Walking in Lancashire

Mark Sutcliffe

AS summer draws to an end and autumn approaches, pull on your sturdy boots and explore Lancashire’s amazing walks and stunning rural corners.

The Red Rose county is home to some of England’s best walking country, stretching far beyond the more recognised and popular tourist trails and deep into untamed hillsides, colourful moorland, the fascinating remnants of Lancashire’s industrial heritage, and a rich history which includes the War of the Roses and the Pendle witch trials.

And to help you on your way, Cicerone – an enthusiastic publisher based in Kendal specialising in outdoor activities guidebooks – has produced a new guide offering 40 day-walks in Lancashire, including the often-overlooked regions of Forest of Bowland, Ribble Valley and West Pennine Moors. Cicerone has a range of nearly 400 guidebooks for walking, trekking, climbing, mountaineering and cycling, covering the UK, Europe and other regions of the world. The guides are pocket-sized, with clear OS mapping and directions, and their authors are amongst the leading experts in their areas.

Walking in Lancashire has been written and compiled by experienced outdoor writer and editor, Mark Sutcliffe (pictured left), a former editor of Country Walking and Lakeland Walker magazines who has in-depth knowledge of the Forest of Bowland where he spends much of his spare time hiking, bird watching and taking pictures.

With walks for a variety of abilities, ranging from low-level valley trails to higher hill routes, this new guidebook offers plenty of year-round walking options for active families and committed hikers alike.

All the walks are accessible from a range of nearby villages, towns and cities including Preston, Blackburn, Burnley, Chorley, Lancaster and Clitheroe, and let you explore the dales, moors, uplands and coasts of Lancashire, including beautiful Morecambe Bay. Some higher level routes climb above 2,000ft and can be challenging in winter conditions, requiring appropriate clothing and footwear, good navigational skills, and basic knowledge of mountain safety, but most of the routes are suitable for any walker with a reasonable level of fitness.

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For those who venture out, the rewards include ancient woodland and gritstone moors, historic Pendle Hill, the RSPB reserve at Leighton Moss, the Neolithic Bleasdale Circle, the Roman museum at Ribchester, Andy Goldsworthy's sculptures on Clougha Pike, the Inn at Whitewell, Jubilee Tower, the Abbey Lighthouse, and nearly one hundred miles of Lancashire coast.

And with an introduction full of information about the area, including accommodation, transport and access, appendices containing a route summary table to help you plan your days out, and helpful notes on wildlife, history, geology and available refreshments, there could be no better companion for your year-round walks!
(Cicerone Press, paperback, £12.95)

A House Through Time

David Olusoga
and Melanie Backe-Hansen

IF walls could talk, what stories they could tell… Historian, broadcaster and BAFTA award-winning presenter and film-maker David Olusoga has been wowing viewers with his hit BBC2 series, A House Through Time, and now you can 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 (pictured left) and his consultant for the book, Melanie Backe-Hansen (below) – 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.

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, all influenced the lives of the residents of these homes over the decades and centuries. 

Each chapter of the book charts developments in the history of the British home and British cities, and explores the changing social idea of the home, a subject which has tended to shift for as long

CHILDREN'S BOOKS: A Martian odyssey, shining stars and ghostly goings-on

Enjoy a laugh-a-minute journey to Mars, dive into an adventure packed with magic and ghosts, discover a fun-filled book of mindful activities, meet people dedicated to saving the planet, and test your
super-sleuthing skills with a collection of sparkling new children’s books

Age 8 plus
How to Survive Without Grown-Ups
Larry Hayes

SOME children’s books really do hit that elusive funny spot… and How to Survive Without Grown-Ups is hilariously, cleverly and perfectly on target! Buckle up for cheeky grins and gargantuan giggles, then climb aboard Larry Hayes’ out-of-this-world debut novel – the first book in a fabulous new series – and enjoy being rocket-powered to Mars with two of the quirkiest kids in town in the year 2053.

