The Woman in the Photograph

Stephanie Butland

Every picture tells a story… and sometimes one picture can change a life. Stephanie Butland, an author from the north-east of England who has made her name with a string of beautifully written, exquisitely offbeat and intensely moving novels, turns her sharp eye and keen intellect to an emotionally fierce tale which aims to kick-start a new way of looking at feminism.

The Woman in the Photograph is her profoundly personal and passionate paean to women, and their ongoing struggle for true equality in a world in which some may mistakenly believe that the feminist battle has, to all intents and purposes, been won.

Using photography as her lens in which to view the history of feminism from the ‘second wave’ dungaree-wearing activists of the 1960s and 70s right through to the 21^st century’s #MeToo and Time’s Up movements, Butland’s unflinching novel lets women tell their stories ‘in an unapologetic way.’

UNFLINCHING NOVEL: 
Stephanie Butland

And in a break with the conventional trope that ‘the camera never lies,’ this superbly structured and eye-opening exploration of feminism focuses on the secrets that a simple snapshot can hide, and the mystery behind a photograph which was so reviled at its unveiling that it ended the burgeoning career of a female photographer.

In 1968 – the year the groundbreaking Abortion Act came into effect and the Apollo 8 spacecraft was orbiting the moon – 20-year-old Veronica Moon is a junior photographer on a local paper in Colchester in Essex but is frustrated by her male colleagues’ failure to take her seriously.

Denied all the most interesting assignments, she decides to visit the picket line at the Dagenham Ford Factory and take her own pictures of the women machinists who are on strike in protest at being paid less than their male counterparts, and is immediately struck by ‘the possibility that is offered here, for all women.’

On the noisy but good-humoured front line, she meets Leonie Barratt, a privileged, almost fanatical, and angry young activist, ahead of her time and prepared to fight for equality with everything she has. Veronica is captivated by her bravado and the ‘unapologetic’ way she goes about her business.

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It’s a life-changing meeting for Veronica who breaks off her engagement to fiancé Barry and moves to London with Leonie to begin a free life, a new career as a photographer, and a tumultuous, passionate and exciting friendship.

Fifty years later, Leonie is gone and 70-year-old Veronica is a recluse with a crippling illness which has left ‘holes’ in her memory and no recall of her years with Leonie. For a while, Veronica was heralded as a pioneer, leading the charge for women everywhere but her career was shockingly and abruptly ended by one of the most notorious photographs of the 20th century.

Now, that controversial picture hangs as the centrepiece of a new feminist exhibition curated by Leonie’s niece, 38-year-old Erica, a married, part-time university lecturer who, even in 2018, feels that ‘motherhood has made her mediocre’ and is fighting for her own recognition.

After 30 years out of the public eye, Veronica’s newly exhibited gallery of photographs start to release the long-repressed memories of her extraordinary life and rollercoaster friendship with Leonie.

At last it’s time to break her silence and step back into the light, and she will no longer hide from the truth about that dark time…

The Woman in the Photograph is a powerful and empowering appeal to women to trumpet their achievements, and to keep on calling out sexism and inequality, in a modern world that has probably not changed as much as those second wave Women’s Libbers had hoped for.

The exhilarating relationship between the strident, radical Leonie and her feminist apprentice Veronica, whose flourishing career and success starts to turn their friendship more toxic than intoxicating, forms the central core of a story brimming with raw emotion and uncompromising honesty.

Butland’s innovative use of narrative devices like news bulletins taking us through historic events past and present, Leonie’s vitriolic magazine columns, and powerfully descriptive exhibition notes on Veronica’s photographs, display the changing attitudes to feminism and roots the story firmly in its different time zones.

Brilliantly researched, thought-provoking, and written straight from the heart, this is undoubtedly Butland’s best book yet.

(Zaffre, paperback, £7.99) 

Children's books round-up

Enjoy a new chapter in the fun and games of Enid Blyton’s ever-popular Malory Towers books, join Alice for a challenging trip to Wonderland and meet a team of  seamstresses who helped to put man on the Moon in some super holiday time books for children.

Age 9 plus:

New Class at Malory Towers
Rebecca Westcott Smith, Narinder Dhami, Patrice Lawrence and Lucy Mangan

Calling all Malory Towers fans… there are some new girls on the block! Fans – young and not so young – of Enid Blyton’s famous boarding school by the sea are galloping off to the Cornish coast to meet some intriguing fresh faces in four brand new adventures from a group of outstanding modern children’s authors who blend characters old and new with an addictive charm.

A new girl joins Darrell Rivers and her familiar cohort of friends in each of these four fantastic stories which add a contemporary spin to the six-book seaside boarding school series which has been a perennial favourite with young readers since they first appeared between 1946 and 1951.

