I Made a Mistake

Jane Corry

POPPY Page has a dependable, hard-working husband, her own successful London business, two delightful daughters and a wonderful live-in mother-in-law who helps ‘steer the ship’ through any troubled waters.

So why would Poppy risk it all when she meets up again with a dodgy but debonair old flame who brazenly ditched her over twenty years ago for another woman?

If a deliciously dark brand of domestic noir whets your reading appetite, then get your teeth into former journalist Jane Corry’s enthralling and serpentine new thriller which hooks you in from the first page and grips like a vice to the final, flabbergasting flourish.

Corry, who spent three years working as the writer-in-residence at a high security men’s prison, has revealed that this often hair-raising experience helped inspire her bestselling psychological thrillers, and there is certainly something of the night in this teasing, tantalising murder mystery. With a cast of cleverly drawn and absorbing characters and a Machiavellian plot that leaves readers guessing and second guessing from one chapter to the next, I Made a Mistake sees this skilful author at her exhilarating and entertaining best.

ON TOP FORM: Jane Corry

When Poppy Page’s aspirations to be an actress took a nosedive, she turned her talents to hiring out extras and is now the proud owner of one of London’s best and busiest agencies. But as the mother of teenagers, Melissa and Daisy, and wife to high-profile dentist Stuart, Poppy couldn’t do it without the back-up of her marvellous mother-in-law Betty.

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After the death of her husband Jock, eccentric 70-year-old Betty came to live with Poppy and the family, and it turned out to be the best move for all of them. Warm, loving, always on call, and a brilliant gran to the girls, Betty is ‘the glue’ that holds them all together.

Poppy has always believed there are two types of women in this world… those who are faithful to their husbands, and those who are not. And even though she has started to feel distanced from Stuart, who lives for his work, Poppy has never questioned which category she falls into.

But when her drop-dead handsome, charming first love, Matthew Gordon, walks back into her life after exactly 23 years and three months, she gets the same ‘ridiculously jittery’ feelings as all

Daisy Cooper’s Rules for Living

Tamsin Keily

‘Everybody gets their turn at life and 

everybody gets their turn at death.’

AGED just 23 and on the threshold of an exciting new chapter with her boyfriend, Daisy Cooper wasn’t supposed to slip on some ice and die… even Death himself says her sudden demise one frosty night was all down to an embarrassing clerical error.

But rules are rules, when you’re dead, you really are dead and there’s no way you can ever go back to the world you knew… or is there?

Death, the ‘undiscovered country’ which has puzzled the will of writers from Shakespeare and Milton to Alice Sebold and Jodi Picoult, comes under the eagle eye of Tamsin Keily in a highly original debut novel which tackles the emotive subject of death with a bewitching blend of piercing insight and compassionate humour.

Darkly funny, and yet powerful enough to move readers to tears, Daisy Cooper’s Rules for Living explores all those very human questions about life, death, grief and acceptance, but along the way, asks us to consider whether struggling to move on might not just be a problem for the living.

IMPRESSIVE DEBUT: Tamsin Keily

Marketing assistant Daisy Cooper has just spent a romantic evening with her boyfriend Eric and together, they made a decision that she will move in with him. Other than that, it has been an ordinary winter’s day in London.

On arrival home, her best friend, flat mate and ‘unofficial sister’ Violet informs her they have run out of milk and Daisy heads off to buy a pint. But she never reaches the shop… Daisy slips on a patch of ice, cracks her head ‘in one swift, heartless motion,’ and suddenly her life on earth is over.

But instead of turning up at the Pearly Gates, Daisy finds herself in a dull, grey office which seems ordinary but she knows instantly is not, and is manned by a tall, lean man with eyes ‘the colour of morning grass’ whose name is Death but is far from traditional notions of the Grim Reaper.

And it turns out that her death is actually a mistake… Daisy wasn’t meant to die for another sixty-nine years and it’s all the fault of Death himself who made one terrible, embarrassing clerical error. So she’s stuck in Administration; she can’t go forward and she can’t go back.

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To make up for the mistake and to fill the 69-year gap, Daisy becomes Death’s personal assistant which means guiding the dead to the afterlife, and having the opportunity to take a look at the effects of her death on those she leaves behind.

As Daisy battles against this strange new world, she starts to learn that letting go isn’t just a challenge faced by those left behind. Soon, friendship, hope and even love begin to come alive in

A House Through Time

David Olusoga and Melanie Backe-Hansen

IF walls could talk, what stories they could tell…

As historian, broadcaster and BAFTA award-winning presenter and film-maker David Olusoga returns to BBC2 this week with his hit series, A House Through Time, enjoy an even more in-depth look into some of the seemingly ordinary homes which also have the history of our country embedded within their walls.

When we move into a new house, most of us try frantically to exorcise the lingering presence and evidence of past occupants from what is now our space but, as Olusoga points out in the introduction to this fascinating tie-in book, no matter how many layers of paint we slap on, we can never fully succeed in wiping away the traces of ‘the lives that have been lived there before us.’