With Katie Abey’s zany black and white illustrations throughout, this action-packed, page-turning sci-fi adventure will delight readers young and old as brother and sister team, Eliza and Johnnie, embark on a marathon million-mile journey to find their missing parents. Eliza and Johnnie’s Mum and Dad have left, they’ve gone to Mars and they’re never coming back… freedom at last!

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But this isn’t one of Dad’s weird jokes… it’s real and now it’s up to timid ten-year-old Eliza and her genius little brother Johnnie to find out what’s going on and launch a rescue. Can they handle vampire squids, a suspicious villain, a secret island full of traps and a trip into space? And – more importantly – will they ever get their parents back?

Hayes certainly knows how a child’s mind ticks and this brilliant, suspense-filled adventure featuring a mission impossible to Mars is guaranteed to keep youngsters glued to the page… and laughing all the way to space and back!
(Simon & Schuster Children’s Books, paperback, £7.99)

Age 9 plus
Lightning Falls
Amy Wilson

IF magical worlds cast a spell over your youngsters, then sweep them away on a glittering adventure with Amy Wilson, a writer who has been dubbed the rising star of children’s fantasy. Wilson, who won awards and plaudits for her fabulous wintertime novels, A Girl Called Owl, A Far Away Magic, Snowglobe, and Shadows of Winterspell, returns with a thrilling tale of ghosts and friendship that positively glows with imagination and creativity.

Valerie has been living at Lightning Falls nearly all her life. She’s perfectly happy helping Meg and the rest of her family of ghosts to haunt the guests who come to stay there at the crumbling Ghost House even though she knows she is different to them in many ways. But one night, she sees a strange boy called Joe up on the viaduct. There she discovers that beneath the river is a bridge, one that will take her to the world of Orbis which Joe claims is her real home.

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But Orbis is a world under threat. Magical anchors are being stolen from the civilians of Orbis, causing the power to seep out of their world, and Joe has journeyed to Lightning Falls to win them back. Plunged into a dangerous adventure, and as the link between the two worlds begins to crumble into star showers, Valerie is forced to confront the truth about herself.

Wilson conjures up an atmospheric mystery that tingles with excitement and menace as Valerie embarks on a gripping adventure in a world facing a terrible threat and where her unlikely friendship with Joe will help her find a path through darkness and danger. With a cast of weird and wonderful characters, and an adventure packed with magic and ghosts, Lightning Falls is guaranteed to set young readers alight!
(Macmillan Children’s Books, £7.99)

Age 9 plus
How To Be A Human
Karen McCombie

WHO said good friends have to be the perfect match for each other? Much-loved children's author Karen McCombie poses this question – and many more – in an entertaining and thought-provoking novel which imagines a friendship that really is out of this world.

When the Star Boy’s space-pod crashes in the grounds of Riverside Academy, he knows he must seek shelter as he awaits rescue. Taking refuge in the school’s boiler room, he discovers that the room’s small window is the perfect place to watch humans go by. The Star Boy knows about humans from his Earth lessons but no one from his planet has ever studied them up close.

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Now he has the perfect opportunity. There are two humans in particular that catch his attention – a boy called Wes and a girl named Kiki. What he doesn’t know yet is that Kiki has been dumped by the Popular Crew and is feeling the pain of rejection. Wes, meanwhile, is a loner and an easy target for the school bullies. Both could use a friend.

As Star Boy’s curiosity grows, and determined to uncover just what it means to be human, he makes the momentous decision to follow Wes and Kiki into class… and into their lives. Could the stars have aligned for the most unusual friendship? McCombie’s tale of a stranded alien and the two unlikely school friends who discover him is packed with fun, humour and otherworldly adventure, but it also provides a gentle exploration of emotive classroom issues like friendship, bullying, the pressure to be ‘popular’ and the need to fit in. Life lessons wrapped up in a fantastical adventure…
(Little Tiger Press, paperback, £6.99)

Age 9 plus
Love From Joy
Jenny Valentine 

EVERYONE needs a little joy in their life so step into the world of ten-year-old Joy Applebloom, a girl with a knack for finding the silver lining in even the darkest of rain clouds! Lift your spirits and join in the fun with the second book of a sparkling middle grade series about family, friends and finding some much-need joy in life from award-winning young adult author Jenny Valentine whose first novel, Finding Violet Park, won the Guardian prize in 2007.

