Prince Albert: The Man Who Saved the Monarchy

A.N. Wilson

TO Queen Victoria, he was an ‘Angel,’ to his children he was an affectionate but controlling father, and to many in his adopted nation, he was the distrusted German outsider… so who was the real Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha?

A.N. Wilson, one of Britain’s best and most forthright biographers, digs deep into some of the darkest (and in some cases incendiary) recesses of the Royal Archives to bring us the definitive and sweeping biography of the extraordinary man who fathered an unparalleled European royal dynasty, and laid the foundations of our modern constitutional monarchy.

In the bicentenary year of the birth of both Victoria and Albert, this authoritative exploration of the cold and dutiful royal who married his fiery and passionate cousin offers intriguing never-before-known details about the man and his legacy, including startling revelations from the prince’s voluminous correspondence. Prince Albert was only forty-two when he died in the arms of his heartbroken wife in 1861, but his remarkable legacy lives on far beyond the confines of the palaces and castles where he spent twenty-one years in a turbulent marriage with Queen Victoria and fathered nine children who would help buttress the principal royal dynasties of Europe.

Because while Victoria is seen as the embodiment of her time, it was the prodigiously gifted Albert, Wilson argues, who was at the vanguard of Victorian Britain’s transformation into a vibrant centre of political, technological, scientific and intellectual advancement.

Far more than just the product of his age, Albert not only saved the monarchy from what had become a ‘grave crisis’ after the excesses of the Hanoverians but became one of the 19^th century’s influencers and architects. A composer, engineer, musician, soldier, politician, linguist and bibliophile, Prince Albert, more than any other royal, was, asserts Wilson, truly a ‘genius.’

AUTHORITATIVE:
A.N. Wilson

Ambitious in its scope and endlessly fascinating in its revelations, this magnificent new book, written by an author who puts brio into his biographies, finally gives new light, life and long-overdue recognition to the workaholic prince who spawned London’s incredible Albertopolis, the sprawl of royal schools, colleges and museums in South Kensington which were funded from the prince’s greatest project, the Great Exhibition of 1851.

But Wilson also casts his wickedly discerning eye over the marriage of Victoria and Albert, a relationship that has too often been filtered through the highly emotive and gushing diaries of the queen but which, as many have suspected, was not entirely harmonious.

Perhaps most revealing are a cache of newly-discovered letters from Albert to Victoria – rescued decades ago by a quick-thinking archivist from the censorship of Victoria’s prudish youngest daughter Beatrice – which prove to be ‘passionately angry, buttoned-up expressions of marital hate.’ Constantly upbraiding her for her displays of irrational ill temper, Albert would simply walk out of a room during Victoria’s outbursts and then write loveless, admonitory letters. ‘What you call scolding, I would call simply the expression of a difference of opinion,’ he wrote witheringly. ‘You have again lost your self-control quite unnecessarily.’

In many of his missives, penned after their frequent rows, his usually neat handwriting has degenerated into a scrawl, evidence that his hand had been shaking as he filled the page. Their discord is chillingly apparent and ‘the coldness of the letters still blows like a winter breeze from that box even at the distance of all the years since they were written,’ observes Wilson.

In fact, Albert appears to have found his true calling not as the husband of the queen but as a zealous reformer and poured all his energies into administrative roles whether that was chairing committees, acting as consultant to charities, creating university scholarships for poor students, building affordable homes, or undertaking the organisation of the hugely successful Great Exhibition.

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Never spontaneously affectionate, Albert’s love for his children always went hand in hand with his desire to control every aspect of their lives, and his efforts to turn their decidedly non-academic son and heir, Bertie, into a carbon copy of his father went spectacularly wrong.

After a scandal in which the teenage Bertie escaped from an Army camp for a love tryst with young actress Nellie Clifden, Albert was horrified when he heard the news. ‘Oh!’ the Queen later recalled, ‘that face, that heavenly face of woe and sorrow which was so dreadful to witness!’

Already suffering from various ailments and worn down from years of overwork, the exhausted Prince Consort fell dangerously ill and died from what doctors now believe was probably stomach cancer, leaving his distraught wife screaming out in her despair.

Albert, declares Wilson, ‘was not the sole architect of British constitutional development but he undoubtedly played a vital role in the evolution of that strange hybrid: a monarchy held in check by a representative parliament; a democracy whose ultimate power wore a crown.’

Wilson’s immaculately researched, lively and entertaining biography gets to the heart of a clever, complex man who was never entirely at home in either his adopted country or his tempestuous marriage but whose legacy lies not in the personal and private but in his public service and his important role in a new world order.

(Atlantic Books, hardback, £25)

Lies Lies Lies

Adele Parks

SIMON and Daisy Barnes should be relishing their happy family life… After years of disappointments and gruelling IVF treatments, the arrival of their longed-for daughter Millie, now aged six, was the ‘miracle’ they had thought would never happen.

But theirs is a marriage built on layers of lies, some close to the surface and some buried so deep that if they ever reached the light of day, the consequences could be catastrophic.