TOP CLASS: Enid Blyton

The Malory Towers series has been enormously popular since the publication of First Term at Malory Towers in 1946 by one of the best-loved authors of all time. The school is set in picturesque surroundings by the sea in Cornwall. A castle-like building on the cliffs, it boasts four round towers (North, South, East and West) and a courtyard, as well as a swimming-pool amid the rocks which is filled with seawater by the tides.

Waterstones Book Prize-winner Patrice Lawrence introduces us to proud circus girl Marietta with her magnificent head of braided hair. A dormitory argument reveals something unusual about Marietta, and something equally unexpected about Alicia.

In Guardian and Stylist columnist Lucy Mangan’s story, student librarian Evelyn is wary of her lively, lacrosse-playing classmates. When one of them becomes a regular visitor to the hushed domain of the library, can Evelyn really trust her?

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Sunita Sharma joins Malory Towers, surrounded by a sense of mystery, in Narinder Dhami's fabulous story. But is Sunita really as glamorous as the snobbish Gwendoline imagines?

And in Rebecca Westcott Smith’s heartwarming story, Darrell and friends fear the worst when spoilt Gwendoline’s cousin joins the school. But Maggie is very different from her stuck-up relative…

From the library to the lacrosse field, and the swimming pool to the stage, there are obstacles at every turn. Will the new arrivals learn to rise to the occasion as true Malory Towers girls traditionally do?

Illustrator Pippa Curnick has created the eye-catching book cover and each author brings their own contemporary take on boarding school adventures without losing the spirit and trademark magic of the original books.

Funny, entertaining and a class act for all generations of Malory Towers fans…

(Hodder Children's Books, paperback, £6.99)

Age 8 plus:

Eagle Warrior

Gill Lewis

Wildlife champion and former vet Gill Lewis brings home some hard-hitting truths in a beautiful adventure story set in the wilds of Scotland.

Award-winning author Lewis says Eagle Warrior – the tale of one girl’s fight to save an eagle – was sparked by the true story of a young golden eagle called Fred which ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances near a grouse moor in the Pentland Hills south of Edinburgh.

ECO WARRIOR: Gill Lewis

And she cites a Scottish Natural Heritage report which has unequivocally shown that grouse moor management is associated with the killing of eagles to such an extent that it limits their recovery as a breeding bird in Scotland.

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Lewis is sending her Public Lending Right royalties from Eagle Warrior to Wild Justice, a new organisation challenging the legalities of wildlife law, and says the book ‘is a cry for the wild, and to bring a stop to those who try to take it so selfishly from us.’

At the heart of this topical story is a girl called Bobbie who is thrilled that a golden eagle has settled in the forest near her family’s farm in the Scottish hills. She loves to walk the hills with her granny and watch the bird soar through the sky.

But not everyone shares Bobbie’s awe for the spectacular bird. When her granny’s beloved dog, Haggis, is killed by poisoned bait, it soon becomes clear that someone is out to get the eagle… and they are ready to take down anything, and anyone, that gets in their way. Facing the threat of being sent away to boarding school, far from everything she knows and loves, Bobbie is determined to save the eagle but is she brave enough, and is it worth the risk?

Eagle Warrior is a thrilling and timely story which shines a powerful light on endangered wildlife and nature. Written with knowledge and a deep concern for conservation, this though-provoking adventure encourages discussion about pollution and endangered species, and raises questions about broader environmental issues.

Published in a super readable format which makes it particularly suitable for struggling, reluctant or dyslexic readers, this is gripping, moving and thought-provoking story that will resonate far beyond the hills of Scotland…

(Barrington Stoke, paperback, £6.99)

Age 6 plus:

Alice in Wonderland: 
A Puzzle Adventure

Aleksandra Artymowska

Some puzzle books are guaranteed to leave youngsters feeling curiouser and curiouser…

So join Alice and her band of Wonderland friends and animals as they jump down a rabbit hole and enter a fantastical adventure book packed with eighty absorbing challenges and amazing mazes.

Inspired by Lewis Carroll’s classic children’s book, Polish illustrator, graphic designer and painter Aleksandra Artymowska’s stunning scenes are packed with references to the original, from a Mad Hatter’s tea party and an (almost!) identical Tweedledum and Tweedledee, to lines of marching playing cards and a flying Cheshire cat.

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From one page to another spot the difference, youngsters must crack the clues, find their way through challenging mazes, match up different objects, piece together broken fragments of plates, and find the missing walrus.

Beautifully illustrated, full of nostalgic charm, and brimming with Alice’s spirit of adventure, this imaginative puzzle book offers hours of fun and brain-enhancing puzzles that will appeal to readers young and old.

Stylish, creative and artistically inventive, this is the perfect book to keep boredom at bay over the long summer holidays!

(Big Picture Press, hardback, £16.99)

Age 5 plus:

The Spacesuit

Alison Donald and Ariel Landy

It didn’t just take rocket science to put man on the Moon… there was also a team of talented, tireless seamstresses!