After years of travelling the world with her parents and thirteen-year-old older sister Claude (Claude rhymes with bored, which is just about right), Joy and her family have moved to suburbia to live a ‘normal’ life with her grandad. People say she’s a ‘glass half full’ kind of person, which basically means Joy see the good in everything, but right now she’s going to need all her powers of positive thinking to fix a really tricky situation. Her new best friend Benny just hasn’t been himself lately. Joy will have to find out what’s going on and bring back Benny’s special smile for good!

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Prepare for bags of laughs and some important life lessons as we join joyful Joy on her journey from carefree globetrotter to a girl on a mission to bring love, care and kindness. With the illustrations of Claire Lefevre, a superbly portrayed cast of characters, acute insights into the complex dynamics of family life, and an addictive sense of humour and optimism which are perfect for our times, Joy’s adventures are a beacon of hope and happiness.
(Simon & Schuster, paperback, £6.99)

Age 8 plus
Feeling Good About Me
Ellen Bailey, Lesley Pemberton
and Harry Briggs

THE current pandemic has – if nothing else – proved to us all the importance of mental well-being… particularly for children. So here’s an important, accessible and fun activity book from the well-being experts at Buster Books which helps youngsters to explore their emotions, let go of their worries and instead focus on the good things in life that make them feel happy and confident.

Feeling Good About Me is co-authored by specialist psychotherapist and writer Ellen Bailey, and Lesley Pemberton, a qualified art psychotherapist who has worked with children in schools in the UK for 30 years, and illustrated throughput by Harry Briggs. With its clever selection of calming activities, this fun and friendly book is filled with mindful activities and prompts to encourage readers to express their emotions on the page, including spaces to doodle, breathing techniques when a calm moment is needed, thoughtful questions and inspirational quotes.

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It also provides a safe space for youngsters to explore feelings such as low self-esteem and anxiety, to record their dreams and focus on the things that make them feel happy, as well as offering practical tips and information presented in a supportive and affirming way.

Feeling Good About Me is a wonderful resource for any mindfulness activities which teachers and parents are planning and has been developed in consultation with children’s mental health charity, Blue Smile. A royalty from UK sales will be donated to the charity. From friendship problems and yoga exercises to the healing art of colour and the comfort to be found in speaking in a made-up language, this is the perfect book to feed the mind and soothe the troubled soul.
(Buster Books, paperback, £7.99)

Age 8 plus
What a Wonderful World
Leisa Stewart-Sharpe and Lydia Hill

OUR planet might be under threat but, fortunately for us all, there are movers and shakers out there who are fighting to change the world! Meet the brave and dedicated Earth Shakers – people from all corners of the globe who are taking action and making changes for a better future – in a wonderfully wise and inspirational book from Templar Publishing.

Written by Leisa Stewart-Sharpe – whose Australian childhood has inspired her love for the natural world and the stories of its strange and wonderful creatures – and packed with Lydia Hill’s stunning illustrations, What a Wonderful World takes children on a breathtaking tour of planet Earth.

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From towering mountaintops, through grasslands, jungles, rivers, deserts, polar wildernesses and into the blue ocean, this big, bright and beautiful book explores the incredible variety of life that calls Earth its home. Along the way, youngsters can read the stories of thirty-five inspiring Earth Shakers… children and adults, from tree-planters to scientists, who have and are still taking action to protect the world around us

With lots of practical tips that give you the tools to make a positive change, some handy resources on how to find out more, and a special foreword from Lee Durrell MBE, of Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, this is the perfect inspiration for all budding activists. A picture perfect journey to discover Earth and its eco-heroes…
(Templar Publishing, hardback, £15.99)

Age 7 plus
The Book Cat
Polly Faber and Clara Vulliamy

YOUNGSTERS will be purring with delight when they meet the irrepressible Morgan… a larger-than-life black cat who booked himself a cosy home at a famous London publisher’s. Written by cat lover Polly Faber – granddaughter of Geoffrey Faber of the Faber and Faber publishing house – The Book Cat brings to glorious life the classic tale of the real stray cat who made his home at the Faber offices during the Second World War and decided he would never leave.