Adele Parks, author of nineteen novels which have all hit the bestseller lists and sold over 3.5 million books in the UK alone, has one of the most distinct and addictive voices in domestic noir and this gripping portrait of a marriage in meltdown is one of her most powerful thrillers yet.

Lies Lies Lies is a moving, mesmerising journey into the darkest recesses of a relationship broken by deceit; a rocky, rollercoaster ride packed with emotions so raw and so viscerally real that readers will be coming up for air and then diving in again at the mercy of an author who knows how to glue them to the page.

Primary school teacher Daisy had thought that her interior designer husband Simon was perfectly happy with their little family of three. Millie is the perfect daughter… a gifted dancer, contented with her life, and enjoys the company of her friends.

POWERFUL VOICE: Adele Parks

But Simon is not content with just one child and he wants Daisy to undergo treatment again to try for another baby. Aged 45 now, Daisy feels she’s too old and thought that the ‘aggravation, frustration and discontent’ of IVF treatment was behind them now.

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Infertility for both of them was a ‘raw and painful matter’ but Simon is convinced that they are still not ‘out of the game’ and makes them an appointment to see a specialist. For Daisy, this is just one more problem. The other problem is that Simon drinks a bit too much sometimes – Daisy’s used to it, she knows he’s letting off steam, but his drinking is leading to some serious and embarrassing situations.

And then one evening, at a friend’s party, things spiral horribly out of control and the night ends in tragedy, an event that means Daisy and Simon’s happy little family of three will never be the same again.

From alcoholism and bullying to despair and marital discord, Parks writes about some of life’s most challenging and emotive issues with a powerful voice but also with an intimate style that cannot help but draw you into the deepest corners of a character’s psyche.

Simon and Daisy’s story plays out through their alternating narratives, a device which allows a slow, twisting, turning reveal of the festering lies that have corrupted both their trust of each other and the very foundations of their relationship.

There are harrowing moments and shocks aplenty in this brilliant page-turner but Parks is so much more than just a straightforward thriller writer… breathtaking insights into the domestic fall-out from addiction, moral questions about whether is it ever right to tell a lie, and some wryly funny life observations bring a depth of real humanity to a beautifully crafted story.

Intriguing, disturbing and with a cracking twist in the tail, this is Parks at her very best.

(HQ, paperback, £7.99)

The Nursery

Asia Mackay

TEARS, tantrums, the terrible twos... and a handgun in a tote bag! When motherhood meets espionage head-on, it can only mean one thing – super-hero agent Lex Tyler is back, and bullets, safeguarding the nation, and potty training are all in a day’s work.

If you haven’t already been introduced to Asia Mackay’s answer to James Bond, then now is the time to get down to the bunker hidden beneath Holborn tube station in London and meet the coolest, female kick-ass assassin on Her Majesty’s Secret Service payroll.

Mackay burst on to the scene – and won every working mum’s heart – last year with her cracking debut novel, Killing It, a laugh-out-loud spy caper starring the lovely Lex, freshly returned to her job and juggling shoot-outs with baby bathtime. And now daughter Gigi has turned two, Lex is facing one of her deadliest missions yet, and there’s danger, double-dealing and domestic discord aplenty.

Alexis ‘Lex’ Tyler is trying to have it all, but being a working mother is so much more difficult when you’re a secret agent. And Lex is not just an ‘ordinary’ agent… she’s a ‘Rat,’ an experienced assassin working inside a little-known branch of the Secret Service, a job so secret that even her long-suffering lawyer husband Will has no idea what she really does.

Her bosses at Platform Eight are under orders from the highest level to track down and eliminate the traitor in MI6 who has been selling information to the highest bidder through a headhunting website for the criminal underworld which connects intelligence operatives with all manner of evil people.

WICKEDLY WITTY:
Asia Mackay

Deals get made, secrets get sold, missions fail, agents die and it’s down to Lex and her team to identify and eliminate the traitor before they assassinate the soon-to-visit Chinese Minister of Commerce and ruin relations between the UK and China forever.

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It’s at times like this that Lex starts to wonder whether being a Rat and a mother is too much to handle. Who needs duty and betrayal when you have teething, tantrums and potty-training to deal with, and a husband’s dry cleaning to collect?

But with the future of the intelligence services resting on her shoulders, Lex cannot afford to fail in her most important mission yet.

A former television presenter and producer, and now mother of four young children, Mackay’s wickedly witty Lex Tyler series was gestated during her maternity leave and its clever blend of hilarious family dramas and menacing, suspense-packed action thrillers is proving to be a winning combination.

Ingeniously constructed plots, spine-tingling tension, and high-octane spy missions jostle perfectly with the laugh-out-loud realities of family life and fascinating emotional insights into every working mother’s innermost guilt complex.

As fast with her motherhood quips as she is with a loaded .38 pistol, hit-woman Lex Tyler is a brilliant feminist hero, endlessly obsessing over not ‘gender stereotyping’ her daughter, but fearlessly stepping in when there’s danger ahead.

Funny, entertaining, clever and original, this is mum-power on turbo charge!