And the simple truth is that it is the ordinary houses which tell the best stories, rather than the grand public buildings and the mansions of the rich. It is at home, behind closed doors and drawn curtains, that people live their inner, family lives… only in domestic spaces do they become genuinely themselves. Olusoga and his consultant for the book, Melanie Backe-Hansen – a historian, writer, and speaker who specialises in researching the social history of houses in the UK – lift the roofs on the nation’s domestic spaces as house histories become the new frontier of popular, participatory history.

SOCIAL HISTORY:
Melanie Backe-Hansen

 HIT TV SERIES:
David Olusoga

People, many of whom have already embarked upon that great adventure of genealogical research, and who have encountered their ancestors in the archives and uncovered hidden family secrets, are now turning to the secrets contained within the four walls of their homes and in doing so finding a direct link to earlier generations. As Olusoga points out, ‘Those who set out to discover the histories of their homes report experiencing profound feelings of empathy for the people who came before them… their hands gripped the same wooden banisters and pushed open the same doors.’ And the story of any single home extends beyond its four walls to the streets surrounding it. The house’s history, and the lives and circumstances of the people who lived there, are closely wrapped up in the changing fortunes of each district and neighbourhood, and with wider history both national and international.

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Economic cycles, the coming of the railways, the arrival of new industries and decline of old ones, slavery and its abolition, world wars, crime, class, and, topically, endemic and epidemic diseases,

A Wedding at the Beach Hut

Veronica Henry

ROBYN Moss doesn’t want a lavish wedding… a simple register office ceremony to tie the knot and then down to her father-in-law’s beach hut to dance barefoot on the golden sands of Devon.

But before she steps into a new future, Robyn needs to uncover the truth about her past, even if it risks breaking the hearts of the people who have brought her so much love and happiness.

Don’t despair if this year’s holiday plans have been scuppered by lockdown because fabulous feel-good storyteller Veronica Henry is ready to whisk you away to the coastal joys of Everdene Sands, a place that offers comfort to the heart, mind and soul.

A Wedding at the Beach Hut – the new summer blockbuster in her much-loved series featuring the good folk who own beach huts in beautiful Everdene – is the perfect panacea for the year of pandemic. Featuring a cast of superbly drawn characters, a drama-packed story full of warmth, wisdom and compassion, and played out against a backdrop of grassy dunes, powder blue skies, a turquoise sea and a group of beach huts set out ‘like a watercolour palette,’ this is the next best thing to a real seaside getaway.

SUNSHINE ODYSSEY: Veronica Henry 

Every Friday evening in warm weather, landscape gardeners Robyn Moss and her boyfriend Jake Young gather for a barbecue with their close families at Shedquarters, Jake’s dad’s ‘almost frozen in time’ beach hut in their home town of Everdene Sands.

And it’s at this stunning spot that Robyn and Jake are aiming to hold their dream wedding party, and break the happy news that their plans have been given extra joy and impetus by the discovery that Robyn is pregnant.

Adopted at birth by typical Devon farmer Mick Moss and his wife Sheila, Robyn has enjoyed a blissful, loving family life at Hawksworthy Farm with her sister Clover, and now has the prospect of a shared future with caring, dependable Jake. But 30-year-old Robyn is more unsettled than excited. She was always sure she had ‘made peace’ with her adoption but her own pregnancy has set her thinking about the box she was given on her eighteenth birthday, and the secrets it contains. The contents of the box were put together by Robyn’s birth mother all those years ago and opening it is certain to reveal the truth about her history. Robyn is curious but she’s also worried that by seeking out the past, she will hurt her much-loved adoptive parents.

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And what she doesn’t know is that Mick and Sheila have problems of their own… they have only just managed to keep the farm afloat after their entire cattle stock had to be slaughtered in an

The Forgotten Sister

Nicola Cornick 

‘An unquiet ghost is not so easily laid to rest… when the truth is concealed the pattern will repeat.’

FOR some years, Nicola Cornick has been making a name for herself as a writer of sumptuous historical novels, but this exciting writer moves up a gear in her thrilling re-telling of a notorious Tudor love triangle… with the added delight of a sizzling supernatural twist.

When Amy Robsart, wife of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester and the handsome favourite of a young Queen Elizabeth, fell down the stairs to her death in suspicious circumstances in 1560, it set in motion a dark mystery that has echoed down the centuries.

With her historian’s eye for fascinating stories from the past, and her novelist’s instinct for drama, adventure and suspense, Cornick unleashes her imagination on a gripping, time-travelling tale which slips seamlessly between parallel characters and events in the 16^th century Tudor court and England today. And what an inspired blend of real history, romance, scandal, and spine-tingling supernatural The Forgotten Sister proves to be as the perilous past meets present menace, and the discovery of age-old truths changes the course of lives forever.

TIME-SLIP TALE: Nicola Cornick 

In 1560, just two years after Elizabeth Tudor took the throne of England, Amy Robsart is trapped in a loveless marriage to the handsome and dashing Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester and a favourite of the fierce, determined and clever young queen.

