The Photographer of the Lost

Caroline Scott

WHEN the guns fell silent on the Western Front in 1918, it marked the end of hostilities… but for many, the anguish was far from over. Inspired by her Lancashire family’s collection of postcards and photographs, Caroline Scott turns her historian’s eye and compassionate heart to a powerful poignant novel which explores the devastating aftermath of the First World War.

For many, the declaration of victory for Britain and its Allies was not the end of the pain and grief… thousands of soldiers lay dead amidst the chaos and ruins of France and Belgium, and their loved ones were desperate to find them.

Over one hundred years after the end of this most cruel of conflicts, Scott brings us an epic tale of forbidden love, loss, grief and renewal as we follow the journey of two people in search of the truth about the demise of a much-loved brother and husband who was recorded missing in action in 1917, but who may yet be still alive.

As they travel separately through a ravaged land full of nameless men ‘swallowed up by the earth, their identities gone, along with their futures,’ they must confront the past and their own sense of guilt as they finally meet, and find resolution, in a place far from the battlefields.

 UNFORGETTABLE STORY: Caroline Scott

In the spring of 1921, families across Britain are desperately trying to piece together the fragments of their broken lives. While many survivors of the Great War have been reunited with their loved ones, Edie Blythe’s husband Francis has not come home.

He was reported ‘missing in action’ in 1917 but when the postman delivers an envelope containing  a mysterious photograph, obviously taken by Francis himself and pictured wearing civilian clothes, hope flares again for Edie and she leaves her Lancashire home to search for him in France.

Meanwhile, Harry, Francis’s brother and the only one of the three Blythe siblings to come home from the war, also longs for Francis to be alive because as brothers, they were ‘a fundamental and overlapping part of each other.’ But Harry has another guilty reason for wanting to find Francis… the chance to forgive each other for the last things they said.

Both brothers shared a love of photography and it is this passion that sends Harry back to the Western Front. He has been hired by grieving families to photograph grave sites in battle-scarred France, gathering news for wives and mothers… and along the way he looks for evidence of his brother. In the ruins of towns like Arras, women are posting sketches and photographs of their missing husbands and sweethearts in enquiry offices, cafes and railway stations – like ‘misplaced shoes that need pairing together again’ – in the hope that someone will recognise them. And as Harry and Edie’s paths converge, they get closer to a startling truth…

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Scott’s stunning novel is both memorable and haunting, an exquisitely moving exploration of what it means to survive when so many have lost their lives, of the psychological gulf between those who fight and those who stay at home, and the unseen legacies that will ripple onwards through the generations.

Written with breathtaking beauty, insight and tenderness, The Photographer of the Lost takes readers to some of the shadowy corners of warfare that are rarely visited… into the tortured hearts of those desperate to know what happened to their loved ones, behind the lines with battle-weary and psychologically damaged soldiers, and across broken towns littered with the sad detritus of war.

In the pages of this unforgettable story, there is unbearable pain and suffering, and unflinching truths about the human cost of war as two lost souls – mere drops in an ocean of tears – seek closure to their guilt and grief. But there is also love, hope, new beginnings and the memories that can never die. Don’t miss it…

(Simon & Schuster, hardback, £12.99)

The Lost Ones

Anita Frank

OVERCOME by grief after the death of her fiancé on the Western Front in 1917, Stella Marcham is only too happy to spend time with her pregnant sister at a grand house tucked away in the English countryside. But Greyswick is not a place of peace and solace, and Stella finds her sister Madeleine gripped by fear and suspicion that this is not just a haunted house, but a dangerous one too.

If your autumn nights are short of a spine-tingling read in the best tradition of classics like The Woman in Black and Rebecca, then get your hands on this dark, atmospheric page-turner from exciting debut author Anita Frank.

Brimming with frissons of gothic supernatural, menace and mystery, The Lost Ones blends all the compelling intrigue of a ghostly whodunit with a psychologically astute and moving meditation on the impact of bereavement and family tragedy, and the power of redemption to heal and unite.

Stella Marcham, who worked as a VAD nurse on the battlefields of France and witnessed there the ‘unmitigated destruction of life,’ is struggling to cope with the loss of Gerald Fitzwilliam, the man she loved and so cruelly lost.

DEBUT TRIUMPH: Anita Frank

After his death eight months ago, Stella feared she had surrendered her sanity to grief but now she feels adrift, and has no interest in life. So when her brother-in-law, Hector Brightwell, who is stationed in London, asks her to stay with her sister Madeleine who, he says, has become withdrawn, jittery and ‘scared of her own reflection,’ she jumps at the invitation.