Cat Morgan provided inspiration for poet T.S. Eliot, author of the famous Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, and The Book Cat harnesses some of the fascinating real life anecdotes about this very clever cat who was a familiar face in both the editing room and on the roof where he looked out for passing German bombers. The result is a beautiful gift book – charmingly illustrated in striking tones of red and black by Clara Vulliamy – and full of heart, humour, adventure and the warm bonds of friendship.

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Morgan is a young orphan cat who lives off scavenging… until he finds a cosy home at a famous London publishing house. Over time he learns a trade and soon he is the very best book cat in the business. But then the bombing Blitz begins in London and Morgan finds himself training up twenty-odd kittens to be book cats. There is also the small matter of secretly evacuating the kittens out of London and happily, Morgan has a plan. 

‘This time we need to get you – get all of the kittens, safe out of London,’ says Morgan decisively. ‘To have a chance for a better life, well, let’s just say, I’ve got an idea.’ The purr-fect read for cat fans of every age!
(Faber & Faber, hardback, £12.99)

Age 7 plus
Solve Your Own Mystery:
The Monster Maker
Gareth P. Jones and Louise Forshaw

ONE mystery, some slippery suspects… and your chance to be a super-sleuth! Yes, youngsters can put themselves in charge of a puzzling and fantastically imaginative detective story in an interactive adventure straight out of the mind of word wizard and fun-loving author Gareth P. Jones.

This brilliant Solve Your Own Mystery series – full of zany humour, wonderfully offbeat characters and the vibrant illustrations of Louise Forshaw – offers an enjoyable and accessible reading experience for budding sleuths, reluctant readers and all adventure lovers. So welcome to Haventry, a town where the ordinary and extraordinary collide. With ghosts, werewolves and zombies living side by side, trouble is always brewing. And when a fiendish crime is committed, you are the detective in charge of the case.

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Dr Franklefink’s precious Monster Maker has gone missing and there are lots of suspects. Along with your yeti partner, Klaus Solstaag, it’s up to you to find the culprit. Should you trail Bramwell Stoker, the terrifying vampire, or Grundle and Grinola, the mischievous goblin twins? Should you follow up a lead about the cunning witches? Or will investigating the doctor’s monstrous son Monty lead you to the thief? You decide! With hundreds of paths to choose from and no dead ends, youngsters are guaranteed to solve the mystery every time. The story can be read over and over to lead to a different conclusion at each reading so there is never a dull moment on this super-charged sleuthing journey. A monstrously good mystery!
(Little Tiger Press, paperback, £6.99)

Age 2 plus
Georgie Grows a Dragon
Emma Lazell

GEORGIE is the ace of spades when it comes to gardening… but could she get those green fingers burned when she manages to grow a dragon? Get ready to giggle and guffaw your way through Emma Lazell’s bright and beautiful new picture book which was lovingly created and perfectly cultivated by this rising star of the publishing world.

After the success of her debut picture book, Big Cat, and her follow-up, That Dog!, which starred a dastardly but dopey team of dognappers, the talented author and illustrator is back with another dazzling picture book about making new friendships. Georgie Grows a Dragon features the hilarious, offbeat antics of a little girl with a penchant for gardening who discovers her growing success might just be too hot to handle.