The dutiful Amy has a quick mind and a quick tongue but she is powerless in comparison to her reckless and ruthlessly ambitious husband.  Her mother had counselled Amy against marrying Dudley but Amy – despite a lingering chill of doubt – had been seduced by the prospect of an exciting life at court.

Now, Amy is isolated at Cumnor Hall in Oxfordshire and surrounded by dangerous enemies, and with nowhere left to turn, she hatches a desperate plan to escape… one which will set in motion a scandal that touches the Crown and will have devastating, long-lasting consequences.

Meanwhile, in the present day, former child star and now high-profile celebrity TV presenter Lizzie Kingdom – who has been gifted from childhood with the ability to read objects and witness visions – lives a lonely, troubled life.

Lizzie, who had a ‘spectacularly messed-up childhood,’ values her oldest friend and former boy band star, Dudley Lester, and their names have often been linked even though Dudley is now married to socialite Amelia Robsart. But when Amelia, who had been suffering from clinical depression, falls down the stairs to her death, the Press immediately speculate that she took her own life because Dudley was divorcing her and spending all his time with Lizzie.

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As toxic rumours grow that Dudley might even have arranged Amelia’s death, Lizzie is forced to withdraw from the public eye in a blaze of scandal, and it seems the only life she has ever known could be over. But then she meets up with Amelia’s youngest brother, 16-year-old Johnny Robsart, whose fate will interlace with hers in the most unexpected of ways. For Johnny is certain that Lizzie is linked to a terrible secret dating back to the Tudor period.

And if Lizzie is brave enough to use her psychic skills and go in search of the truth, then what she discovers could break a deadly curse… and finally lay to rest the ghosts which have been locked together in an ‘endless dance through time.’

Cornick delivers a thoroughly entertaining whodunit across two superbly portrayed timelines, with each parallel character playing out their roles amidst spine-chilling events that have eerie cross-time similarities. Scandals, deaths, revelations, romance, and betrayals reverberate through time

The Secrets of Sunshine

Phaedra Patrick

IF you’re desperate for a story of hope in our uncertain times then open the pages of Phaedra Patrick’s sparkling new novel and let the sun shine in!

Saddleworth author Patrick, an award-winning short story writer who made waves with her charming debut novel, The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper, brings tears to our eyes, a smile to our lips, and puts a skip in our step with this warm and wonderful story of a gruff and grieving widower learning to love again.

Set in the long, hot days of summer, The Secrets of Sunshine features a stellar cast of characters from lonely single dad Mitchell Fisher and his delightful young daughter Poppy to his down-to-earth, romance-hungry workmate Barry, and Poppy’s adorable music teacher Liza Bradfield. Each plays a vital role in this funny, heartwarming and intensely human story which was inspired by the padlocks hung on bridges or railings in locations from Paris to Gran Canaria, bearing moving messages, initials and dates to signify love and loss.

HEART-SOARING OPTIMISM: Phaedra Patrick

Since the death of his partner Anita three years ago, Mitchell Fisher has regularly written letters to her which he knows he will never send. He had hoped they would assuage his constant grief and guilt but it’s not working, and he has still been unable to open a letter from Anita which she left for him shortly before she died.

Only his nine-year-old daughter Poppy knows that behind his prickly exterior, Mitchell is deeply lonely. He may have ditched any thought of romance, instead relishing his council job which includes cutting off the padlocks that couples fasten to his home town’s famous ‘love story’ bridge… but underneath it all, he’s still mourning the loss of Poppy’s mum.

Then one hot summer’s day, everything changes when Mitchell bravely dives into the river to rescue a woman who fell from the bridge after she had attached a padlock to the railings. He is surprised to feel an unexpected ‘magnetic pull’ towards her, but she disappears before he can find out more about her.

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Desperate to find the mysterious woman, Mitchell discovers that her name was Yvette and that she is the sister of Poppy’s loud, extrovert and friendly music teacher, Liza Bradfield. Despite his initial reservations, Mitchell teams up with Liza to see if Yvette, who has been missing for a year now, left behind any clues. Mitchell, who is now being inundated with inspirational letters

Where We Belong

Anstey Harris

STILL reeling from the death of her husband Richard four years ago, and now homeless and jobless, Londoner Cate Morris has been given sanctuary at a house far away from the city she knows and loves.

And what makes it even worse is that the temporary refuge she has been offered for herself and her vulnerable son is an apartment in Richard’s old family home… a place that her husband detested and which she has never even seen.

But there are surprises in store because the 200-year-old quirky Kent mansion – which also houses a bizarre museum of stuffed animals set in startling tableaux – holds family secrets that are just waiting to be unearthed.

If you fell in love with Anstey Harris’ exquisitely wrought first full novel, The Truths and Triumphs of Grace Atherton, last year, then get your hands on this warm, funny and utterly bewitching story of a grieving woman desperately trying to fill the glaring gap in her life. Packed with the most adorable characters and played out against a backdrop that is as enchanting as it is original, Where We Belong challenges how we view the world and the diverse people in it, and is guaranteed to break your heart and then put it back together.