Author Alison Donald and illustrator Ariel Landy have the history of the spacesuit all sewn up in an enchanting picture book which celebrates the real-life people who won a race against time to develop the special astronaut clothing used in the first Moon walk 50 years ago.

BOLD IMAGES: Ariel Landy

SPACE MISSION: Alison Donald

Dedicated to the women and men who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make the Moon landings possible, The Spacesuit focuses on the team of seamstresses, led by the very talented Eleanor ‘Ellie’ Foraker, who won a competition to make a suit for the Apollo 11 astronauts.

Ellie was an ordinary woman who loved to design and sew from an early age. She felt her fingers come alive the first time she used a sewing machine. When she grew up, she got a job sewing clothes for women and babies and worked so well that when her American company entered an exciting competition to make the spacesuit for the first Moon landing, she was asked to lead a team of expert seamstresses.

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No one believed they could win but they were determined to try and came up with a spacesuit that was heat-resistant, flexible, lightweight and comfortable. Stitch by stich, their spacesuit changed the world for ever!

Landy’s bold, colourful illustrations are full of intriguing, small detail, and Donald’s story features lots of fascinating, accessible facts as the excitement of the race to make a spacesuit mounts, and the sheer determination of Ellie and her team to achieve their own seeming mission impossible shines through. An inspirational true story about the remarkable women who helped to make a space dream come true…

(Maverick Arts Publishing, paperback, £7.99)

Age 5 plus:

Molly Rogers to the Rescue

Cornelia Funke and Kasia Matyjaszek

Thieves, greedy pirates and mischief-makers are no match for madcap Molly Rogers and her crazy crew! Molly Rogers to the Rescue is the latest super-readable Little Gem from innovative publisher Barrington Stoke and sees the return of top team, author Cornelia Funke and illustrator Kasia Matyjaszek and their swashbuckling pirate girl Molly Rogers.

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The Little Gems series brings together leading authors and illustrators, and a host of clever design and finishing techniques, to create easy-to-read books in a chunky format ideal for little hands, and with some extra reading, jokes and activity fun hiding inside the jacket flaps.

GIRL POWER:
 Cornelia Funke

PIRATE PRANKS:
 Kasia Matyjaszek

In the companion book for their fun-filled picture book, Molly Rogers, Pirate Girl, Molly and her mother, Barbarous Bertha, discover that Captain Firebeard is destroying Monkey Skull Island in search of buried treasure so set sail on the Red Swallow to save the island and its animals from his clutches. But Firebeard will stop at nothing to get his treasure… how will Molly outwit him this time?

Whether your child is a new, struggling, reluctant or dyslexic reader, this wonderful Little Gem story could be just what they are looking for. Matyjaszek’s gallery of bright, colourful and suitably anarchic illustrations are the perfect foil for a story full of adventure, girl power, giggles and pirate pranks.

(Barrington Stoke, paperback, £6.99)

Age 3 plus:

Hello Friend!

Rebecca Cobb

Making friends doesn’t always come naturally… Award-winning author and illustrator Rebecca Cobb is back to steal our hearts in a beautifully illustrated, warm, witty and wisely observed picture book about kindness, empathy and forming first friendships.

Inspired by her own bubbly daughter who is always eager to make new friends, Cobb explores the struggles some children find in creating new friendships and how it’s the easiest thing in the world for others.

WARM AND WITTY:
Rebecca Cobb 

Hello Friend! tells the story of one kind and relentlessly enthusiastic little girl who is determined to make friends with a reluctant little boy. And why wouldn’t he want to be friends with her? She’s very good at sharing… even if it’s a sandwich that he doesn’t like. And she’s certain that playing outside is their favourite thing to do, even if he is not so sure. But while he doesn’t seem keen on many of the things that she loves to do, there is one thing he is very keen on after all… being friends.

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Cobb always perfectly captures the joys and uncertainties of childhood with her observant eye and warm heart. The simple but beautiful story celebrates children, whether they are shy or gregarious, providing gentle reassurance to those nervous about making new friends, and encouraging the more outgoing to offer warmth and companionship to others.

Brimming with Cobb’s trademark rich colours, irresistible playfulness and the spirit of adventure that has made her one of the nation’s favourite author/illustrators, this creative, clever and utterly charming picture book is destined to be another family favourite!

(Macmillan, hardback, £11.99)

Age 3 plus:

Lunchtime, The Something, 
and Aunt Amelia

Rebecca Cobb

Also available now in paperback are three of Rebecca Cobb’s much-loved picture books.

If mealtimes often turn into a temper tantrum nightmare with your fussy little eaters, try tempting them with this delightful little dish!

Lunchtime is Cobb’s colourful cautionary story about a little girl who is so busy having fun that she lets some unexpected visitors eat her lunch... and ends up so hungry that she’ll eat almost anything.