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Georgie is a keen gardener. She can grow anything… until one morning she discovers that, overnight, she has grown a dragon! And soon he’s bigger, grumpier, hungrier and more troublesome than any of her other plants. Can she learn to keep him happy and find out where he came from? With her sharp eye for wry humour, an addictive sense of mischief, and a sparkling gallery of bold and vibrant illustrations, Lazell fills her brilliantly surreal and entertaining story with rich comic detail and quirky characters – of both the human and animal variety!
(Pavilion Children’s Books, paperback, £6.99)

A Narrow Door

Joanne Harris 

TRADITION and progress, privilege and subjugation, past and present, truth and lies… The newly named, co-educational St Oswald’s Academy – a well-rooted, strictly boys-only grammar school for the previous five hundred years of its history – is on an explosive life and death collision course in the third book of Joanne Harris’ brilliantly clever and entertaining Malbry Cycle.

If you haven’t already entered the hallowed portals and narrow doors of North Yorkshire’s unforgettable ‘Ozzies,’ and spent time with the charming, learned and witty veteran classics master Roy Straitley then this electrically-charged thriller from one of our most gifted and multi-talented writers is a treat you wouldn’t want to miss.

Harris (pictured below), an Anglo-French author whose books include fourteen novels, two cookbooks and many short stories, is noted for her exceedingly diverse work covering aspects of magic realism, suspense, historical fiction, mythology and fantasy, and whose 1999 novel Chocolat was adapted for the big screen. 

A Narrow Door follows on from Gentlemen and Players and A Different Class and stars Rebecca Buckfast, St Oswald’s new headteacher and a woman with a shadowy past who is intent on tearing apart – piece by piece – the elite world that tried to hold her back.

Brimming with the enthralling atmospherics, psychological intensity and the acutely observed old-school dynamics which have been the hallmark of these gripping stories, this haunting new mystery comes with a brilliantly conceived feminist twist and takes readers to some of St Oswald’s darkest and deadliest hidden corners. During his thirty years at St Oswald’s Grammar (now St Oswald’s Academy) in Malbry, North Yorkshire, Latin master Roy Straitley has seen all kinds of boys come and go but now unprecedented changes are transforming the school... not least the arrival of girl pupils and the historic establishment’s first woman headteacher. Roy, who has recently witnessed a shocking scandal, a murder and the disgraceful demise of his fellow teacher and good friend Eric Scoones, had considered ‘walking the plank’ in the face of the disruption caused by an influx of girls with their new scents, high-pitched laughter and salads for lunch, but decided that he doesn’t know what he would do with his freedom.

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Meanwhile, in the new headmistress’s office, Rebecca Buckfast (who had a brief stint at the school as deputy head Becky Price during one of its crises) believes she earned this job, not through the normal male channels of privilege but through her own strength and ambition.

St Oswald’s, with all its relentless patriarchal baggage, is now hers. ‘The gates are my gates. The rules are my rules.’ All Becky needed was that ‘narrow door’ to creep in unseen and spin herself

Definitely Fine

Amy Lavelle

WHAT are you supposed to do when it feels like your world has just disintegrated? Twenty-eight-year-old Hannah Kennedy used to call her mum for answers to her questions but the whole reason her life is now falling apart is because her beloved mother has suddenly died.

Coping with death and grief is one of humanity’s greatest challenges but it’s a task that debut author Amy Lavelle (pictured below) tackles with honesty, authenticity, understanding and humour in her exceptionally clever and funny coming-of-age novel.

Prepare to laugh and cry your way through the pages of Definitely Fine as Lavelle – whose own mother’s death has endowed her with extraordinary insight and empathy – takes readers on an emotional rollercoaster ride through disbelief, anger, pain and acceptance.

Hannah Kennedy is twenty-eight and living with her boyfriend Ollie in her home city of Brighton when the worst happens. Her mum, Jennifer, was enjoying a run with Hannah’s younger sister Laura when she fell and banged her head on a wall. At first, it didn’t seem serious but now Jennifer is in an induced coma in hospital with a massive brain bleed and the doctors want to turn off her life support machine because they know that she will never wake up again.