(Zaffre, paperback, £7.99)

CHILDREN'S BOOKS: Saving the planet, guarding magic and amazing anatomy

Learn how to be a real-life eco warrior, step into a world of full of magic and wonder, discover what the inside of your body looks like, and come face-to-face with some of our planet’s most spectacular birds in a magnificent mixed bag of children’s books

Age 8 plus:

Guardians of the Planet: 

How to be an Eco-Hero

Clive Gifford and 

Jonathan Woodward

IN the wake of a remarkable worldwide protest in which children took to the streets to demand climate change action, here’s the perfect practical guide to help young eco warriors put their ideas into practice.

Earth is most definitely in trouble and everyone knows it’s time for real and sustained action. Although saving the planet will be hard, there are hundreds of things that we can do to make a huge difference and a new generation of environmentally aware children are ready for the challenge.

Guardians of the Planet: How to be an Eco-Hero contains everything you need to become a guardian of the planet, a home hero, a wildlife warden, a friend of the forests and much more. From composting food, reusing clothes and reducing plastic waste to cleaning up beaches, tackling water waste and giving wildlife a helping hand, this inspirational and timely book comes packed with facts, activities and tips.

HOT TOPIC: Clive Gifford

Guided by a team of friendly Guardian Masters who put the issues in an everyday context, children will be encouraged to engage with environmental problems and inspired to take care of our wonderful planet.

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Clive Gifford, an award-winning author with a lifelong interest in geopolitics, ecology and the environment, provides the fascinating facts and figures, all brought to life with the beautifully detailed and colourful illustrations of wildlife and natural history artist Jonathan Woodward.

Developed in partnership with ClientEarth, an organisation that uses environmental law to protect oceans, forests and other habitats from destructive corporate interest, this beautifully created and thoughtful book has a foreword by musician and record producer Brian Eno, a ClientEarth trustee, and is printed on paper made from wood sourced in Forest Stewardship Council certified forests. 

The ideal gift for budding environmental activists, eager to show grown-ups how it’s done!

(Buster Books, hardback, £12.99)

Age 8 plus:

Rise Up: Ordinary Kids with Extraordinary Stories

Amanda Li and Amy Blackwell

AND if children need inspiration on how to triumph against the odds, publishers Buster Books are ready to help them Rise Up and take the challenge.

Rise Up: Ordinary Kids with Extraordinary Stories comes packed with the empowering tales of twenty-nine amazing youngsters from around the world who have achieved what many would think is unimaginable, whether that’s surviving a plane crash in the jungle or winning the Nobel Peace Prize at the tender age of sixteen.

TRUE-LIFE TALES Amanda Li

Written by Amanda Li, who specialises in creating non-fiction for children and teenagers, and illustrated by Amy Blackwell, these are stirring stories of triumphing over illness and injury, completing incredible journeys, overcoming bullying, developing outstanding talents in art and sport, and inventing things that change the world.

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These incredible stories of heroes and heroines like climate activist Greta Thunberg, Ugandan chess champion Phiona Mutesi, anti-plastic pioneer Boyan Slat and blind French schoolboy Louis Braille who developed a reading code, are brought to life with an exciting and engaging text, and combined with Blackwell’s visually stunning illustrations.

Brimming with remarkable true-life tales of ingenuity, courage, resourcefulness and commitment, Rise Up is an enthralling springboard for ambitious children, a confidence-booster for more nervous youngsters, and a powerful reminder that no matter who you are, you can rise to the challenge.

(Buster Books, hardback, £12.99)

Age 9 plus:

Guardians of Magic

Chris Riddell

STEP into a dazzling world of fairy tale wonders, intriguing mysteries, lovable heroes, unforgettable villains and skies filled with cloud horses as author and illustrator extraordinaire Chris Riddell works his special magic on a thrilling new children’s series.

Guardians of Magic is the first book in The Cloud Horse Chronicles, a sumptuously presented and action-packed adventure series which sees former Children’s Laureate and Costa award winner Riddell at his imaginative best as three ordinary children discover that they have extraordinary gifts.

The Kingdom of Thrynne is a place where fairy tales don’t behave and magic can be found in unexpected places. For as long as anyone can remember, children have made a wish on a cloud horse, never quite believing that their wishes will come true.

But magic also brings danger to three very different teenagers with special skills – apprentice baker Zam Zephyr, musician Phoebe Limetree, and orphaned daughter of a giant slayer, Bathsheba Greengrass ­– because it is forbidden.

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The reason is that times are changing. The future of magic is under threat from three powerful enemies… the King Rat, the Clockmaker and the Professional Princess are working together to harness the sacred magic for their own desires. If their evil plan succeeds, the magic of nature and its most powerful source, the Forever Tree, will be destroyed.

Unless the three brave children can fight back and believe in the impossible, soon magic and the cloud horses that nestle in the branches of the giant Forever Tree will be gone forever.

Set against fantastical landscapes, and featuring witty and inventive twists on traditional fairy tales, Guardians of Magic stars an engaging cast of new and familiar characters battling evil and taking on enemies with youthful wisdom, energy and determination.