Travelling only with a maid, 16-year-old Annie Burrows, Stella arrives at imposing country mansion Greyswick, owned by Hector’s dour and self-important mother Lady Brightwell, to discover a house riven by unease, suspicion and fear.

Greyswick is run by the forbidding housekeeper Mrs Henge, a woman of icy demeanour who keeps her keys on a gaoler’s ring at her waist and guards the house with an unnatural fervour.

Madeleine is convinced the house is haunted but Stella is unconvinced until she is troubled by a series of strange incidents – the heartbreaking sobs of a child in the night, little footsteps on the stairs, toy soldiers left under the covers of her bed – and as events escalate, she finds herself drawn into the tragic history of the house.

Meanwhile, the bizarre behaviour of Stella’s maid Annie is causing concern and Hector has called in wounded war veteran, Tristan Sheers, to explore the claims of supernatural activity in the house. Together Stella and Tristan set about uncovering Greyswick’s dark and terrible secrets… secrets that the dead are whispering from the other side.

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Frank’s first novel is written with an impressive assurance and eloquence as the reader is plunged into the darkest corners of a house which holds some deep and disturbing family secrets that have festered for decades.

The plight of Stella and Madeleine – condemned by a male-dominated society as suffering from hysteria, ‘that peculiarly female affliction’– is beautifully and powerfully portrayed while Stella’s slow awakening to the presence of a malevolent spirit in the house plays out exquisitely against flashbacks to the awakening of her love affair with Gerald.

Each character – from the Mrs Danvers-like Mrs Henge and the elusive maid Annie to the intriguing, ghost-busting Tristan – is an essential component of this engrossing, all-encompassing mystery set amidst the angst and high emotion of the First World War. Spellbinding, elegantly written, immaculately plotted, and delivering a shocking twist in its ghostly tail, this is gothic with a wise and wistful heart.

(HQ, hardback, £12.99)

No Mercy

Martina Cole

TWENTY-FIVE novels in and Martina Cole has lost none of her power to shock… and entertain! Essex-born Cole, the undisputed queen of the gangland thriller, is back on the beat for another of her classic heart-stopping tales of menace, malice and murder in the shadowy corners of London East End’s notorious crime world.

Cole first made headlines in 1992 with her debut novel Dangerous Lady, the book that catapulted her to instant fame and launched the career of one of the bestselling fiction writers of her generation. Twenty-seven years later, her hard-hitting crime stories have sold well in excess of 15 million copies and passed the £63.2million sales mark.

And No Mercy – a heart-stopping, twisting, turning journey into the merciless wheeling and dealing of a gangster family led by an indomitable matriarch – packs the breathtaking gritty realism and bone-chilling thrills that have made this author so perennially popular. It’s 1980 and Diana Davis has been head of the family ‘business’ since the death of her husband, Big Angus, an infamous bank robber who was well respected by his fellow gangsters. But Diana was always the brains behind his throne and now she runs the show… she might be a woman in a man’s world, but no one messes with her.

POWER TO SHOCK: Martina Cole

Diana inspires loyalty in those around her and listens to reason, unlike her only son, 19-year-old Angus, who might be a good fit for the gangland world but is a loose cannon with a quick, violent temper and a lot to learn where ‘the game’ is concerned.

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Champing at the bit to fully immerse himself in the world in which he has been raised, Angus firmly believes he is destined for ‘great things’ but he needs to earn his mother’s trust before she will allow him into the business.

When Angus finally proves he has the brains to run their clubs in Marbella, Diana gives him what he has always wanted, and it turns out to be just the beginning of a reign of terror that knows no bounds. But by this time, Angus has a blind spot… his wife, Lorna, and their three kids, Angus Junior, Sean and Eilish. And as the next generation enters the business, Angus has a painful truth to learn. Even when it comes to family, he must show no mercy…

No Mercy is a gripping Cole classic, awash in graphic violence, brutal betrayal and the darkest of deeds, but also brimming with immaculately drawn characters, psychological insight, and the acute observations of family life that have made this author such a crime-writing sensation.

Cole knows the world she writes about and it shows… from the tough, smart, ruthless but fair-minded Diana, to her unreliable and vicious son Angus who was born to be a villain, these are unforgettable players in a terrifyingly authentic world. So sit back, hold on tight, and steel yourself for one hell of a ride!

(Headline, hardback, £20)

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.

FAST-PACED NOVEL: 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.

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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?