BEWITCHING STORY: Anstey Harris

Cate Morris and her 19-year-old Down’s syndrome son Leo are homeless, adrift and struggling to make ends meet after Cate was made redundant from her London teaching job. It’s a wrench leaving the city but they have packed up their boxes, said goodbye to friends and colleagues, and are on their way to Hatters Museum of the Wide Wide World in Kent to stay just for the summer.

Cate doesn’t want to go there without Richard who never even wanted to discuss his old family home, claiming it was draughty and miserable. But since Richard committed suicide, Cate has had ‘a Richard-sized hole’ in her life that she can’t fill.

The two of them were soulmates – their first meeting at university was love at first sight… ‘something utterly primal.’ But Richard suffered from chronic depression and often Cate was overwhelmed by the ‘shuddering loneliness’ of living with someone with this condition. Richard died with unpaid debts and so now they are taking up Leo’s rightful inheritance at Hatters, the quaint museum whose dusty objects and glass-eyed, long-dead animals have been in the care of the housekeeper, Araminta Buchan, for many years.

Cate soon senses that Araminta has taken against her, but has a soft spot for straight-talking Leo. With nowhere else to go, they will have to make the best of it. But Richard didn’t tell Cate the truth about his family’s history and something about the house starts to work its way under her skin. Can she really walk away once she knows the truth?

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Past and present come together in perfect harmony in Harris’ moving and sophisticated exploration of grief, love, friendship, courage, complex family relationships, and the powerful ties that bind human beings together… often more closely than we had ever imagined.

As secrets from the past rise to the surface, their exposure brings understanding in the present,

Just My Luck

Adele Parks

LEXI and Jake Greenwood have always dreamed of winning big on the lottery… and now a single ticket has scooped them a whopping £17.8million.

But they say that money doesn’t bring you happiness and, with secrets and lies waiting to bite back just when the couple thought they had it all, their small, domestic world is about to be spectacularly and disastrously torn apart.

Adele Parks, the writing phenomenon who now has twenty superb novels to her name in as many years, proves that she deserves every accolade that comes her way with this gripping, fascinating and brilliantly observed exploration of how instant wealth has the power to corrode, corrupt and ultimately destroy lives.

Just My Luck is the darkest and most delicious entertainment… a brilliantly crafted, cautionary tale of greed, betrayal, jealousy and family discord, and a compelling reminder that you really should be careful what you wish for.

HITTING THE JACKPOT: Adele Parks

For fifteen years, Lexi and Jake have played the same six lottery numbers with their friends, the Pearsons and the Heathcotes. The friendship group was formed when their eldest children were born and the mums met and bonded at parencraft classes.

They live in a small community where everybody knows each and over dinner parties, fish and chip suppers and summer barbecues, they have discussed the important stuff – the kids, marriages, jobs and houses – and they have laughed off their disappointment when each week they failed to win anything more than a tenner.

But then, one Saturday night, the numbers finally come up and they scoop an unbelievable £17.8million. Jake is already making plans to buy a new Ferrari, 15-year-old Megan wants an expensive holiday to New York, 13-year-old Logan longs for a house with a swimming pool, but Lexi, who thought a big win would make her feel invincible, is instead filled with apprehension. Because, only a week earlier, there had been a rift in the friendship group and the other two couples pulled out… which means big trouble now for Lexi and Jake. Lies are bubbling beneath the surface, Lexi and Jake hold the ticket that is worth almost £18million… and their friends are determined to claim a share of it.

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Parks carries us at lightning pace into the authentically portrayed domestic domain of the Greenwood family as their euphoria at a dream lottery win evaporates under an explosion of hidden secrets, shocking revelations, cruel lies and moral conundrums.

And it’s not just Lexi and Jake who come under the author’s forensic eye… we also witness the

CHILDREN'S BOOKS: A magical adventure, a mysterious mansion, and a sad moon keeper

Roll up, roll up for a magical mystery in the streets of London, meet a budding architect on the hunt for treasure, and discover where teachers go after the school gates shut in an exciting and educational selection of new children’s books

Age 9 plus:

The Golden Butterfly

Sharon Gosling

TAKE your seats and turn down the lights as the curtain rises on a thrilling historical adventure set in the colourful world of stage magic and London’s eclectic theatre land.

Carlisle author Sharon Gosling takes middle-grade readers on an action-packed and atmospheric journey into a dazzling illusionist mystery, set at the turn of the 20^th century and brimming with strange magic, cunning conundrums and deadly danger. 

MESMERISING STORY: Sharon Gosling

‘The Golden Butterfly danced in the air, beautiful and impossible, yet there before their eyes. Then the Magnificent Marko flicked his wand again. There was a shower of sparks, a bang and ... the Golden Butterfly vanished.’

It’s 1897 and since the Magnificent Marko dramatically departed the stage, no magician has come close to performing a trick as spectacular as his legendary Golden Butterfly. With her grandfather gone, Luciana, who is also a talented magician, feels that the world has lost its wonder.