Cobb’s quirky, freehand drawings capture the anarchic essence of a story that will appeal both visually and verbally to pre-school children. A tasty tale of food, friendship and fun that is sure to tickle young taste buds!

And there’s a ‘hole’ lot of mystery in Cobb’s enchanting picture book The Something which perfectly captures the innocence of childhood.

When a little boy loses his bouncy ball down a mysterious hole underneath the cherry tree in his garden, he can’t stop thinking about what could be down there. His mum reckons it’s a little mouse’s house, dad thinks it’s a hole for frogs, his sister says it’s the lair of a scary, hungry troll that might come and eat him if he’s naughty, or even be a dragon’s den. He doesn’t really mind what’s down there, he’s just glad that something has chosen to live in his garden… and he’s not afraid to find out what it is.

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Bold, inventive and witty illustrations capture the wonder of discovery and the joy of an inquisitive mind in a story guaranteed to bewitch young hearts and minds. And in Aunt Amelia, Cobb sets her artistic sights on an aunt with attitude.

When Mum and Dad go away for the night, Aunt Amelia comes to look after one very cross little girl and boy. They do not want to be looked after and, even worse, Mum has left a list of boring instructions. But Aunt Amelia turns out to be rather different from expected… and a lot more fun!

Cobb’s original style always puts an irresistibly idiosyncratic charm into her picture books and this rib-tickling story about an aunt that every child would want is a guaranteed winner for bedtime reading.

(Macmillan, paperback, £6.99 each)

Age 3 plus:

Deep in the Ocean

Lucie Brunellière

Forget yellow submarines and instead dive into the ocean with a super, silver submarine for an amazing underwater adventure!

Spot the animals, large and small, and the extraordinary eco-system beneath the waves in a big and beautiful picture book that explores the ocean through the colourful digital artwork of French artist and designer Lucie Brunellière.

A scientific team has boarded the submarine Oceanos to explore the ocean’s depths. Suddenly, it gets caught in a violent storm, causing it to drift thousands of miles off-course. From the glittering surface of the sea to the darkness of the abyss, Deep in the Ocean takes readers on a bewitching journey through fascinating waters… some warm, colourful, and crowded with sea creatures, others mysterious and turbulent.

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Six colours of ink (including neon pink and metallic silver) are used throughout, and a free downloadable soundtrack transports young readers deep into the abyss as dolphins, fish, whales and the stormy sea come to life to create a fascinating marine melody, enabling listeners to feel even more fully immersed in this beautiful underwater world. Readers can find the download at abramsbooks.com/DeepInTheOceanSoundtrack.

A colourful and fact-filled experience for both sea lovers and landlubbers!

(Abrams Appleseed, board book, 10.99)

Age 3 plus:

Nits!

Stephanie Blake

Schoolboy rabbit Simon discovers that you have to start from scratch when it comes to falling love!

Welcome to a brand new adventure starring Simon the cheeky rabbit… the cuddly creature who won everyone’s heart in the bestselling Poo Bum, first book in a series which has proved a big hit all over the world.

STRIKING A CHORD: 
Stephanie Blake 

Simon’s hilarious escapades have featured in I Want Spaghetti!, I Don’t Want to Go to School!, Super Rabbit! , I Can’t Sleep! and I’m the Biggest!, and he is now the star of a new series for Milkshake! TV on Channel 5.

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The books are the work of US-born author Stephanie Blake whose passion for writing and illustrating began in childhood when she created books for her brothers and sisters as birthday presents.

After moving to France, she discovered other writers and artists whose work continued to inspire her stories and drawings. She now is the author and illustrator of dozens of highly successfully books in France, many of them children’s favourites.

In Blake’s new rabbit adventure, Simon feels a new emotion stirring… he thinks he’s in love with a girl in his class called Lou! Unfortunately, Lou loves a boy called Mamadou and Simon is very jealous. But when poor little Lou comes into school one day with trillions of itchy nits, she’s suddenly not so popular any more. Except with Simon who doesn’t care because he loves Lou… and her nits! His reward is a kiss from Lou… and some scratchy little visitors!

Blake’s instantly recognisable bold and expressive illustrations will delight young readers and the funny, poignant story, which offers a gentle air of reassurance that some people love us just because of who we are, is guaranteed to strike a chord with both children and parents alike.

(Gecko Press, hardback, £10.99)

Age 3 plus:

Monkey on the Run

Leo Timmers

Every picture tells a story in a charming, wordless picture book from Belgian author and illustrator Leo Timmers.

WORDLESS CHARM:
Leo Timmers

Creator of Gus’s Garage, Timmers provides exciting illustrations which encourage young readers to use their imaginations and tell their own story within the story. By studying the vehicles on every page, they discover a rich spectrum of activity in each one.

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Papa Monkey and Little Monkey are on their way home but the street is very busy with traffic and they are moving so slowly! Little Monkey loses patience and jumps on to the fire engine.