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, paperback, £8.99)

The Lost Ten

Harry Sidebottom

NO ONE has ever returned from the Castle of Silence, a remote mountain-top fortress prison in the wilds of Persia. So a desperate attempt by a crack squad of Roman soldiers to free a young prince imprisoned there seems more like a suicide mission than an act of heroism.

Welcome back to the turbulent third century AD of the mighty Roman Empire… as brought to vivid life by Roman historian and novelist extraordinaire Harry Sidebottom, a man who has made this period of history his fictional home.

The Lost Ten – his new venture into the politics, warfare and sheer dynamism of Ancient Rome as it fought the rising power of the East – is a thrilling action-packed, standalone novel which follows a ragtag band of misfit soldiers on a nail-biting mission impossible into enemy territory. Marcus Aelius Valens, a junior officer in the Roman Army’s Imperial Horse Guards, has become bored with ceremonial duties in Rome and is eager to take part in some real action. But when he is placed second in command to experienced soldier, Gnaeus Severus, little does he know what's in store for him.

ON TOP FORM: Harry Sidebottom

This furtive mission, involving a crack squad of soldiers – some of them members of the frumentarii, the Emperor Gallienus’s spies and assassins – have been ordered to rescue 10-year-old Prince Sasan who has been imprisoned in the impenetrable Castle of Silence by his uncle.

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Severus, Valens and the troops set out across Mesopotamia and into the mountains south of the Caspian Sea but deep in hostile territory, inexperienced Valens finds himself in charge. And as one by one his soldiers die or disappear, it becomes clear that someone doesn’t want the mission to succeed, a traitor in their midst who wants to ensure that the rescue party will never be heard of again. Valens must marshal his disparate group of men and earn their respect, before it's too late...

Sidebottom is on cracking form in this fast-paced, brutal thriller as we follow Valens and his ever-dwindling, mismatched warriors through spine-tingling tension, treachery, mystery and a perilous terrain full of raiding Persian horsemen, ruthless bandits and predatory nomads.

As always, the people, their history and their landscape come gloriously alive in the hands of an author who knows the history of third century Rome inside out, and can seamlessly blend fact and fiction into riveting, high-octane adventures.

The Lost Ten grips from the menacing opener right through the long, perilous journey across the vast, hostile plains to an SAS-style rescue at the impregnable fortress in the forbidding Elburz Mountains. Not to be missed!

(Zaffre, paperback, £7.99)

CHILDREN'S BOOKS: Magical fables, microscopic monsters and playful poetry

There’s a magical, wintertime feel to a new selection of children’s books which are destined to make reading an exciting experience this autumn… and just in time for the nights drawing in and the days growing colder

Age 10 plus:

North Child

Edith Pattou

STEEP yourself in the magic, mysteries and marvels of a faraway kingdom in Edith Pattou’s timeless and beautiful wintertime adventure story which has been winning hearts and minds since it was first published thirteen years ago.

North Child is the unforgettable unfolding of one girl’s love and destiny, a modern-day classic and a spellbinding story based on the Norwegian fairy tale, East of the Sun and West of the Moon. It was first published in 2006 to critical acclaim, winning major awards and a passionate following that continues today.

And now a new generation of young readers can enjoy US author Pattou’s lush rendering of a fairy tale that first cast a spell over her when she was a child, and made her determined to rework it into an epic fantasy adventure of love, loss and betrayal set in a breathtaking landscape filled with castles, trolls, shamans and spellbound princes.

TIMELESS TALE: Edith Pattou

Rose is an unusual child… she was born facing North. She feels out of place in her family, despite her love for them and her home, and the old stories say she is destined to travel far from home on a dangerous journey, and meet a lonely, icy death. Making a pact with an enormous white bear, Rose travels on his back to a mysterious castle carved into a mountain that holds a dark enchantment, a darker temptation, and the key to her true destiny. But Rose’s actions have unleashed a terrible curse, and she must now save the stranger who stole her heart… 

While writing North Child, Pattou became an expert in mapmaking, seamanship, Scandinavian languages, Norse mythology and the Arctic, journeying by ship through the fjords of Norway… and these all feed into her powerful and vividly imaginative storytelling. Fantasy, folklore and a rich tapestry of beautifully drawn characters and exquisitely detailed snow-filled landscapes and dramas blend into a magical and unforgettable experience which has lost none of its beauty and power to enthral and delight readers of every age.

(Usborne, paperback, £7.99)

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Age 10 plus:

The Pearl in the Ice

Cathryn Constable

SET sail on the stormy seas for a thrilling adventure with a young girl growing up in a time of impending war, deadly danger… and dark magic. Cathryn Constable, author of the spellbinding and highly acclaimed debut novel The Wolf Princess, blends real history and all the vivid drama of a classic folk story in her new middle grade novel set on the cusp of the First World War.