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Then the imposing leader of the Grand Society of Magicians appears, searching for something belonging to Marko, and Luciana is drawn into a world of danger and deception. As she battles to protect her grandfather’s greatest legacy, can she distinguish reality from illusion?

Gosling performs her own special sleight of hand in this mesmerising tale of bravery, friendship and female empowerment which blends gripping fantasy with some intriguing puzzles, a ruthless foe, and a beautiful coming-of-age odyssey. Classy, enthralling and utterly bewitching, The Golden Butterfly will inspire young imaginations to take flight…

(Stripes, paperback, £6.99)

Age 6 plus:

Iggy Peck and the Mysterious Mansion

Andrea Beaty and David Roberts

ONE question always leads to another when you are sharing adventures with the irrepressibly curious Questioneers! Iggy and his fellow Questioneers – Rosie Revere, Ada Twist, and Sofia Valdez – love looking for problems to solve, and their quest to find the answers always lead youngsters on a fascinating journey of discovery in Andrea Beaty and David Roberts’ brilliant series of educational books.

Problem-solving and the fun of scientific and technical experimentation are at the heart of these engaging chapter book stories which serve up adventure, humour and a cast of lovable characters.

An architect at his very core, Iggy Peck loves building and doing his own thing. When he’s not making houses out of food, his head is up in the clouds and dreaming of design. His parents are proud of his fabulous creations, though they’re sometimes surprised by his materials… not least a stinky tower he made from nappies when he was only two!

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So he’s totally blown away when his friend Ada Twist’s Aunt Bernice inherits an old house from ice-cream mogul Herbert Sherbert that is filled with countless rooms from all his favourite architectural periods. But something’s not quite right. Everyone says the house is haunted, and it seems that a number of priceless antiques – which were supposed to help Aunt Bernice pay for the house’s upkeep – have gone missing. If they can’t find those antiques, Aunt Bernice might lose the house forever. It will take all of Iggy’s knowledge of architecture and the help of the other Questioneers solve the mystery and find the treasure!

Beaty’s clever, inspirational and exciting books – ideal for children to read alone or with adults – come packed with Roberts’ richly detailed and humorous artwork, and are guaranteed to entertain, inform and empower young readers.

(Amulet Books, hardback, £8.99)

Age 4 plus:

The Moon Keeper

Zosienka

THE ever-changing face of the moon lies at the heart of a beautiful and reassuring debut picture book from exciting Johannesburg-born author and illustrator Zofia Gibbs, also known as Zosienka. Through gentle, child-friendly storytelling and gorgeous illustrations, filled with subtle night time shades and heartfelt emotion, this magical book stars a lovable polar bear, the moon, and their very special connection.

Emile, a very conscientious polar bear, has a new job as moon keeper. He spends his evenings making sure the moon has everything it needs to shine its light over the night creatures. Night after night he keeps watch over the moon, clearing away the clouds and telling the fruit bats to move along when they play too close. Emile finds the moon nice to talk to in the stillness of the night but then something strange happens… the moon starts to change and slowly disappears.

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As the moon’s phases change, the moon keeper worries that he is not taking proper care of the moon and that it’s his fault that it has disappeared. Then a big green bird lands next to Emile and, through friendship and observation, helps the unhappy polar bear understand that the moon comes and goes… like so much else in the world.

Illustrated with a classic feel and conveying important, topical messages about the ever-changing face of nature, the world and all within it, The Moon Keeper is the perfect book to teach youngsters about the moon’s phases, and a comforting, enchanting read to share at bedtime.

(Harper Collins, hardback, £12.99)

Age 3 plus:

Where do Teachers Go at Night? and 
Where ELSE do Teachers Go at Night?

Harriet Cuming and Sophie Norsa

WE all know what teachers do when they stand in front of the class all day… but what do they do when the school gates shut? Harriet Cuming, who knows a thing or two about teaching after spending 40 years in schools in Australia, Papua New Guinea and the UK, lets her imagination run riot around the world in two delightfully madcap, rhyming picture books.

Where do Teachers Go at Night? and Where ELSE do Teachers Go at Night? come from Little Steps, a classy imprint of early learning books by New Frontier Publishing, which is based in Australia and was established in 2002 with a mission to inspire, educate and uplift children.

In Where do Teachers Go at Night? we discover just where those tireless educators go when we’ve all gone home and they’ve turned out the light. From skinny-dipping in the Caribbean and riding elephants in Mumbai to climbing Mount Fuji and snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef, here is the truth of what our multi-talented teachers get up to behind our backs. And to cap it all, they still arrive before eight in the morning… and not even yawning!

And in Where ELSE do Teachers Go at Night? we discover more amazingly wonderful adventures with the crazy, inexhaustible teachers. From skating in Iceland and charming snakes in Marrakesh to shooting the Congo rapids and crescent sailing in Madagascar, these teachers are never still the whole night long. But are they REALLY arriving for class and not even yawning?

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Artist Sophie Norsa’s gallery of vibrant, high-energy illustrations brings to life Cuming’s whirlwind, rhyming geography lesson in global destinations and gives youngsters a refreshingly human and colourful perspective on their teachers. The perfect books to inspire youthful creativity, and bridge the gap between children and their understanding of school.

