the new life being offered to her. But how long can it last, as Tommy’s steady progress around the world will eventually bring him back home? Beautifully written and emotionally charged, After You’ve Gone is a fascinating account of one woman’s struggle to find happiness and independence in 1920s society. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

JANE ELIZABETH VARLEY: DEAREST RIVALS (Orion PB) Nina, Susan and Richard - three siblings who, like so many brothers and sisters, don't particularly like or trust each other. Richard is the spoiled baby of the family, still jealously guarding his position as his mother's favourite. Susan has never been indulged - or so she believes - and she bitterly resents it. She has always felt that she deserved more than she got and is envious of Nina who appears to have it all. Nina has been married to workaholic Alex long enough to decide that it's time for a child, but for him the moment is never right. There's always another property to buy, another deal to be struck. Or is there something else that's keeping him late so often at the office, something readily on offer that he cannot refuse? Nina has spent her life as the peacemaker of the family - the dutiful daughter, sister and wife. Her reward has been a seemingly perfect life. But as the secrets of those closest to her are shockingly revealed, suddenly everything is under threat - her marriage, her home and her future happiness. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

SAM BAKER: THIS YEAR'S MODEL (Orion PB) When Lou McCartney, fashion reporter on The Post, finds out that her estranged half-sister Scarlett has gone missing in Japan, she's left reeling. Scarlett was catapulted to fame as a child model, but ten years later her career has stalled. In a desperate bid for work, Scarlett decamps to Tokyo, where she survives on the dark edges of the industry. Then, suddenly, she disappears. Despite Lou's complex relationship with her sister, she is determined to find her. She calls upon her best friend, Annie Anderson, a former investigative reporter and editor of fashion bible, Handbag magazine. Combining Lou's knowledge of the fashion world and Annie's nose for trouble, the two follow the trail in search of Scarlett - from London to New York to Tokyo. Their search leads them into the darker corners of the fashion world, where they learn that in the ugly business of making beauty, you're lucky to come out alive. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

ELISE CHIDLEY: THE WRONG SORT OF WIFE ( Orion PB) Lizzie Buckley has a life many women dream of - a gorgeous husband, wonderful home and beautiful (when they're not fighting) three year old twins. But there's a snag. It's not that Lizzie has gone off marriage, as such. Well, not exactly. She's just gone off the skin-to-skin, body-fluid-exchange aspects of marriage. Ever since the birth of the twins, she's had a fantasy about locking herself in her bedroom for 24 hours alone with a good book and a box of chocolates. Unfortunately, her husband James doesn't understand her feelings. And when Lizzie hits 'send' on the wrong email, suddenly everything starts to unravel. With the word 'divorce' ringing in her ears, Lizzie finds herself moving out and embarking on a totally different life - new house; new neighbours; no husband. But despite transforming her body, her neglected career and her libido (courtesy of the local landscape gardener), Lizzie can't get over her soon-to-be ex. Still mulling over her failed marriage, Lizzie can't help wondeing whether she was ever good enough for gorgeous James. Or, as her mother-in-law suggests, was she just the wrong sort of wife? Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

RACHEL BILLINGTON: LIES AND LOYALTIES (Orion HB) One cool March morning in London, MP Leo Barr is told that his brother, Charlie, is dead. He has hanged himself from a chestnut tree in the grounds of a mental hospital. His family reacts in different ways. Charlie's mother, Imogen, sees no point in pretending that life is still worth living - he was always her favourite. Leo and his lawyer brother Roland fight, as they always have over Charlie. The fourth brother Ron, a Catholic priest, must break the news to Charlie's wife, presently in HMP Holloway. In the days following Charlie's death the conflict builds among members of this diverse and complex family. Who really loves whom? What are the motives behind Roland's fixed antagonism towards Charlie? Is Leo right to put his career on the line? Above and between them all is the larger-than-life figure of Charlie. He follows no rules, not even about dying, and it becomes clear that his tragedy is only part of a web of mystery and deceit that connects them all. As well as being a powerful human drama, LIES & LOYALTIES deals with gritty contemporary issues in today's Britain.It moves from parliament to prison, from church to mental hospital and from those who conduct the law to the outcasts of society. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