It’s 1912 and with the world set against her, silence and deception reaching into the heart of her family, and a dangerously appealing new friend just waiting to take her off course, 12-year-old Marina Denham discovers that finding your place in the world – and uncovering the truth – isn’t as easy a task as it might first sound. 

THRILLING ADVENTURE:
Cathryn Constable

Marina’s father, a naval commander, has been away for most of her life, and certainly since her mother died. For some reason, he has kept Marina away from water all of her life, and yet she feels the pull of an ocean she has never known.

When she is sent to boarding school to learn to be a lady, Marina decides instead to stow away on her father’s ship. But what she doesn’t know is that it’s the eve of war and a perilous voyage lies ahead. But where are they sailing to and why, and what has it to do with the dark shape in the deep that seems to be following them? As Marina travels through icy seas, a great secret is about to be uncovered…

Bathed in shades of dark and light, and brimming with atmosphere, the spirit of adventure, and magical realism, this is a fast-paced, utterly enchanting thriller and the perfect accompaniment to long, winter nights.

This book is published on November 7.

(Chicken House Books, paperback, £6.99)

Age 9 plus:

Unseen Worlds: Real-Life Microscopic Creatures Hiding All Around Us

Hélène Rajcak and Damien Laverdunt

DISCOVER a hidden universe of microscopic monsters that live all around us… but can only be seen with a microscope. Youngsters will love travelling to locations both familiar and strange in this entertaining and informative book which takes readers on a hunt for the smallest creatures on planet Earth, and promises that they will never see the world in the same way again!

Unseen Worlds comes from What on Earth Publishing which specialises in the art of telling stories through timelines. And for every question the book answers, it sparks another one, helping to encourage young readers into a lifelong love of enquiring and discovering.

In this intriguing new book, youngsters unfold each page to reveal stunningly detailed illustrations bursting with jelly-like amoebae, predatory centipedes, ravenous mosquitoes, and more mites than you could imagine. From the murky ocean depths to your kitchen cupboard, and even inside your nose, this is an extraordinary journey of bizarre discoveries.

Contained within the pages are hundreds of ugly, fascinating or simply bizarre microscopic animals, plants and other organisms, but however terrifying these tiny beings might appear, we are reminded that without them, life on Earth would be simply impossible. With the intricately detailed and colourful illustrations of French artists Hélène Rajcak and Damien Laverdunt , lots of amazing facts, and a helpful glossary at the end, this is a book that is both entertaining and a valuable teaching tool.

(What on Earth Books, hardback, £14.99)

Age 9 plus:

Prisoners of Geography: Our World Explained in 12 Simple Maps

Written by Tim Marshall and illustrated by Grace Easton and Jessica Smith

HOW did the USA become a superpower, why do people go to war, and why are some countries rich while others are so poor? 

Find the answers to these questions and many more in a clever, eye-opening book which uses maps to explain how geography has shaped the history of our world, and lets children discover how the choices of world leaders are swayed by mountains, rivers and seas, and why geography means that history is always repeating itself.

 FACTS: Tim Marshall

This remarkable and unique introduction to world affairs, which will inspire curious minds everywhere, is a stunning abridged and illustrated edition of the international adult bestseller, Prisoners of Geography, by acclaimed author Tim Marshall, a leading foreign affairs journalist with more than 30 years of reporting experience reporting around the world. Full of fascinating facts and history, distilled from the original and brought to life by the beautiful artwork of illustrators Grace Easton and Jessica Smith, the book is an easy-to-understand introduction to geography, history and politics, and helps children to gain a new and enlightening perspective on the world around them.

(Elliott & Thompson Limited, hardback, £16.99)

Age 9 plus:

Changing the Game: Fantastic Female Footballers

With Casey Stoney

ENJOY meeting the game-changers of women’s football in a super, glossy, fully illustrated compendium that will inspire a new generation of female fans. Changing the Game, featuring some of the world’s most famous female footballers, has been curated by experienced player, coach and Olympian Casey Stoney who tells us in her introduction, ‘These are the trailblazers, the pioneers, the brave. Women who have been fighting stereotypes and prejudice since the first time they kicked a football, just to play the game they love.’ 