Up the ladder he goes and joins a TV crew, then a garbage truck, an aquarium bus, a food cart for rabbits packed with carroty treats, Arctic animals traveling by snow globe and a jewel thief's getaway car… there is so much going on in the street that it has become a playground! Each vehicle in this wordless book contains a world of detail, activity and humour to share with curious toddlers.

Each page is packed with intricately detailed illustrations which allow youngsters to follow the action and tell their own, unique version of the story. The ideal book to share with grown-ups and rev up the imaginations of even the youngest children!

(Gecko Press, hardback, £11.99)

Age 3 plus:

Song of the River

Joy Cowley and Kimberly Andrews

Join a little boy as he follows a lyrical, lilting river journey to the sea from his home in the snow-topped mountains of Canada.

Joy Cowley, one of New Zealand’s best-loved children’s writers, sings out her story of a wonder-packed adventure through mountain waterfalls, creeks, river beds and industrial landscapes all the way to the salty winds and crying seabirds of the wild, blue and beautiful ocean.

MELODIC YARN:
Joy Cowley

BACK TO NATURE:
Kimberly Andrews

Cam the mountain boy has always wanted to see the sea and one spring morning he decides to follows the river from its trickling source in the mountain snow all the way to the coast. The river leads him through forest, farms, and towns to the vast, endless sea.

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Cowley’s beautiful, melodic story – brimming with atmosphere and descriptive power – is exquisitely brought to life by illustrator Kimberly Andrews’ dramatic evocation of a wonderfully contrasting North American landscape full of rich detail and muted, earth-toned colours. A magnificent celebration of the spirit of adventure and the diversity of nature…

(Gecko Press, hardback, £11.99)

Age one plus:

Treacle Street: 
Marcel’s Parcels and 
Prima’s Missing Bunnies

Kate Hindley

Welcome to Treacle Street… where keeping busy is all part of a day’s work!

Marcel’s Parcels and Prima’s Missing Bunnies are the first books in an adorable new lift-the-flap board book series that introduces young children to the residents of Treacle Street and teaches valuable lessons about community spirit and appreciating others.

STREETS AHEAD:
 Kate Hindley 

It is the first solo project written and illustrated by the award-winning Kate Hindley who has illustrated a variety of picture books and fiction for authors including Simon Philip, Alexander McCall Smith, and Santa and Simon Sebag Montefiore.

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In Marcel’s Parcels, it’s a bright sunny morning on Treacle Street, and Marcel Trunkmore the postman’s trolley is full of parcels. Join him on his rounds to find out who they are all for… and lift the flaps to find out what’s inside!

In Prima’s Missing Bunnies, it’s a special, sparkly evening on Treacle Street… the opening night of the Dance School’s first performance. But all of Prima Pavlova’s star performers have gone missing. Can you help her find them all before the show begins?

Hindley’s words and richly detailed illustrations capture the warmth, friendliness and shared fun of the close-knit animal community as they go about their business on the bright, bustling and colourful Treacle Street.

With lots of surprises to enjoy, a cast of colourful animal characters and intriguing flaps to lift, this is a series destined to be streets ahead of the rest!

(Simon & Schuster, board books, £6.99 each)

The Cliff House

Amanda Jennings

Adolescent longing turns to dangerous obsession in a blistering literary thriller set against a magnificent mansion perched on a clifftop at Sennen Cove on the western tip of Cornwall.

Amanda Jennings, who turned heads with her bestselling debut Sworn Secret and has since written acclaimed novels, The Judas Scar and In her Wake, makes a welcome return to the corner of the country she loves best for a dark and devastating tale of desire, duplicity, jealousy and possession.

Featuring an unlikely friendship between two teenage girls – from opposite sides of the tracks but both isolated and embittered – The Cliff House is a haunting, addictive page-turner which unfolds against the summer of 1986.  

PUNCH: Amanda Jennings

Jennings has a self-confessed fascination with family life, the far-reaching effects of trauma, and the different ways people cope with loss, and in this exquisitely written, perfectly paced drama, events play out in the style of a contemporary Shakespearean tragedy with a backdrop painted in sunshine blues and golds.

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It’s six years since loner Tamsyn’s beloved father was killed at sea but the hurt, bitterness and grief have never gone away. In an almost daily ritual during the long summer holidays of 1986, she takes her dad’s binoculars and spies on the Davenports who, with their fast cars and glamorous clothes, are living the dream in Cliff House, their stunning, white-walled holiday home overlooking the sea.

‘I spy perfection,’ thinks 16-year-old Tamsyn, as she sets her sights on the perfect family in their perfect home, and wishes that her life was as perfect as theirs.

And Tamsyn has a secret… in happier days, when her dad was alive, the two of them would sneak into the grounds of Cliff House, where her mother Angie is the cleaner, and swim in the ornate pool on a terrace overlooking the sea.