Hannah’s first instinct when she heard the news was to ring her mum because Jennifer has always been the ‘focal point’ of their lives, the person who pulled them all together. So how are Hannah, chaotic Laura and their emotionally repressed dad Patrick going to function in a world where Jennifer doesn’t exist? Staying strong and keeping positive are supposed to be the ‘emotional taxes on firstborns’ but coming to terms with the fact that she is now the ‘Woman of the Family’ isn’t going to be easy for Hannah.

As the weeks pass by and important – but now painfully emotive – landmarks like Mother’s Day, birthdays and Christmas loom large, Hannah must work her way through the crucial life lessons which her mother never taught her.

Who would have thought she would need to know how to ride a tandem, how to react when your dad starts making lasagne for an unknown woman, how to broker peace between feuding aunts, and how to know if you really want a baby or if this is just the grief talking? But what Hannah really wishes her mother had taught her is how you are meant to find yourself when you've just lost the person who made sense of everything? The genius of Definitely Fine lies in Lavelle’s ability to capture both the anguish and the unexpectedly farcical moments that can arise from a family’s struggle to deal with a sudden death and its aftermath. The result is a story so perfectly pitched that you will be laughing behind the hand that only seconds ago wiped away a surreptitious tear… and that is a rare achievement for any writer.

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Indeed, the raw, emotional truths of losing a loved one are writ large in this entertaining and ultimately uplifting story which views the life of a twenty-something through the prism of loss, and explores the different ways we react to a terrible event and how it impacts on both our actions and outlook.

For Hannah, her mother’s death is a steep learning curve… the beginning of the end of merely muddling through adulthood, and the start of trying to find herself, to make her own decisions and

End of Summer

Anders de la Motte

WHEN four-year-old Billy Nilsson disappeared from his home and was never seen again, it tore apart his distraught family. Nearly two decades later, Billy’s older sister Vera has restyled herself as Veronica Lindh and is working as a grief counsellor when a young man walks into her therapy group and reawakens the trauma of that late summer night when her teenage world turned upside down.

If you thought a Swedish summer brought only bright sunshine, beautiful countryside and rural charms, then you haven’t yet entered the spine-tingling world created by a former police officer who has magically morphed into a master storyteller.

End of Summer is rural Scandi-noir at its best and the latest book in Anders de la Motte’s (pictured below) stunning Seasons Quartet, which includes the three standalone novels Rites of Spring, Deeds of Autumn and Dead of Winter, all number one bestsellers in Sweden, and all currently being published by Zaffre.

These enthralling books – flawlessly translated by Marlaine Delargy – have earned their author a shortlisting for the Swedish Academy of Crime Writers’ Award for Best Crime Novel of the Year, and this atmospheric, summer-themed mystery weaves between past and present as disturbing family secrets come back to haunt a tight-knit agricultural community.

On a late summer’s evening in the rural town if Reftinge, which sits on the edge of the wide open Skåne Plain, young Billy Nilsson is chasing a baby rabbit in the fields behind his house. But when his mother Magdalena goes to call him in, Billy has disappeared.

In charge of the desperate hunt for the missing boy is Reftinge’s comparatively new police chief, Krister Månsson, the ‘outsider’ who had initially considered the town a place that didn’t demand much from its police boss until everyone started to look to him to end the Nilsson family’s nightmare.

Billy was never found and nearly twenty years later, his older sister Vera, now known as Veronica, is a bereavement counsellor but on a ‘second chance’ with her job after a mysterious incident that led to a restraining order, panic attacks, increased anxiety and being placed under the watchful eye of a senior supervisor.

Despite the passage of years, Veronica, who freely admits she is addicted to other people’s pain and grief stories, has never fully come to terms with the suicide of her mother who filled her pockets with stones and walked out on to a fragile, ice-covered lake after Billy’s disappearance. When a young man called Isak Sjölin walks into Veronica’s counselling group, he looks familiar and starts talking about the trauma of his friend’s disappearance in 1983. Could Billy still be alive after all this time?