GAME ON: Casey Stoney 

From historically important figures such as Lily Parr, the Preston woman who defied the government ban on women’s football and played for the town’s trailblazing team, Dick, Kerr Ladies FC during the First World War, to contemporary record-breakers such as Marta, the brilliant Brazilian who lights up the stadium with her magical skills, and rising stars like French player Salma Bacha set to take the game to new heights, this book is packed with fascinating facts, figures and faces.

With beautiful illustrations, inspirational stories, player skills and statistics, and Stoney's motivational voice throughout, this is a must-have book for girls and women looking for sporting heroes.

(Studio Press, hardback, £12.99)

Age 8 plus:

Butterflies for Grandpa Joe

Nicola Davies and Mike Byrne

YOUNGSTERS will be all of a-flutter as they turn the pages of a moving and gently reassuring book which celebrates the close bonds of family and the beauty of butterflies.

Award-winning author Nicola Davies, well-known for nature writing and children’s fiction, puts her beloved natural world at centre stage in a heartwarming tale of loss, empathy, affection, and dealing with grief across the generations.

GENTLE TOUCH: Nicola Davies

Grandpa Joe is butterfly bonkers. There’s nothing he loves more than photographing the fluttering, colourful creatures in his garden. But since Ben’s granny passed away, Grandpa Joe has changed. He doesn’t want to go outside or talk or smile. He seems to be a completely different person and it feels like time is running out to help him.

If only Ben could find a way to bring the butterflies to his Grandpa. Maybe seeing them again could help bring back his smile... Written with Davies’ trademark gentle touch, and featuring beautifully emotive black and white illustrations by Mike Byrne, this poignant story explores important subjects like grief and depression in a sensitive and accessible way for young readers. 

Ideal as a first chapter book for new, struggling and dyslexic readers, and produced in publisher Barrington Stoke’s super readable format, Butterflies for Grandpa Joe will touch the hearts of readers both young and old.

(Barrington Stoke, paperback, £6.99)

Age 7 plus:

Granny Magic

Elka Evalds

YOU don’t need to be a knitting fan to find yourself in stitches as debut novelist Elka Evalds works her special magic on a tale full of woolly delights! Evalds, who was born in the USA and now lives in the Cotswolds, was inspired by her Latvian granny’s magical knitting skills to pen this enchanting and entertaining cross-generational celebration of what family really means.

Combining grannies, knitting and magical sheep, Granny Magic is a funny, heart-warming and quirky adventure for young readers.

FUN YARN: Elka Evalds

Will’s beloved granny spent her days making cakes and knitting itchy jumpers… at least, that’s what he thought.

But when she passes away and dodgy Jasper Fitchet moves into their village with a pattern for dark magic, everything begins to unravel in Knittington.

Can Will unpick Fitchet’s evil plans? With the help of gran’s secret knitting club, some ancient motorbikes and a flock of magical sheep, they might just stitch him up!

Featuring the brilliant black and white illustrations of Teemu Juhani, Granny Magic has fun and laughter on every page…

(Chicken House Books, paperback, £6.99)

Age 5 plus:

Heidi

Jeanne Willis, Johanna Spyri 
and Briony May Smith

IF you’re looking for an extra special Christmas gift book, this glorious, illustrated retelling of Johanna Spyri’s 1880 classic tale of Heidi, set amidst the majesty of the Swiss Alps, could be the answer.

Beautifully produced, printed on luxurious paper, and with a fully-foiled cloth binding, foiled jacket and ribbon marker, the new Nosy Crow Classic is a joy to look at and a delight to read, and follows the success of the first two books in publisher Nosy Crow’s Illustrated Classics Series, The Velveteen Rabbit and Peter Pan.

Author Jeanne Willis and illustrator Briony May Smith combine their considerable talents on this stunning book which retains all the warmth and sparkle of the original book, and will be enjoyed and treasured for years to come.

Heidi is by far the most popular piece of Swiss literature ever written and has been translated from German into 50 languages, been filmed more than a dozen times, and more than 50 million copies of Heidi books have been sold worldwide.

When five-year-old orphan Heidi is sent to live in the Swiss Alps with grumpy Grandpa, the rest of the village take pity on her. But Heidi soon discovers that her grandpa is gentle and kind behind his scowl, and she loves her new life running wild in the mountains with the goats, the flowers and her best friend Peter. But then Heidi is forced to move far away from all she now loves to the soot and smoke of Frankfurt to be the companion of disabled girl Clara. Will she ever return to her true home in the mountains?

Willis’ sensitive retelling, which tweaks elements like Clara’s disability to better represent the modern world, and Smith’s heartwarming, full-colour illustrations, combine old and new in perfect harmony.