(Little Steps Publishing, paperback, £6.99)

Like A House On Fire

Caroline Hulse 

MOST people of a certain age will recall Mike Leigh’s brilliant BBC TV production of Abigail’s Party in 1977… a dark comedy of manners centred on one excruciatingly awful suburban get-together.

The play’s searing satire on the aspirations and tastes of an emerging new middle class was a classic of its type, and there are echoes of the same uncomfortable and yet achingly familiar vibes in Manchester author Caroline Hulse’s acutely observant and wickedly funny new novel. 

Using all the sharp wit, immense imagination and human empathy that she brought to her refreshingly clever debut novel, The Adults, Hulse plunges us into the complex lives of the dysfunctional Foy family as the terminally ill matriarch plans a party that could well be her final salute. With secrets flowing through their veins as thick and fast as their shared blood, this is a family steeped in old resentments, hidden insecurities, unspoken feelings, and shocking revelations which spill out over a murder mystery day that delivers more fire-power than any of them could have imagined.

WICKEDLY FUNNY: Caroline Hulse

After ‘eleven years together and a marriage,’ thirty-seven-year-old vet Stella Foy and her teacher husband George Mandani are basically ‘sick of each other,’ so they have separated and are now planning to divorce.

They are going through the motions of seeing a marriage counsellor but when you have blazing rows about misquoting Jurassic Park, leaving a Coke can on the side of the bath, and fitting car seats for hypothetical kids, it seems like time to quit.

Meanwhile, Stella’s terminally ill mother, Margaret, whose motto is ‘don’t talk about it and then it doesn’t exist,’ is throwing a lavish murder mystery party for her wedding anniversary and everyone’s roles have been carefully thought out. Problem is, Stella hasn’t yet told her mum that she’s divorcing George and he is not only on the invite list, but also been given a major role in the play. And with her dad Tommy still smarting from giving up his beloved family grocery business, her mum’s cancer diagnosis, and some very odd, emotional behaviour from her older, married sister Helen, now is not the time to tell everyone.

All Stella and George have to do is make it through the day without their break-up being discovered… although it turns out that having secrets runs in the family, and the murder mystery will have a surprisingly explosive ending.

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Like A House On Fire is so brilliantly wrought that readers will feel like they are among the cringing guests at this horror peep show into a family which hasn’t really known itself, and each other, for too many years. With her keen eye for the rancour and recriminations of tired relationships, Hulse paints a vivid and caustically amusing portrait of the warring Stella and

The House Share

Kate Helm 

IMMI SUTTON is desperate for somewhere to live… but is a ‘dream house share’ in one of London’s smartest districts just too good to be true? With its surprisingly affordable price tag, the ‘co-living’ community project inside a converted warehouse – designed to combat the loneliness of big city living – sounds perfect, but there are dangers at every turn of the stairs and Immi soon finds that you can’t lock them out.

If the current lockdown is making you restless, then step into the crazy, claustrophobic world of The House Share, Kate Helm’s creepy, skin-crawling new thriller which will leave you happy to stick with what’s familiar and as far away from upmarket Bermondsey as possible!

Helm, better known to some as Lancashire-born Kate Harrison, author of several novels and non-fiction books, is in fine fettle in this twisting, turning journey into the lives of a group of flat mates whose secrets are as deadly as a den of vipers and whose ‘home’ becomes more sinister by the day.

FAST-PACED TALE:
Kate Helm

Since she was thrown out by her boyfriend nine weeks ago, teacher Immi Sutton has been sleeping on her friend Sarah’s sofa but Sarah’s boyfriend’s patience is wearing thin and Immi is desperate to find a place of her own, even though she is fast running out of money.

And then Sarah finds an ad for what could be Immi’s dream home at the Dye Factory, a luxury community flat share just a stone’s throw from London Bridge. The old warehouse development has luxury accommodation, a rooftop terrace, ‘fabulous housemates’ and daily yoga, all with a surprisingly affordable price tag.

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Even though she knows full well that she’s antisocial, neurotic and has zero interest in getting to know people she lives with, troubled Immi is determined to go for it because if there’s one thing she is good at, it’s pretending.

Despite her low expectations, Immi is accepted as a new housemate, along with super-cool, handsome Dex Shepherd, a documentary and fashion photographer who looks rather like ‘a young Idris Elba’ but also has problems which he hasn’t shared with the rest of the group. And it doesn’t take long for Immi to realise that the Factory is not quite as idyllic as it appears. No one seems to know who is behind this multi-million pound urban experiment and her housemates seem to be hiding a dangerous secret.

As a series of pranks escalates into something much darker, Immi is left questioning whether, in this group of increasingly disturbing strangers, she can ever really be safe…

If you like your crime mysteries to come with an extra-large helping of menace and psychological

The Meadow Girls

Sheila Newberry

AS two sisters play in the sunshine on a perfect summer afternoon in 1914, the drums of war are already beating and soon their idyllic lives will never be the same again.