DONNA HAY: THIS IS YOUR SONG, LOLA ROSE (Orion PB) Lola Rose Lambert's life changes on the day of her father's funeral. She isn't sorry that Eddie Lambert is dead. The outside world might have seen him as a solid, genial family man, but to her he was a bully who made her mother's life a misery until the day she died. She and her father have barely spoken since then. And Lola finds out why when, after the funeral, an embittered relative reveals a dark family secret. It turns out Eddie Lambert wasn't Lola's father at all. She was the result of a backstage fling between her musician mother and Rick Wild, guitarist with the mega rock group Poleaxe. Not only is her father very much alive, but he's also a big-haired, leather-wearing rock god. Lola tries to handle the revelation in her usual practical way, although deep down she's excited by the idea of having a family somewhere out there, and a father who might love her in the way Eddie never did. But her expectations are dashed when she finally gets to meet her long-lost dad, and discovers he's a typical rock star - spoilt and self-indulgent with the maturity of a hyperactive five-year-old.And then there's his family, who turn out to be a bunch of people so dysfunctional they'd make the Borgias looks like the Waltons. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

SALLY WARBOYES: HANDBAGS AND GLADRAGS (Orion HB) Growing up in Bethnal Green, Charlotte longs for the day she's old enough to put on her gladrags and be part of the swinging sixties. But her parents have other plans and move out to the quiet of the countryside, leaving Charlie homesick as she grows into a beautiful young woman. So when a childhood friend walks back into her life just as Charlie turns eighteen, it seems like the chance she's been waiting for to return to the bright lights. Back in the old streets and alleyways of her childhood, there are plenty of people who have never forgotten the girl with the white-blonde hair and quick wit. Surrounded by friends and family, it's everything she's ever dreamed of. But Charlie's dreams are shattered when brutal violence strikes close to home. For it turns out that London has a dark side too, and the East End hides as many sinners as saints...Sally Worboyes' spirited and passionate writing brings London to life in this wonderfully atmospheric novel of love and life in the 1960s. With the kind of authenticity and charm that comes from a lifelong love affair with the area , HANDBAGS & GLADRAGS confirms Sally Worboyes as queen of the East End saga. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

OLIVIA LICHTENSTEIN: MRS ZHIVAGO OF QUEEN'S PARK (Orion PB) 'Mrs Zhivago is like a script for the perfect comedy drama. And, reading between the jokes and comic situations, there's a real message about what keeps a marriage alive.' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY 'Olivia Lichtenstein's first novel is full to bursting with good things ... [her] writing is succinct, witty and often funny enough to make you hoot unbecomingly on public transport. ... accomplished, enjoyable and surprisingly moral fable.' THELONDONPAPER '[Lichtenstein] skilfully weaves the various strands of the story together with some touching observations about the beauty and preciousness of non-romantic relationships.' Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

AMY APPLETON: THE BRIDE HUNTER (Orion PB) Becca Orchard is the Bride Hunter...the woman filthy rich executives turn to when they decide it's time to supplement the perfect house, the perfect car and the perfect job with the perfect wife. Sacked by her ex-lover (and boss) from her corporate head-hunting job, Becca has turned her hand to playing the world's most ruthless cupid. She knows marriages aren't made in heaven - and her success rate speaks for itself. Though she never advertises, and most clients choose to keep her involvement secret, her reputation is growing. So much so that a phone call brings her first ever female client, Sam, who is uncompromising in her husband wish-list. Sam's ever-growing demands threaten to take Becca away from her other match-making assignments, involving a groom-to-be who doesn't even know his employers are setting him up. With three love lives in her control, it's a good job Becca's single. But when a man who meets all of Sam's demands appears on the scene, it's time for Becca to examine her own feelings. And work out whether finding true love really is as simple as matching up CVs... Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