Perfectly pitched for newly confident readers to enjoy alone, but also tailor-made for parents to read aloud, this is an ideal gift for young children or older fans of this moving and timeless tale.

(Nosy Crow, hardback, £14.99)

Age 4 plus:

Who Am I?: A Peek-Through-Pages Book of

Endangered Animals

Tim Flach

ENJOY close-ups of some of the planet’s most amazing but endangered creatures in a book of full of stunning nature photography. Who Am I?, which uses clever riddles, stunning images and intriguing peek-hole pages, comes from award-winning animal portrait photographer Tim Flach, creator of the adult book Endangered, and aims to introduce children to ten vital species-at-risk.

STUNNING IMAGES:
Tim Flach

Beautifully designed to catch the eye – and pique the curiosity of younger readers – the peep-through format gives tantalising glimpses of rare birds, fish and animals before revealing them in all their majestic and colourful splendour.

Who is that peeking through the page? Is it a giant panda munching on bamboo, or perhaps a yellow-eyed tree frog hiding in a tropical forest? Marvel at close-up pictures of a polar bear and an axolotl (a rare salamander known as the Mexican walking fish), and meet a rolled-up white-bellied pangolin and an imperious-looking Philippine eagle.

With its engaging and timely message about conservation, this beautifully creative picture book is the perfect gift for animal enthusiasts of any age.

This book is published on November 12.

(Abrams Books for Young Readers, hardback, £12.99)

Age 3 plus:

The Gobbledegook Book

A Joy Cowley Anthology re-illustrated by Giselle Clarkson

JOY COWLEY, one of New Zealand’s best-loved writers for children and adults, has a very special way with words and this gorgeous new anthology of her warm and inspirational work is set to enchant young readers in the UK.

The Gobbledegook Book is packed with Cowley’s favourite stories, poems and nonsense rhymes, all lovingly collected together, and re-illustrated by Giselle Clarkson, in a sturdy, hardback gift volume.

Perfect for reading aloud and snuggling up with at the end of the day, Cowley’s renowned wordplay and humour shine through in this landmark collection which includes New Zealand favourites like Faster Faster and other treasured stories.

Enjoy a jaunty rhyme about a tiny woman who stitches herself a coat from autumn leaves, Cowley’s much-loved, classic rhyme, Nicketty-Nacketty Noo-Noo-Noo, starring a hungry ogre who chews glue stew, the laugh-out-loud tale of a pumpkin that grew so big that it exploded, and meet a very greedy cat that gobbles up the shopping!

The Gobbledegook Book, packed full of Clarkson’s fresh, vibrant and funny illustrations which add life and colour to Cowley’s timeless, joyous, youthful and nostalgic stories, is destined to become a family favourite.

(Gecko Press, hardback, £14.99)

Age 3 plus:

Twelve Days of Kindness

Cori Brooke and Fiona Burrows

GIVE your little ones a simple, subtle and gentle lesson in kindness with a clever picture book from Australian author and illustrator team, Cori Brooke and Fiona Burrows.

MESSAGE: Cori Brooke

Nabila is the new girls in the class and Holly doesn’t like to see her having to eat alone and suffer teasing from the other girls. Nabila is struggling to make friends and Holly wants to make her feel at home. Both girls are picked for the school soccer team and with the help of their football coach, they come up with a plan. Can their school team bring them together, and will the spirit of friendship win the day? With its themes of helping, caring, friendship and teamwork, Twelve Days of Kindness is the perfect book for teaching youngsters about the importance of empathy and inclusivity, and using kindness as stick to shame the bullies.

(New Frontier Publishing, hardback, £11.99)

Age 3 plus:

The Caveman Next Door

Tom Tinn-Disbury

THE modern world can be a bewildering place… particularly when you are a caveman!

DEBUT: Tom Tinn-Disbury

Meet the extraordinary, nature-loving Ogg, who discovers friendship in unusual places, in a funny and touching debut picture book from author and illustrator Tom Tinn-Disbury.

Trying to fit into the contemporary world when you are a caveman isn’t easy. He has moved in next door to Penny and she can’t help but notice that he doesn’t have a TV or wear any socks, and grunts instead of talking.

Penny is determined to show him around but Ogg always seems to get things wrong… with hilarious results. Poor Ogg, he just wants to fit in. Fortunately, Penny finds a way to help him!

Brimming with playful fun and vibrant illustrations, The Caveman Next Door delivers reassuring messages about the challenges of being different, how friendship is a vital part of overcoming these hurdles, and the healing power of the natural world.