Highly illustrated throughout in Riddell’s unique, rich and intricately detailed style in a blue-toned palette, and with a special fold-out, full-colour guide to the giants in the book, this this is the sort of adventure that allows youngsters to step into an amazing, superbly imagined fantasy world. The perfect gift for all adventure-seekers!

(Macmillan Children’s Books, hardback, £12.99)

Age 8 plus:

Anatomicum

Jennifer Z Paxton and 

Katy Wiedemann

IF you’ve ever wondered what the inside of your body looks like, then open the pages of this exciting, giant-sized book and take an extraordinary anatomical tour!

Welcome to the Anatomicum… the latest, innovative title in the Welcome To The Museum series from the Big Picture Press, an original concept which offers fascinating guided tours in museums that are always open to explore.

FACTS: Jennifer Z Paxton

The series also includes the hugely successful Historium, a collection of objects from ancient civilisations, Animalium, a detailed exploration of more than 160 animal specimens, Botanicum, a super-sized book of stunning botanical delights, and the dangerously entertaining Dinosaurium.

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The books enable readers to wander the galleries from the comfort of home and discover a collection of curated exhibits on every page, all accompanied by informative text. Published in association with the Wellcome Foundation, Anatomicum is an anatomy lesson with a difference, allowing youngsters to turn the pages and watch their heart beating, witness their skin cells growing, look at their vocal cords, discover the muscles we use to show emotion, and even pinpoint the delicate part of the brain where a thought takes shape.

With richly detailed, eye-catching artwork by Katy Wiedemann and an expert text by professor Dr Jennifer Z Paxton, this beautiful book is a feast of anatomical knowledge and visual enlightenment, and ideal for use at school or home.

(Big Picture Press, hardback, £25)

Age 7 plus:

Atlas of Amazing Birds

Matt Sewell

BEST-SELLING wildlife author, illustrator and avid ornithologist Matt Sewell, who has been described as the Banksy of the bird world, takes flight once again as readers young and old come face-to-face with some of our planet’s most amazing birds.

Packed with Sewell’s eye-catching, watercolour illustrations, his irresistible wit and charm, and interesting facts and figures, this big, beautiful book includes the author’s personal selection of birds from around the world, all brought to life in his dazzling style, and accompanied by maps of every continent.

TAKING FLIGHT: Matt Sewell

Travel the world to see magnificent eagles, resilient penguins, tiny hummingbirds, towering ostriches and incredible peacocks. From British garden birds to African water birds, rainforest birds of paradise to American roadrunners, these are colourful, clever, song-filled, strange and stunning creatures to amaze and celebrate.

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Did you know that the bald eagle holds the record for the world’s biggest nest, weighing in at more than two tons, that when the elf owl gets into trouble, it plays dead rather than fighting and that the Adelie penguin can hold its breath for six minutes and leap up to three metres out of the water?

Every bird chosen to appear in this book is amazing in its own individual way… birds that migrate thousands of miles, have strange and showy mating rituals, survive in extreme environments, are brilliant builders, or are super-fast, super-brave or super-big!

Budding ornithologists, and bird lovers of every generation, can discover many more fascinating facts in this superbly produced and presented book… perfect as a gift and ideal as a teaching tool.

(Pavilion Children’s Books, hardback, £16.99)

Age 7 plus:

Beatrix the Bold and the Riddletown Dragon

Simon Mockler and Cherie Zamazing

IF anarchy, queens and a big dose of deadly peril float your boat, then set sail with Beatrix the Bold! Expect villains galore, madcap antics, and lots of laugh-out-loud moments as the second book in Simon Mockler’s gloriously funny Beatrix the Bold series hits the ground running alongside a captivating, quick-thinking royal rogue.

Beatrix the Bold is queen of a distant land.  She is also a very bold queen, good at telling jokes, dancing and throwing knives. Beatrix might be only ten years old but that’s never stopped her from doing anything, and it’s not going to stop her now.

She has already averted her own kidnapping and fought off an Evil Army. Now she needs to find her long-lost parents, and fend off her villainous aunt Esmerelda. She just has to cross a vast kingdom to get there and save a bunch of children from deadly peril while confronting a terrifying dragon…

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Not easy, right? But when you’re Beatrix the Bold and you've got Oi the Boy, Dog the Dog and Wilfred the Wise by your side, you can do anything.

Vividly illustrated by Cherie Zamazing, these magical, old-fashioned stories are proving to be perfect for both young mischief-makers and action fans with their charismatic cast of wizards, queens and curious creatures, lashings of knockabout comedy, and a big-hearted, fearless heroine.

(Piccadilly Press, paperback, £5.99)

Age 7 plus:

Skeleton Keys: the Unimaginary Friend

Guy Bass and Peter Williamson

MEET a lovable skeleton with fantabulant fingers… and the gift to make you laugh!

Guy Bass, an author who knows how to evoke humour and pathos in equal measure, uses the power of his own imagination to conjure up a reassuring story about a lonely boy who discovers that the strangest and most wonderful things can happen when imaginations run wild.