HELEN DUNNE: IT'S NOT ME, IT'S YOU (Orion PB) Helen Dunne has done it again. This is a highly entertaining read, with believable characters and a wonderful twist to the plot. Dunne is a financial journalist, and her descriptions of life and skulduggery in the City ring true without slowing down the pace of the novel. Her main character, private investigator Holly, is a girl whose relationships and dress sense aren't quite as successful as her career and obvious intelligence and humour should warrant. She thinks she has found "The One" when she meets a hunky insurance boss who definitely isn't suffering from fear of committment. But sleuthing and romance don't always mix, as Holly is about to find out. A satisfying read with some lovely one liners. I gobbled it up in two sittings, which is high praise from me. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

NICKY PELLEGRINO: THE GYPSY TEAROOM (Orion PB) The Gypsy Tearoom is set in a small village in Southern Italy. The book has evocative descriptions of life in Italy and particularly the food - oh! the food descriptions made me want to pull out my Italian recipe books and raid the nearest herb garden. The story is hard to sum up because it has so many strands. The heroine is the beautiful Rafaella, who is a new bride when the novel opens and swiftly becomes a young widow. She struggles to find her place in the village and becomes the subject of gossip and innuendo. She reminded me a bit of Jane Austen's Emma, because she is always trying to put things right in the lives of the people around her. Meanwhile the village is divided over plans to erect a massive statue on the hill above the village and Rafaella is inadvertently caught between the two factions. There are also a couple of romantic interests and she struggles with her feelings for them and her loyalty to her deceased husband. It is not a perfect book by any means. None of the characters are fleshed out, most are one-dimensional. There are storylines that are not resolved and at least one important plot point is left unexplained. However in spite of these The Gypsy Tearoom is an easy and enjoyable book to read and would make ideal holiday summer reading. It is similar in style to novels by Marian Keyes and Lolly Winston, but I felt it was a better book than the ones that I have read by those authors. Pellegrino is skillful at keeping all the storylines going and I particularly liked the fact that every time I thought I knew what was going to happen in the book, it would go in a different direction. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

JAMES MORROW: THE PHILOSOPHER'S APPRENTICE (Weidenfeld PB) After crashing and burning during his PhD viva, Mason Ambrose is offered a large amount of money to come to the Isla de Sangre to instruct the daughter of wealthy Edwina Sabachtani. He is to use his knowledge as a philosopher to instil a conscience, a moral compass, in Edwina's daughter Londa following a diving accident which has supposedly destroyed her sense of right and wrong. Mason happily instructs her in schools of thought, from the stoics to the epicureans. But it is when he introduces her to the Beatitudes that the seeds of a rampaging sense of justice are sown and Londa becomes determined that the meek really shall inherit the earth! She becomes something of a 'celebrity saint' but then she takes her crusade too far, kidnapping a boat full of wealthy industrialists. A funny, tongue in cheek but also thought-provoking novel from the author of THE LAST WITCHFINDER that asks important questions about what makes us human and how we makes choices in a complex world. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

V V GANESHANANTHAN: LOVE MARRIAGE (Weidenfeld PB) 'In this globe-scattered Sri Lankan family, we speak only of two kinds of marriage. The first is the Arranged Marriage. The second is the Love Marriage. In reality, there is a whole spectrum in between, but most of us spend years running away from the first towards the second. 'Among the categories that bleed outside these two carefully delineated boundaries: the Self-Arranged Marriage, the Outside Marriage, the Cousin Marriage, the Village Marriage, the Marriage Abroad. there is the Marriage Without Consent. There is the Marriage Under Pressure. There is even Marrying the Enemy, who, it turns out, is not the Enemy at all.' Reverse a family tree and branches of blood are whittled down to one person - in this case, the young female narrator, Yalini - composed of all the women and men who came before her; the result of many marriages. Parents want nothing more than to prevent their children from colliding with inevitability: that in a different world, there is a different kind of marriage.Yet Tamil and Sinhalese parents - particularly after the great ethnic violence in Sri Lanka in 1983 - watch helplessly as their children cut themselves free of the need to please their ancestors. They walked out of the country to give their children opportunity, but this was not the opportunity they intended them to take: Western marriage. 'We live by our own wits, our own hearts, and our own histories; there is no other way to survive here, and some have learned to love people who do not worship our gods, eat our food, share our blood.' For Yalini and her generation, they are the children of their parents, but have entered other countries in which the rules of marriage - Love Marriage, Arranged Marriage, and all that lies in between - dramatically do not apply. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