(New Frontier Publishing, hardback, £11.99)

The World That We Knew

Alice Hoffman

IN a world that has been consumed by wickedness, a mother will do anything it takes to save her child…

If you haven’t already fallen under the spell of US author Alice Hoffman and her seductive brand of magical realism, then immerse yourself in her extraordinary new novel, a heartbreaking and utterly enthralling wartime odyssey which opens up a unique perspective on humanity and inhumanity amidst the horrors of the Holocaust.

The World That We Knew has been longlisted for the prestigious Andrew Carnegie Medal and it’s easy to see why… Hoffman’s dark and dazzling novel uses the classic fairy tale trope of the battle between good and evil for a searing exploration of the power of love, resistance, determination and kindness in a time of unspeakable brutality. The result is her most accomplished and unforgettable book yet… Hoffman’s ingenious alchemy blends ancient Jewish folklore, spine-tingling supernatural, and gut-wrenching reality in an exquisite formula that shocks, enchants, and makes us weep.

ENTHRALLING ODYSSEY: Alice Hoffman

In the spring of 1941, the world of Jewish mother Hanni Kohn and her twelve-year-old daughter Lea is an increasingly terrifying place. Hanni’s heart surgeon husband, Simon, was murdered during a riot and now Hanni, her paralysed and bedbound Russian-born mother Bobeshi, and Lea are struggling just to stay alive.

But Hanni’s love for her only child is boundless and, with Jews disappearing from their homes every day, she knows she must send shy, intelligent Lea away to save her from the Nazi regime. Hanni has no choice but to stay behind to care for her mother so she comes up with a daring plan to keep Lea safe on her journey to freedom.

‘To fight what was wicked, magic and faith were needed. This was what one must turn to when there was no other option,’ Hanni observes, so she rests her hopes on a renowned rabbi who, she has been told, can create a rare and unusual golem, a mystical, elemental Jewish creature who looks human but has no soul, Her mission will be to guard Lea and ‘follow her to the ends of the earth and never abandon her.’

But it’s the rabbi’s daughter, 17-year-old Ettie, ambitious and clever beyond her years, who agrees to conjure up the golem from river clay and sacred water scattered with Hanni’s tears, and once Ava is brought to life, she, Lea and Ettie become eternally entwined, their paths fated to cross and their fortunes linked.

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Using money from selling a secret hoard of Bobeshi’s Russian jewels, Lea and Ava, along with Ettie and her younger sister Marta, buy false passports and train tickets to travel to Paris. But Ava, whose vision goes beyond the human world, can see the Angel of Death tracking their perilous journey.

In Paris, Lea seeks refuge with her mother’s distant French cousins, the Lévi family, and among them she finds her soulmate. But the city is under the Nazi jackboot, and Lea and Ava begin another journey to a convent in western France known for its silver roses, and to a school in a mountaintop village where Jews are saved.

Meanwhile, Ettie is in hiding, waiting to become the French Resistance fighter she know she is destined to be, and Ava, the golem, who legend says must be destroyed before she becomes too powerful and turns on her creators, wants to live long enough to achieve her own ambitions…

The World That We Knew is an unflinching portrayal of humanity at its best and its very worst, a mesmerising, mystical, tenderly wrought tale of survival played out through a diverse cast of characters from worlds both mortal and immortal, and a reminder that goodness can triumph against the cruellest foes.

Hoffman’s rich, vibrant and humane storytelling allows us to view the Holocaust through the eyes of desperate victims and the objective golem Ava, a soulless being whose task it is to learn human behaviour and who soon discovers that it has no logic.

Brimming with emotions so raw and tangible that you can feel the pain seeping through the pages, and yet imbued with a sense of hope, compassion and the eternal power of love, this is a gripping, moving and inspirational story that offers light even in the most impenetrable darkness.

(Scribner, hardback, £20)

The Stranger Inside

Lisa Unger

WHEN the guilty evade justice, even good people can be drawn to do evil things…

After a raft of riveting, tension-packed novels, award-winning American author Lisa Unger certainly knows how to deliver a punch, and her coruscating new thriller upends the classic crime formula in memorable style.

The Stranger Inside is Unger’s seventeenth novel and the queen of psychological drama once again toys with our minds in a gripping, multi-layered murder mystery which unmasks the killer almost from page one, and then plays out a clever, spine-tingling game of slow reveal. 