Skeleton Keys: the Unimaginary Friend is the first book of a playful but thoughtful new series which arrives brimming with super-spooky stories, wonderful words, lots of goodies and baddies, an unexpectedly endearing hero, and plenty of empowering concepts for young readers.

FUN KEY FABLE: Guy Bass

The star of the show is Skeleton Keys whose fantabulant fingers (which look remarkably like keys!) can open doors to hidden worlds and secret places… doors to the limitless realm of all imagination. We join him for the curious tale of Ben Bunsen, whose only friend is a figment of his imagination... until now.

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Ben can’t believe it when his imaginary friend the Gorblimey becomes unimaginary. The Gorblimey is loyal and kind… and real! But Skeleton Keys is far from convinced by the Gorblimey’s friendly ways. He’s got the twitch, which is (almost) never wrong, and it’s telling him the Gorblimey is dangerous and needs banishing to the endless void of Oblivion.

As Ben battles to save his new friend, the Gorblimey is soon the least of Skeleton Keys’ worries. It seems that there’s more than one unimaginary in town. And this one is out for revenge…

Pete Williamson’s atmospheric, black and white illustrations bring to life all the chaos, comedy and subtle emotions of Bass’s bittersweet adventure which cleverly explores hidden corners of every child’s fears and foibles. Unique and beautifully conceived, this is Bass and Williamson at their award-winning best.

(Stripes, paperback, £6.99)

Age 5 plus:

Sophie Takes to the Sky

Katherine Woodfine and 

Briony May Smith

THE incredible, real-life story of Sophie Blanchard, the world’s first female hot-air balloonist, is the inspiration behind a thrilling, action-packed story from bestselling Lancaster author Katherine Woodfine.

Sophie Takes to the Sky, a touching tale for young readers about learning to overcome anxiety and follow your dreams, is the latest super-readable Little Gem from innovative publisher Barrington Stoke… and it’s a real historical gem!

ACTION-PACKED STORY:
Katherine Woodfine

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.

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Scaredy-Cat Sophie is afraid of everything! So when a balloonist comes to the town fair, Sophie is left behind while everyone else goes to watch him fly in his marvellous balloon. She's far too frightened of the crowds, the commotion and even riding in a horse-drawn carriage. But Sophie longs to watch the hot-air balloon sail across the blue sky. If she could just be brave enough to face her fears, who knows where her journey might take her…

Whether your child is a new, struggling, reluctant or dyslexic reader, this wonderful Little Gem story celebrating an amazing girl from a small French village is both entertaining and empowering. Briony May Smith’s gallery of colourful and atmospheric illustrations are the perfect foil for a story full of adventure, discovery and daring.

(Barrington Stoke, paperback, £6.99)

Age 3 plus:

Dracula Spectacular

Lucy Rowland and Ben Mantle

WHAT does a vampire do when he’d rather make friends than scare people? Author Lucy Rowland and illustrator Ben Mantle, the creative duo behind wonderfully clever picture book Little Red Reading Hood, combine their talents again on a playful, heart-warming story about learning to be brave, kind and above all, proud to be yourself.

JOYFUL YARN:
Lucy Rowland 

The Dracula family live in a house in the park that’s creepy and crooked and dusty and dark. It might be dreary and dreadful but for Mr and Mrs Dracula, it’s a wonderful life.

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So how come they have a son who’s happy and smiling, and not in the least bit evil? It’s tough being a vampire when you’re more giggles and glitter than beastly and bitter. Will Dracula Boy dare to follow his heart and live life in technicolour with his new friend Rose?

Full of spooks, sparkles and sound common sense, Dracula Spectacular is a gorgeous picture book, written in bouncy, addictive rhyme by Rowland and richly illustrated with an abundance of wit and warmth by Mantle. Fun and joyful, Dracula Boy’s colourful journey of self-discovery is destined to be a favourite with all the family!

(Macmillan Children’s Books, paperback, £6.99)

Age 3 plus:

Kindness Grows

Britta Teckentrup

KINDNESS makes the world a better place in a charming and empowering picture book from the award-winning Britta Teckentrup.

With topical themes of love, support, kindness and friendship, this beautiful, colourful, peep-through picture book uses Teckentrup’s signature collage imagery to celebrate care and co-operation.

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‘It all starts with a crack that we can hardly see, It happens when we shout or if we disagree. But with every kindness that we care to show, Something good and magical then begins to grow.’ Angry words cause a crack to open up, but find out what happens when kindness begins to blossom!

Through a simple, rhyming text and a dual image of negatives and positives, all enhanced by intricate peep-throughs and a growing tree, Teckentrup conveys dynamic messages to young readers about working together to heal rifts rather than letting them grow.

 Thoughtful, clever and full of compassion, this is a stunning reminder of the power of unity.

 (Caterpillar Books, hardback, £11.99)

Age 3 plus:

On Sleepy Hill

Patricia Hegarty and Xuan Le

JOIN a host of creatures great and small as together they create a night to remember!