One glorious morning, she takes her mother’s key, lets herself into Cliff House and dives into the pool, only to discover that someone is watching. Edie Davenport, also aged 16, has been expelled from school and returned home earlier than expected.

Edie, with her Goth clothes, aggressively short hair and painfully thin body, radiates ‘an aristocratic confidence’ and Tamsyn feels a sudden ‘surge of irrational jealousy,’ but Edie is lonely too. Her father is a bestselling author who barely knows she exists, her mother is ‘gummed up’ with pills and booze, and ‘if life were a poker game, she’d swap her whole hand of cards.’

Bored, restless Edie is drawn to Tamsyn’s innocence, and Tamsyn can’t believe that she has at long last got an entry to the enviable lives of the golden Davenport family… but, as the summer wears on, it seems some friendships were just made to be broken.

The Cliff House is a simmering, shimmering, slow-burn thriller but it still packs a powerful punch as readers are drawn into the corrosive and compulsive relationship between two emotionally damaged girls.

And this is truly a tale of contrasts… darkness and bright light, rich and poor, truth and lies, beauty and downright ugliness all have parts to play in Jennings’ atmospheric and twisted tale which explores obsession in all its chilling complexity against a stunning landscape of sea, sand and sun.

In Tamsyn and Edie, we have the archetypal, disaffected teenagers but although they share the same angst, emotional turmoil and adolescent frustrations, their worlds are vastly different… Edie’s wealth, privilege, luxurious homes and schooling are in stark contrast to Tamsyn’s life which revolves around the ‘local comp,’ low-paid seasonal work, and lack of affordable housing.

As we weave between the present and the summer of 1986, the sense of menace and impending tragedy grows at the same time as our perception of each of the two girls and their uneasy friendship changes with almost every turn of the page.

With a finale as jaw-dropping and devastating as one would expect from this accomplished writer, The Cliff House is a simply unmissable read.

(HQ, paperback, £7.99)

A Home from Home

Veronica Henry

An old grudge between two households threatens to break out again…

It’s not quite Romeo and Juliet but get ready for warring families, buried secrets, and star-cross’d lovers as Veronica Henry visits the ‘fair’ countryside of Somerset for a gorgeous, sunshine, cider-soaked story, beautifully written and perfectly wrapped for summertime reading.

A Home from Home is this born storyteller’s twentieth novel and it delivers exactly what her readers love best… a warm, home-spun, feelgood tale full of family drama, romance, mystery and a vibrant cast of characters you want to hug to your heart.

Domestic life – and its recognisable triumphs, tragedies and pitfalls ­– lie at the heart of the action as two families from the opposite sides of a picturesque river are forced to look across the generations and into their intertwined past to dig out the roots of a bitter, century-old feud.

SURPRISES: Veronica Henry

Dragonfly Farm, deep in the Somerset countryside, has been a home and a haven for generations of the Melchior family since the house and its land were won in a card game by Joseph Melchior from the wealthy Casper Culbone of nearby Rushbrook House nearly one hundred years ago.

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Since then, the Melchiors haven’t spoken to the Culbones – who live on the other side of the river – particularly as Capser Culbone took his revenge by stealing Eleanor, the love of Joseph’s life, and it ended in a terrible tragedy.

Now, Rushbrook House has been rented out for years and is falling apart, and the rarely seen Culbone family ‘seem like butterflies on the verge of extinction.’ Dragonfly Farm, meanwhile, is a timeless but vibrant place, dictated by the seasons and cider-making, and casting everyone under its spell.

For cousins Tabitha and Georgia, the farm has always been a home from home. It is owned by their beloved great uncle Matthew Melchior, known fondly as ‘Gum,’ who took in Tabitha ten years ago when her parents’ divorce sent her off the rails.

Tabitha, fiercely independent and prickly, virtually runs the farm she adores and for London-based TV producer Georgia, it is her city escape. And when Gum dies suddenly, it seems that the place where they have always belonged might now belong to them.

But Gum’s will reveals that a third of the farm has been left to a total stranger… a man called Gabriel Culbone who has no idea why he has been included, or what his connection to the farm or the Melchiors can be.

And there is another Culbone on the scene… handsome Dash Culbone is saying goodbye to his minimalist, upmarket London apartment overlooking Tower Bridge to live in tumbledown Rushbrook House.

As the first apples start to fall for the cider harvest, will Dragonfly Farm finally begin to give up its secrets?

Packed with emotion, drama, superb characterisation, and the ‘realistic escapism’ that has become a trademark of Henry’s wonderful novels, A Home from Home proves to be simply irresistible as the feisty Tabitha and her ambitious cousin Georgia delve into dark secrets from the past.