Sheila Newberry, the Suffolk-born author who sadly died in January this year, knew a thing or two about the ups and downs of family life. A mother of nine children, and with twenty-two grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, this much-loved writer has left a legacy of nostalgic sagas – including The Winter Baby and The Nursemaid’s Secret – which have enthralled readers across the decades.

In The Meadow Girls – first published as The Watercress Girls in 2009 – Newberry transports us back to the early decades of the 20^th century where we meet two sisters who grow up to lead very different lives and who seem destined to never be reunited, and resolve an old secret.

WARMTH AND WISDOM: Sheila Newberry

In a small Suffolk village in August of 1914, twelve-year-old Mattie Rowley dances in the stream, spraying her six-year-old sister Evie with silvery showers of water, as they enjoy exploring the meadows and picking bundles of watercress.

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Their mother Sophia feeds the delicious locally-grown watercress to the paying guests at their home, Plough Cottage, which is also the village inn. And one of their current guests is the mysterious foreign-born Mr B, a famous artist from London who wants Mattie to act as his model for a client seeking a portrait of a girl in a yellow dress. It’s a painting that will have repercussions down the years, but the Rowleys have other things on their mind as war has been declared, the family’s two boys are leaving to fight in France, and the country is about to be thrown into turmoil. As the years pass, the girls go on to lead very different lives. Mattie leaves home before the war ends, finding work in a wealthy relative’s emporium in Plymouth, and then moving on to far-flung countries like Canada and America.

Evie, regarded by her mother as the younger sister who must traditionally stay at home unless she marries, is tied doubly to Plough Cottage by family misfortunes but she still manages to

CHILDREN'S BOOKS: Magical mystery, a boy on the run, and a Welsh witch

Join a Victorian orphan boy as he battles an evil conjuror, take an unforgettable road trip to Hollywood, visit Witch Point in Wales (if you dare!) and meet a little mole who makes a mountain out of protecting his home in a super selection of new children’s books

Age 8 plus:

The Vanishing Trick

Jenni Spangler and Chris Mould

WHAT are the ingredients of your favourite adventure story? If it’s a big helping of mystery, lashings of magic, a side serving of fascinating folklore, and a liberal sprinkling of spine-tingling danger, then escape into Jenni Spangler’s enchanting tale set in a deliciously dystopian Dickensian world.

Spangler, who says she loves to take real and familiar places and events and add ‘a layer of mystery and hocus-pocus,’ lets her imagination take full flight in this thriller-chiller middle-grade odyssey set against a stunningly portrayed Victorian backdrop. Nothing is as it seems in this gloriously eerie and original adventure as we join orphan boy Leander – small, skinny, scruffy and uneducated – who is making his way in the world using only his wits and some unreliable thieving skills.

MAGICAL TALE: Jenni Spangler

Madame Augustina Pinchbeck travels the country conjuring the spirits of dearly departed loved ones... for a price. Whilst her ability to contact ghosts is a game of smoke and mirrors, there is real magic behind her tricks too – if you know where to look. Through a magical trade, she persuades children to part with precious objects, promising to use her powers to help them.

But Pinchbeck is a deceiver, instead turning their items into enchanted Cabinets that bind the children to her and into which she can vanish and summon them at will. When Pinchbeck meets orphan Leander, she promises to give him a job and a home in return for his mother’s precious locket and he leaps at the chance. But, of course, her bargain isn’t a fair one and instead she enchants the locket, turning it into one of her Cabinets and trapping him inside. When Leander makes friends with Charlotte and Felix, who have also been trapped by their evil captor, he finds himself in a race against time to break Pinchbeck’s spell before one of them vanishes forever…

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Spangler conjures up a truly magical reading experience full of fast-paced action, unexpected twists and turns, spine-tingling tension, and a cast of vibrant and superbly portrayed characters, including the devilish and dastardly Madame Pinchbeck.

Chris Mould supplies brilliantly imagined illustrations of the lead players, capturing perfectly the gothic thrills of the story which is filled with mysterious illusions, a dazzlingly sinister atmosphere, and rich historical detail. Beautifully packaged and utterly captivating, The Vanishing Trick will have readers hooked from first page to last!

(Simon & Schuster, paperback, £6.99)

Age 10 plus:

That Time I Got Kidnapped

Tom Mitchell

IF the lockdown blues are starting to bite, pack up your troubles and take an unforgettable Greyhound bus trip across the States! Get ready to laugh out loud as teacher-cum-writer Tom Mitchell – author of the hilarious, fast-paced crime-caper How to Rob a Bank – sweeps us away on a brilliant coming-of-age odyssey with an authentic American vibe that will have youngsters reaching for the stars… and stripes.

Fourteen-year-old Jacob is thrilled when he wins not just an all-expenses-paid trip to Los Angeles but also the chance to feature in the next Marvel movie, shooting in Hollywood. But after missing his connecting flight in Chicago, he tries to complete the journey along Route 66 by Greyhound bus… and there he meets Jennifer.