If you’re looking for the perfect bedtime story, open the pages of this peep-through, multi-layered, mesmerising picture book and watch sleepy eyelids start to close.

As the sun goes down on Sleepy Hill all the animals are settling down for the night. Baby rabbit hops back to her burrow, baby bear cubs enjoy one last play in the cooling air, and the deer are heading home.

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With clever layered pages and intricate peep-throughs, this beautiful bedtime book builds and reveals breathtaking scenes of animal families that change with every turn of the page.

The amazing depth of the landscape and Xuan Le’s warm, richly detailed and imaginative page spreads provide a magical reading experience while Patricia Hegarty’s gentle rhythmic story is a voyage of bedtime discovery for little ones winding down at the end of their own busy day. A dream read to end the day!

(Caterpillar Books, hardback, £12.99)

Age 3 plus:

A Gallery of Cats

Ruth Brown

AUTHOR and illustrator Ruth Brown puts cats in the frame as she introduces young readers to some of the world’s greatest artists.

This imaginative, inspiring and exquisitely illustrated picture book is itself a masterpiece as the award-winning Brown brings to life a gallery of famous paintings, each with its own funny, feline twist.

No visit to an art gallery can rival this one. Tom visits a very special exhibition where each picture features a cat. One by one, the cats all leap out of the paintings and follow him, until a very large and scary cat makes them rush back to the safety of their frames. But these aren’t just any cats or any pictures!

Young children will love discovering the interesting variety of well-known paintings as they travel through the gallery with Tom, watching the increasing number of cats following him around, and matching the cats with the pictures.

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Brown’s playful and inventive illustrations are combined with textual jokes making the book a visual and verbal journey full of great art and fun discoveries for all the family to enjoy.

From Jackson Pollock, Gustav Klimt, Frida Kahlo and Vincent van Gogh to René Magritte, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Edvard Munch, William Morris and Henri Rousseau, the world’s greatest painters provide a rich canvas for children to learn the joys of art.

(Scallywag Press, hardback, £12.99)

Age 3 plus:

The Wonder Machine

Barry Timms and 
Laura Brenlla

SOMETIMES friendship brings more happiness than having it all…

Much-loved picture book duo Barry Timms and Laura Brenlla work their special magic on this enchanting and warm-hearted story starring an adorable inventor wolf who discovers that the closeness of people beats the wonders of her science.

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Haven’t you heard? Wolf, the world’s greatest inventor, is building a new machine. The wolf who has built machines to wash her hair, make her bed and pick apples from her orchard, is now working on a very special machine… a Wonder Machine that will make dreams come true. ‘My greatest invention ever!’ cheers Wolf. But what will happen when at last she turns the handle?

Packed full of intriguing flaps to lift and delightful peep-through holes, The Wonder Machine is a dazzling blend of inventive paper engineering, Timms’ beautiful, inspirational storytelling about the joys of sharing your talents, and Brenlla’s enchanting and intricately detailed artwork. A work of wonder!

(Little Tiger Press, hardback, £12.99)

Age 3 plus:

I Am Love: A Book of Compassion

Susan Verde and 
Peter H. Reynolds

SOMETIMES the simplest of stories carry the most resonant messages…

A group of children discover the transformative power of love and compassion in this beautiful book – grounded in the concepts of mindfulness – in this beautiful picture book from author Susan Verde and illustrator Peter H. Reynolds.

I Am Love is the fourth book in their bestselling wellness series which includes I Am Human, which was an instant bestseller, I Am Peace, and I Am Yoga, and this time offers a celebration of love and connection for young readers.

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Beautifully illustrated and full of inspirational messages, the book asks readers to look inward when they feel angry, afraid or sad. When a storm is brewing inside us and the skies grow dark, the transformative power of love lets the light back in. Love, the book tells us, means showing kindness, living with gratitude, and taking care of our minds and bodies by practising self-love. Letting our hearts lead the way can move us closer to a better world.

Grounded in mindfulness and wellness, and with yoga poses and guided meditation included, this is a lesson in love for every generation.

(Abrams Books for Young Readers, hardback, £10.99)

Age 3 plus:

The Way Home for Wolf

Rachel Bright and Jim Field

SHOW me the way to go home! The words of the old song ring loud and true in this warm, feelgood picture book story of a little wolf cub lost in the cold and ice of the Arctic but too proud to shout for much-needed help.

Author and wordsmith Rachel Bright provides the gorgeous lyrical rhyming text, and illustrator and animator Jim Field brings the story to life with a gallery of beautiful pictures in a striking palette of blue and grey tinged with gold, green and burnt amber.

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Star of the show is Wilf who thinks he is as strong and independent as a wolf cub can be. He doesn’t need help from his friends and family because whatever challenge lies ahead, he can do it all by himself. But when Wilf finds himself lost and alone in the snow and chill of an Arctic night, he discovers something important… sometimes we all need the help of friends to keep us safe and show us the way.

Field’s illustrations add depth and drama to Bright’s moving, enchanting story which features a menagerie of amazing creatures, including a sea unicorn, an Arctic fox, a bear-moth and a musk-ox, and holds crucial life messages about friendship, trust and kindness.