It’s a ploy that is worked to perfection as a tantalising dual narrative follows a woman victim’s hunt for the truth on an increasingly perilous journey full of emotional intensity, murderous revenge, and her own dark secrets that have lain hidden for years. Twelve-year-old Rain Winter narrowly escaped being abducted while walking to a friend’s house but her two best friends, Tess and Hank, were not as lucky. Tess never came home, and Hank was held in captivity before managing to escape. Their abductor was sent to prison but years later, he was released. Then someone delivered what they thought was real justice… and killed him in cold blood.

WICKEDLY CLEVER: Lisa Unger

Now Rain has left behind her job as a hard-hitting national radio station journalist and is living the perfect suburban life with husband Greg and baby daughter Lily, and has locked away memories of her troubled youth.

But when a man acquitted of the brutal murder of his pregnant wife is murdered in the same way as his suspected victims, Rain – who followed the trial obsessively, knows he’s guilty and can’t believe he got away with it –­ sees eerie similarities to the murder of her childhood friends’ abductor.

There seems to be a pattern… meticulous and untraceable, the killer strikes in the dead of night, making sure that the guilty are suitably punished for their crimes. As Rain’s own investigation deepens, she is forced to revisit the dark secrets she has worked hard to leave behind, and to face up to the realisation that the killer may be closer than she thinks. The Stranger Inside is a fascinating psychological exploration of the terrible damage wrought on victims of trauma and violence, and a meditation on the ethics of vigilante revenge and how easily the lines between right and wrong can be blurred.

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As the layers of Rain’s life are stripped away – through a fascinating and chilling dual narrative – and the past is revealed, so the darkness of the story deepens and the fears and tensions are ratcheted up to boiling point.

Unger is a wickedly clever writer; juggling themes of psychological damage, revenge, murder and justice with the homely domesticity of Rain’s life with her husband and baby daughter, this is a story she has plotted to perfection.

Expect emotional intensity, a compelling cast of good and bad characters, twists at every turn… and a dénouement that will knock you off your feet!

(HQ, paperback, £7.99)

Child’s Play

Danielle Steel

WIDOWED at a young age, Manhattan lawyer Kate Morgan is proud of her three high-flying children. But life rarely turns out the way we plan for our offspring, and soon Kate discovers that learning when to let go and allowing them do what makes them happy is more important than fulfilling her own dreams for their future.

Danielle Steel – one of the world’s most popular authors with almost a billion books sold since 1972 – employs her eagle eye, emotional intelligence, and warm heart as she explores how families can evolve and grow in the most unexpected ways.  

A senior partner at a prestigious New York law firm, 54-year-old Kate Morgan couldn’t be prouder of her three grown children. Tamara, Anthony, and Claire all went to great schools, chose wonderful career paths, and would have made their father proud.

Kate has been a single mother for 19 years after the death of her congressman husband, Tom, in a helicopter crash. In the aftermath of the accident, she struggled to put meaning back into their lives but, with the help of her mother Margaret, Kate studied law and is now a leading corporate law specialist. Over the years, Kate has kept a tight rein on her family, her career, and even her own emotions, never once asking herself if she truly knows her children, or if her hopes for them are the right ones, and what they want.

INSIGHTFUL: Danielle Steel

And then, during one hectic summer, Kate’s world turns upside down. Her eldest daughter, Tamara, a caring young woman and successful marketing executive, finally reveals why she has always been so secretive about her private life, and why she won’t she commit to a relationship.

Anthony, a socially awkward computer genius and video games designer, is engaged to the daughter of a wealthy New York investment banker, and planning for their ‘wedding of the year’ is well underway. So why doesn’t Anthony seem happy about it?

And as for Kate’s youngest, spoilt daughter, Claire, at twenty-six she is following in her mother’s footsteps as a corporate attorney. Bouncy, fun and irrepressibly romantic, Claire has no shortage of boyfriends… until she suddenly reveals that she is madly in love with, in Kate’s opinion, the ‘wrong man.’

Challenged as a mother and as a successful independent woman herself, Kate struggles to keep up with a dizzying and escalating chain of events, and begins to realise that she has a part to play in the chaos… because Kate too has kept secrets from her children.

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Steel delivers another exquisitely observant story… a tale, built on her own experiences as a mother, which reveals that more often than not, parenting is about embracing the hopes and ambitions of our children, and understanding that their choices are often better than what we wanted for them. These are the lessons that Kate is forced to learn as the foundations of family life – which she has so carefully and lovingly built over many years – start to crumble around her, and her own, well-hidden secrets rise to surface.

Beautifully written, searingly honest and underpinned with love of family, Child’s Play tackles contemporary issues with Steel’s signature warmth, insight and compassion, and will delight her army of fans.

(Macmillan, hardback, £18.99)