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Jennifer is an American teenager on the run with a mysterious package she’s guarding with her life… law enforcement are on her trail and an enigmatic figure known only as ‘the Cowboy’ is also hot on her heels. Jacob soon finds himself on the road-trip of a lifetime as Jennifer’s reluctant sidekick and unwitting partner in crime. On the run, caught up in a game of cat-and-mouse,  and feeling more and more like the lead player in a re-run of Bonnie and Clyde, can Jacob make it to LA in time… and in one piece?

Mitchell has become a master of funny, filmic, visually exciting action and this tale of mishaps, misunderstandings, friendship and self-discovery will hit the spot with adventure-loving youngsters ready to enjoy early teen books.

(Harper Collins Children’s Books, paperback, £6.99)

Age 9 plus:

Wilde

Eloise Williams

WITCHES curses, secrets and supernatural… If your youngsters like stories that send a shiver down your spine, but warm your heart as well, then this super-spooky story set during a sizzling heatwave and played out against the magnificent backdrop of Wales’ famous Sgwd yr Eira (Snow Waterfall), will go straight to the top of their To Be Read list.

With a contemporary cast and vibe, but an atmosphere steeped in fable, Wilde stars a girl with the blood of witches running in her veins and comes from the pen of Eloise Williams, the inaugural Children’s Laureate Wales, who admits she always wanted to grow up to be a witch but instead grew up to be a writer and lives by the sea in very West Wales.

Being different can be dangerous. Wilde is afraid because strange things happen around her. Birds follow her and she doesn’t know why. She longs to be normal and not weird, and hopes things will be different now she has been kicked out of her boarding school. But moving to live with her aunt Mae at Witch Point in the wilds of mid-Wales – a place that legend says is cursed – seems to make it worse. Wilde is desperate to fit in at her new school, but things keep getting stranger.

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In a fierce heatwave, her class is rehearsing for a school play telling the old, local legend of a witch called Winter. But then ‘The Witch’ starts leaving pupils frightening letters and cursing them. Can Wilde find out who is doing it before everyone blames her? And as birds gather and lies sting, can she break the curse of the witch called Winter, or will she always be the outsider?

Williams has the magic touch when it comes to writing children’s books… wrapped up in this thrilling, sinister and stunningly atmospheric story are important messages about belonging, coming to terms with difference, and accepting who and what you are. Layered through with humour, secrets, mystery and magic, Wilde is both through-provoking and entertaining… and a reminder that family, friendship and togetherness are the bedrock of our lives.

(Firefly Press, paperback, £6.99)

Age 9 plus:

Hello, Universe

Erin Entrada Kelly

SOMETIMES the most unexpected and unlikely friendships can be the most rewarding… Step into the lives of four very different young people in Filipino-American writer Erin Entrada Kelly’s funny, poignant and prestigious Newbery Medal-winning Hello, Universe, an outstanding middle-grade novel which Netflix is currently in the process of adapting into a feature film.

With a narrative divided between two boys and two girls from the same neighbourhood, Kelly’s compelling and compassionate novel celebrates bravery, being different, and finding your inner hero. In one day, four lives weave together in unexpected ways. Virgil Salinas is shy and kind-hearted and feels out of place in his crazy-about-sports family. Valencia Somerset, who is deaf, is also clever, brave, and secretly lonely, and she loves everything about nature.

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Kaori Tanaka is a self-proclaimed psychic, whose little sister, Gen, is always following her around. And Chet Bullens wishes the weird kids would just stop being so different so that he can concentrate on basketball. They aren’t friends, at least not until Chet plays a prank that traps Virgil and his pet guinea pig Gulliver at the bottom of a well. This disaster leads Kaori, Gen, and Valencia on an epic quest to find the missing Virgil.

Sometimes four can do what one cannot. Through luck, quick-thinking, bravery, and a little help from the universe, a rescue is performed, a bully is put in his place, and friendship blossoms.

With its eclectic cast of misfits, an irresistible thread of humour running through its warm-hearted centre, and messages of hope, determination, resilience and friendship, this is a beautiful story tailor-made for middle-graders looking for inspiration in a world that too often seems dauntingly tough.

(Piccadilly Press, paperback, £6.99)

Age 2 plus:

Mole Hill

Alex Latimer

HOW does one tiny mole stop three enormous diggers? Let your tiny tots take inspiration from a little mole with big ideas in a romping, rhyming picture book from talented writer and illustrator Alex Latimer who is based in Cape Town, South Africa.

With a gallery of bold and super-colourful illustrations featuring a mountain of moles, holes, diggers and dinosaurs, this cute and cuddly story about clever thinking and brave deeds will delight readers both young and not-so-young. When a fleet of three huge diggers arrive one day on Mole Hill, it’s up to Mole to stop them in their tracks and save his home from destruction. But can one tiny mole defeat such big, mean machines?

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He might just succeed if he manages to trick the silly trucks into believing that they could end up extinct like the dinosaurs buried in his hill. Where there’s a mole there’s a way! A picture perfect way to take on the big guys… and win!

(Oxford University Press, paperback, £6.99)