The perfect bedtime story for your own little cubs!

(Orchard Books, paperback, £6.99)

The Familiars

Stacey Halls

AT seventeen years old, Fleetwood Shuttleworth is mistress of the grand manor house, Gawthorpe Hall, in Lancashire… but she is also staring death in the face.

After three failed pregnancies, the infant she carries in her womb could well be the son and heir that her husband longs for but a letter from her doctor – which she discovered only by accident – has revealed that she will not survive another pregnancy.

Stacey Halls, who grew up in Rossendale and studied journalism at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston, looks to her own Lancashire roots for a rich and enthralling tale of suspicion, betrayal and female friendship, all intricately woven around the notorious Pendle witch trials.

Hailed as the biggest debut fiction launch of 2019, The Familiars is a feminist tour-de-force, spiced with frissons of supernatural, brimming with local history, and opening up a fascinating female perspective on the plight of the women who faced degradation and death in a dark corner of Lancaster Castle.

Halls, who writes with both emotion and historical insight, has based her highly-charged story on Gawthorpe Hall, an Elizabethan country house which stands on the banks of the River Calder near Burnley, and a fictional friendship between the real lady of the manor, Fleetwood Shuttleworth, and Alice Gray, one of the women arrested in 1612 on charges of witchcraft.

In her well researched novel, Halls sweeps us away to the febrile atmosphere of 17^th century England where a paranoid King James I has set in motion a nationwide witch-hunt which will see dozens of innocent women tried and hanged.

After four years of marriage and three failed pregnancies, 17-year-old Fleetwood Shuttleworth, the mistress of Gawthorpe Hall, is desperate to produce a living baby. In anticipation of each unborn child, her husband Richard bought her a gift but to Fleetwood, they now represent only ‘a token of my failure.’

Pregnant again in 1612, Fleetwood finds a letter from the doctor who delivered her third stillbirth but she is dealt the crushing blow that she will not survive another pregnancy. Just as painful is the realisation that her husband had never told her of the doctor’s warning and now the baby is ‘fattening like a conker in a spiked green shell, and would eventually split her open.’

Eager to find a ‘wise woman’ to help her, Fleetwood crosses paths by chance with Alice Gray, a young midwife from nearby Colne. Quiet, withdrawn but fiercely proud, Alice promises to help her give birth to a healthy baby, and soon the two women have struck up a close, empowering friendship

.

But rumours of witchcraft are sweeping this area of Lancashire – a place of rolling hills, shadowy forests and ‘strange people’ – and when a local pedlar is struck down with a seizure shortly after being cursed by a young girl with a terrifying ‘familiar spirit,’ Alice is drawn into the accusations.

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Locked up with a group of women awaiting trial at the summer assizes at Lancaster Castle, Alice looks certain to hang if she is found guilty of witchcraft. Fleetwood, who knows that she ‘may as well have a rope tied too,’ risks everything by trying to help her.

But is there more to Alice than meets the eye, and how well does she really know her? Soon the two women’s lives will become inextricably bound together as the legendary trial at Lancaster approaches, and Fleetwood’s stomach continues to grow...

The brooding presence of Pendle Hill casts a long shadow as we journey with two young women from very different social classes but whose freedom and survival are equally compromised by the constraints of a patriarchal society which regards women’s healing ‘arts’ as black magic. As their lives intertwine and time starts to run out for them both, Fleetwood and Alice find that their strength lies in mutual support, a conspiracy of sisterhood which means risking all in the hope of escaping death.

Halls’ atmospheric and richly detailed story brings both the landscape and history to life; this is a compelling portrait of not just one of the darkest and most disturbing events in Lancashire’s past but a reminder of the powerlessness of women to mark out their own destinies… and even their own bodies. ‘Women carried life and death in their stomachs when they conceived; it was a fact of our existence,’ muses Fleetwood.

Brimming with tension, menace, mystery and emotion, The Familiars puts both Lancashire and an exciting new author firmly on the map.

(Zaffre, paperback, £8.99)

A whirlwind year for Lancashire author

BOOK SIGNINGS: Stacey Halls

WHEN Stacey Halls’ beautiful debut novel The Familiars was published by Zaffre to wide acclaim in February this year, it was just the start of a book world whirlwind for the Lancashire author.

The Familiars, a torrid tale set amidst the danger and suspicion of the 17^th century witch trials at Lancaster Castle, spent ten weeks in the top ten bestsellers and turned heads even before it appeared on the shelves.

Stacey, 29, who hails from Rossendale and studied journalism at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston, found inspiration for her immaculately researched book on a visit to the Elizabethan manor house, Gawthorpe Hall at Padiham, near Burnley, built in the shadow of Pendle Hill by the Shuttleworth family in the 14th century.

As she wandered the rooms of the old house, now owned by the National Trust, Stacey was enchanted by the surprisingly ‘homely and cosy’ atmosphere of the comparatively modest stately home, and glimpsing Pendle Hill from one of the windows, she was taken by the idea of writing a novel about the witches… narrated by someone living at the house with a peripheral involvement in the trials.