Love, loss, passion and tragedy all play their part as we travel between past and present to uncover unexpected truths and hidden surprises on almost every step of the journey. With her natural wit and observant eye, Henry serves up real family life, real people and real issues but with the lightest of touches and the warmest of hearts.

And as always, the backdrop is painted like a work of art… full of rural charm, lush apple orchards and sleepy hamlets. So sit back, raise your glass of sparkling cider, and toast a writer at the top of her game!

(Orion, paperback, £7.99)

Swallowtail Summer

Erica James

The lush landscape of the Norfolk Broads has been an idyllic holiday escape for three closely-bound families for decades… but changes are on the way that will affect them all.

Erica James – a reigning queen of domestic drama and author of beautiful novels like Summer at the Lake, Song of the Skylark and Coming Home to Island House – brings us a sweeping tale of secrets, lies, love, loss and betrayal set against a stunning riverside backdrop.

INSIGHT: Erica James

James, loved by an army of readers for her acute insight into the dynamics of family life and her eye for what makes us humans tick, blends nostalgia, rural charm and human drama to deliver a perfect package of summertime reading.

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Linston End, the bewitching old house with its thatched roof and lawn sweeping down to the water’s edge on the Norfolk Broads, has been the holiday home to three families for many years, their time for togetherness.

For the Lucas, Wyatt and Fielding families, memories of summer escapes there are ingrained in their hearts… picnics on the river, gin and tonics in the pavilion at dusk, and hours spent seeking out the rare, local swallowtail butterflies.

But 62-year-old widower Alastair Lucas, who spent his most of his childhood there with his two prep school friends Simon Wyatt and Danny Fielding, has been faced with a few of life’s slings and arrows over the last year, not least the death of his wife Orla in an accident.

He has been travelling abroad for the last six months, trying to come to terms with his loss, and now he is about to shock his circle of friends with the decisions he has made and the ‘drastic step’ he is about to take… it will mean changes for all of them.

Simon, one of the ‘blood brothers,’ has retired recently and is mooching about at his London home ‘like a bored teenager.’ His wife, Sorrel, always knew that when she married Simon, it was a case of ‘buy one, get two free, plus wives’ but the men’s ultra-close relationship still rankles.

Meanwhile, Danny Fielding is struggling to recover from the physical and emotional fall-out from a heart attack earlier in the year and is ‘scared of time running out’ for himself. His wife, Frankie, is understandably over-protective for him and what he considers to be just ‘a small bump in the road’ has had big repercussions.

When the three families – including Simon’s children Rachel and Callum and Danny’s daughter Jenna – converge on Linston End, it feels like the end but for others, it might just be the beginning…

Imbued with James’s trademark warmth and emotional wisdom, Swallowtail Summer is a story packed full of unexpected twists and turns, exquisitely drawn characters and powerful passions as the ties between three families start to unravel under the weight of suspicion, jealousy and shocking revelations.

James is always at her best when she explores family relationships and as the two generations come together at Linston End, an enthralling and atmospheric domestic drama plays out in which secrets new and old rise to the surface, and lives are changed forever.

As always, there are lessons to be learned – it’s never too late to grab happiness, and family and friendships should be treasured – but the starring role must go to the gorgeous Norfolk landscape, a land of green and pleasant beauty and spectacular swallowtail butterflies.

Clever, engrossing summer reading with the feelgood factor…

(Orion, paperback, £7.99)

The Spanish Promise

Karen Swan

As one of Spain’s richest men lies dying, his shocked family discovers that his entire estate has been earmarked for an unknown waitress working in a back street café in Madrid.

Welcome to an intriguing sunshine puzzler-cum-sizzler from former fashion journalist Karen Swan, the queen of beach reads who knows how to put romance, razzle-dazzle and a slice of real life into the long days of summer.

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The Spanish Promise is a gripping, multi-layered page-turner full of history, mystery and heart-pounding passion as family dramas in the past and present unfold against the dark days of the Spanish Civil War and the rolling hills, scented orange groves and flowing rivers of sun-soaked Andalusia.

HOT PLOT: Karen Swan

And it’s a tale to bask in as Swan blends renowned aspects of Andalusian history and folklore – its bullfighting pride and prowess, its spirit and passion, and the wounds inflicted during the bitter civil war – with a compelling story in the present starring a young wealth counsellor from London.

Carlos Mendoza, a Spanish multimillionaire who owns acres of land in the Andalusian countryside, is dying. But as preparations are made for his estate, his family is shocked to discover he is planning to give away his wealth to a young woman they have never even heard of. Who is she and what hold does she have over him?

Charlotte Fairfax, a wealth counsellor for the London bank which invests Mendoza’s £750million fortune, is asked to travel to the troubled family’s home in Spain to get to the bottom of the 98-year-old man’s mysterious ‘donation.’

It’s the week before her wedding to her ex-army fiancé Stephen but she is confident she has time because there’s usually only one reason an older man leaves his money to a woman and her job is to stall Mendoza’s plan before he dies.