DOUG ABRAMS: THE LOST DIARY OF DON JUAN (Phoenix PB) An editor receives a manuscript purporting to be the lost diary of history's greatest lover, Don Juan. An orphan left on the steps of a covent, Don Juan grew up within the church but his ambitions towards the priesthood fell to the wayside when he was seduced by a young nun. Evicted from the convent, he was taken under the wing of the libertine Don Pedro, the Marquis of Mota, who coached him in skills both courtly and amorous and then employed him as a spy at court. So began a life devoted to giving and receiving pleasure. But Abrams' Don Juan is no playboy; instead Don Juan's mastery of the arts of passion liberates the women he beds. Through his connections with Don Pedro, he is made an 'hidalgo', an honorary nobleman, and is therefore protected from the wrath of the Inquisition by the King, but his position is precarious. Then Don Juan embarks on the most perilous adventure of all - he falls in love, and finds that not only his reputation but also his life is in danger. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

DANIEL CLAY: BROKEN (Harper Press PB) Skunk Cunningham is an eleven-year-old girl in a coma. She has a loving dad, an absent mother and a brother who plays more X-Box than is good for him. She also has the neighbours from hell: the five Oswald girls and their thuggish father Bob, vicious bullies all of them, whose reign of terror extends unchallenged over their otherwise quiet suburban street. And yet terrifying though they undoubtedly are, the stiletto-wearing, cider-swilling Oswald girls are also sexy - so when Saskia asks shy, virginal Rick Buckley for a ride in his new car, he can't believe his luck. Too bad that Saskia can't keep her big mouth shut. When, after a quick fumble, she broadcasts Rick's deficiencies to anyone who will listen, it puts ideas into her younger sister's silly head - ideas that will see Rick dragged off to prison, humiliated, and ultimately, in his father's words, `broken' by the experience. From her hospital bed, Skunk guides us through the events that follow, as Saskia's small act of thoughtlessness slowly spreads through the neighbourhood in a web of increasing violence. Skunk watches as her shabby, hardworking father finds love, only for her courageous, idealistic teacher to lose it; as poor `Broken' Buckley descends into madness, while across the street her brother Jed makes his first adolescent forays into sex; and as her own gentle romance with soft-hearted, tough-talking Dillon struggles to survive against a backdrop that seamlessly combines the sublime and the ridiculous. As we inch ever closer to the mystery behind her coma, Skunk's innocence becomes a beacon by which we navigate a world as comic as it is tragic, and as effortlessly engaging as it is ultimately uplifting, in this brilliant and utterly original debut novel. Modern life in all its glory - not that attractive, but then modern life isn't. It's a kind of 21st century Cathy Come Home... Available from the Gateway Amazon store!

CLARE MORRALL: THE LANGUAGE OF OTHERS (Sphere HB) The world is a puzzling, sometimes frightening place for Jessica Fontaine. As a child she only finds contentment in playing the piano and wandering alone in the empty spaces of Audlands Hall, the dilapidated country house where she grows up. Twenty-five years later, divorced, with her son still living at home, Jessica remains preoccupied by the desire to create space around her. Then her volatile ex-husband reappears, the first of several surprises that both transform Jessica's present and give her a startling new perspective on the past.THE LANGUAGE OF OTHERS tells the absorbing story of a woman who spends much of her life feeling that she is out of step with the real world, until she discovers why. Related with humour and compassion, it offers a fresh, illuminating insight into what it means to be 'normal'. Morrall proves herself to be a really talented writer in this moving story. Available from the Gateway Amazon store!