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Research led Stacey to the real-life Fleetwood Shuttleworth, mistress of Gawthorpe Hall in 1612 and the 17-year-old wife of Richard Shuttleworth, who attended the Pendle witch trials at Lancaster Castle and later became High Sheriff of Lancashire and MP for Preston.

Lancashire – a hotbed of Catholics, including many of the key players in the Gunpowder Plot only seven years earlier – was rich territory for the witch-hunters and it is this perilously febrile atmosphere which Stacey brings to life with such emotional and dramatic intensity in Fleetwood’s story.

And now to celebrate the publication of the paperback edition of The Familiars this week, Stacey will be holding an event for fans at Gawthorpe Hall on October 13 when she will discuss her inspiration surrounding the novel, its characters and the importance of Lancashire for setting the story.

The event, which runs from 12 noon until 4.30pm, includes re-enactors showing everyday life for women and men of the period, and demonstrating how the book’s leading character, Fleetwood Shuttleworth, would have spent her days there.

The re-enactment will be followed by book signings and Stacey’s talk in which she will reveal more about her second book, The Foundling, set against the vibrant backdrop of Georgian London, which will be published next February.

⬤ The Familiars is published in paperback by Zaffre, priced £8.99.

The Guardian of Lies

Kate Furnivall

THE war may be over in 1953 but deep in the vast plains of south-west France, a new kind of conflict is stirring up unrest and violence. As the United States of America and Soviet Russia battle for nuclear dominance, secrets, lies and rival allegiances become more deadly by the day, and one farming family faces being torn apart forever.

Historical novelist Kate Furnivall, author of eleven powerful books, including last year’s gritty, gut-wrenching The Survivors, explores some of the peripheral tensions in the 20^th century’s notorious nuclear arms race in a brilliant, beautifully observed and suspense-packed tale of espionage, deceit, daring and courage.

Furnivall, who was inspired to write her first book, The Russian Concubine, when she discovered the story of her grandmother – a White Russian refugee who fled to China from the Bolsheviks – has become the queen of thrilling adventure stories, harnessing romance, danger and episodes of fascinating real history using both her knowledge and her imaginative prowess.

FRENCH SUSPENSE:
Kate Furnivall

In The Guardian of Lies, she casts her keen eye over the Camargue area of France in the Cold War era as one determined young woman sets out to discover who betrayed her beloved brother, and finds herself caught up in a perilous web of lies that makes her question her own family’s loyalties.

In 1953, the fragile peace between the West and Soviet Russia hangs on a knife edge as 23-year-old Eloïse Caussade leaves her home on a large bull farm near Arles in the Camargue to follow André, the older brother she has always idolised. André, six years her senior, has become an intelligence officer, working for the CIA in Paris to help protect France from the Communist threat.

Exchanging the strict confines of her widower father’s farm for freedom in Paris, Eloïse’s world comes alive almost overnight. Resourceful and intelligent, she soon finds work as a detective with a private investigation agency owned by Clarisse Favre, a classy Parisian woman ‘as sharp as a razor or as soft as her Dior powder puff.’

But Eloïse’s hopes and dreams fall apart when André is seriously hurt in an accident which she believes happened as a result of her own decisions and actions. Unable to work, André returns to their father’s farm where he grows increasingly morose, and Eloïse, weighed down by a sense of guilt and responsibility for his injuries, decides to find the man she believes tried to kill her brother.

But when Eloïse returns to the farm, she finds her home town in a state of turmoil. Those who are angry at the construction of an American airbase nearby, with its lethal nuclear armaments, confront those who support it, and anger flares into violence, stirred up by Soviet agents.

Throughout all this discordance, Eloïse learns who she can and can’t trust, and finds an unexpected ally in Andre’s childhood friend and local police captain, Léon Roussel. But just who is working for Soviet Intelligence and who is not, and on which side do her family’s loyalties really lie?

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Furnivall knows how to reel in her readers and this compelling story, which moves from the contrasting bright lights and shadowy corners of 1950s Paris to the humid heat, cypress trees and vineyards of the Rhône delta, is brimming with mystery, intrigue and spine-tingling suspense.

This is an author adept at capturing not just the history and geography of a place but its people, its culture, and its social and political affairs. The volatility of two sparring superpowers, each eager to establish its pre-eminence and each offering conflicting ideals and loyalties to the war-battered French, is superbly portrayed.

Into this threatening maelstrom of unrest and anger steps the smart, fearless and forthright Eloïse, a complex, caring young woman driven by both her conscience and her strong family fidelties to undertake a mission that is littered with menace and misinformation.

Her burgeoning relationship with Léon, the dedicated police captain with an appealing down-to-earth wisdom and sense of honour, is one of the highlights of this fast-paced, all-encompassing adventure.

Authentic, exciting, and well-researched, The Guardian of Lies shines a spotlight on a rarely uncovered corner of Cold War history.

(Simon & Schuster, hardback, £20)