But in Madrid, things don’t go to plan when the woman, 45-year-old waitress Marina Quincy, denies being Carlos Mendoza’s mistress or knowing anything about the gift. Charlotte is convinced that ‘something is not adding up’ and decides to investigate further.

Looking for clues, Charlotte digs into the history of the Mendoza family, who made their money out of bullfighting, and unearths a dark and shocking past in which two people were torn apart by the Spanish Civil War.

Now their long-buried secrets are starting to reach into the present and Charlotte – who knows in her heart of hearts that she is marrying Stephen for the wrong reasons – begins to wonder whether love does not need to forgive or forget in order to endure… but just two hearts to keep beating.

And as fragments from her own tragic past start ‘bubbling up like secrets sunken in a lake,’ it threatens to overturn everything in her life that she has worked so hard to build.

Swan’s novels always deliver so much more than just a regulation romantic escape, and The Spanish Promise is no exception. There is a hard edge to this beautifully created, time-slip story which weaves effortlessly between a heartbreaking love affair caught in the firing line of the Spanish conflict, and the mysteries which play out in contemporary Madrid.

As always, Swan’s plotting is a work of art as the two storylines – brimming with love and loss, secrets and betrayal, honour and tragedy – slowly unravel and converge into a bittersweet and emotional final act.

And in trademark style, the characters are beautifully portrayed, the plot is a rollercoaster, emotion-packed journey, and the stunning, sun-soaked landscapes of breathtaking Andalusia and cosmopolitan Madrid steal the show. Summer reading at its best…

(Pan, paperback, £7.99)

Lady in the Lake

Laura Lippman

Since 1997, author Laura Lippman has been gaining a well-earned reputation as one of the best chroniclers of contemporary life in the USA.

A former journalist, Lippman, who lives in Baltimore, has been awarded every major prize in crime fiction and is best known for her ultra-smart series of novels featuring Tess Monaghan, a reporter turned private investigator.

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But this thrilling writer is not just a one-trick pony and her superb standalones – not least last year’s gripping Sunburn, a bold and unsettling story about a pair of lovers locked in a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse – have seen her novels soar into the upper echelons of crime writing.

MASTERPIECE: Laura Lippman

And 2019 must surely be the year when she hits the loftiest heights with Lady in the Lake, a sophisticated, multi-genre, crime noir masterpiece which explores a breathtaking range of issues from race, gender and sexism to press power and male prejudice, all set amidst the volatile politics of 1960s America.

In 1966, Baltimore is a city of secrets that everyone seems to know… everyone except Madeline ‘Maddie’ Schwartz. Last year, she was a happy, 36-year-old Jewish housewife, mother to teenage son Seth and wife since the age of 18 to wealthy Milton Schwartz. Now she has had ‘a glimpse of the road not taken,’ has bolted from her stale marriage, found an apartment, and is determined to make good on her youthful ambitions to live a passionate, meaningful life.

Maddie wants to matter, to leave her mark on a swiftly changing world and drawing on her own secrets, she helps Baltimore police find murdered 11-year-old girl Tessie Fine, assistance that leads to a job at the city’s afternoon newspaper, the Star.

Working at the paper offers Maddie the opportunity to make her name, and she has found just the story to do it… a missing woman whose body was discovered in the fountain of a city park lake.

Cleo Sherwood was a young black woman who liked to have a good time. No one seems to know or care why she was killed except Maddie, and the dead woman herself. Maddie’s going to find the truth about Cleo’s life and death even though Cleo’s ghost, who is privy to Maddie’s poking and prying, desperately wants to be left alone.

Maddie’s investigation brings her into contact with people who used to be on the periphery of her life… a jewellery store clerk, a waitress, a hardened female reporter and a lonely man in a film theatre.

But for all her ambition and drive, Maddie often fails to see the people right in front of her. Her inability to look beyond her own needs will lead to tragedy and turmoil for all sorts of people… including the man who shares her bed, a black police officer who cares for Maddie more than she knows.

Lady in the Lake was always going to be an ambitious undertaking but Lippman pulls it off in style with an intriguing murder mystery forming the central core of a story which perfectly captures the mood, atmosphere and social politics of both time and place by fielding a chorus of narrative voices from all walks of life through which truth and lies are exposed.

This is an author almost uniquely attuned to the rhythms of human thought, allowing her readers access to every corner of the city and every secret thought as a panorama of events, both past and present, scatter clues and red herrings across the pages.

Lippman’s writing flows like a river in full spate as the two principals, Cleo and Maddie, and a seemingly random cast of disparate secondary players, act out their parts in a plot tingling with suspense and sexual frissons, only for the final act to knock all whodunit theories for six.

Lady in the Lake is clever, compelling and the classiest murder mystery you will read this year…

(Faber & Faber, paperback, £12.99)