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Needing to discover the truth and for the first time in fifteen years, Veronica goes home to Reftinge to see her widowed father and the place where her life started to fall apart. But is she really prepared for the answers that wait for her there?

End of Summer is one of the classiest Scandi thrillers you will read this year… a mesmerising amalgam of menace, suspense, festering secrets, and a Scandinavian rural landscape where

The House Beneath the Cliffs

Sharon Gosling

AFTER the death of her father and the break-up of a long-term relationship, chef Anna Campbell has decided to make a fresh start in a small Scottish fishing village. But leaving London behind and setting up home in a wild and windswept cottage – in a place where not all the locals are warm and welcoming – could well blow Anna’s plans off course.

If you are desperate to flee the crowds this summer, escape to wonderful Crovie, a historic village on the Moray Firth in Aberdeenshire where the houses, sandwiched between water and cliffs, appear to almost magically emerge from the North Sea. Sharon Gosling (pictured below), who lives in a remote village in Cumbria, was captivated by Crovie on a visit in 2017 and having always been drawn to the idea of living somewhere others would consider impractical, she took away the inspiration for her first adult novel.

And The House Beneath the Cliffs, which renders this enchanting spot as an entertaining version of the real place, comes packed with all the drama, beauty, rigours and romance that you would expect from a location renowned for its remote idiosyncrasies and natural splendours.

Still grieving from the recent death of her widower father, and determined to turn her back on the twenty or more years she has spent with famous TV chef Geoff Rowcliffe, Anna Campbell is moving from London to Crovie and The Fishergirl’s Luck, a tiny cottage she bought on a whim.

Crovie is the place where her parents spent their honeymoon and Anna hopes that its remote charms – and the residents who live in cottages which cling ‘like colourful limpets’ to the cliff’s blunt edge – will offer her the new chapter that she so desperately needs.

But when she arrives, Anna realises her new and exceedingly small home is really no more than a shed which she had bought unseen, and that the village itself is more remote than romantic. Built on the very edge of the sea, Crovie is in constant danger of storms and landslides, and an inauspicious first meeting with grumpy local resident Douglas McKean is a reminder that she is very much an outsider.

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Yet as she begins to learn about the Scottish coast and its people, something she thought she had lost over the years spent with her control freak boyfriend reawakens in her. She rediscovers her love of cooking, and turns her kitchen into a pop-up lunch club. But some of the locals are still

The Long, Long Afternoon

Inga Vesper

THE apparent calm of a wealthy Santa Monica neighbourhood during an afternoon of stifling heat in 1959 is torn apart when a home help finds a blood-soaked kitchen and two terrified, traumatised children.

And when the police are called in to unravel the mystery of the girls’ missing mother, they soon find that the sunniest of places can hold the darkest of secrets.

In one of the most exciting, atmospheric and piercingly astute debut novels of 2021, German-born Londoner and journalist Inga Vesper (pictured below) takes us deep into the heart of the Fifties’ American Dream, a time and place that was extolled as the perfect way to live by many of those who looked in from the other side of the immaculate white picket fences. 

That rose-tinted picture of families with apple-cheeked children, a hard-working father, and a mother who happily did the chores, the laundry and the cooking is turned on its head in this gripping mystery which explores racial tensions, domestic oppression, and the early days of the women’s rights movement.

From vivid blue pools, manicured lawns and crimson geraniums nodding in their neat terracotta pots, to the spine-tingling menace of human struggles and tragedies taking place behind closed doors, and the disturbing realities of white privilege, this is a superb slice of suburban noir with a contemporary feminist twist.

In the August sunshine of 1959, the carefully tended gardens of Sunnylakes in California wilt under the intense heat.  For Joyce Haney, wife to Frank, and mother to two little girls, Barbara and baby Lily, another long, long afternoon in her ‘paradise’ stretches endlessly before her, with the prospect of the minutes crawling past ‘like slugs’ while her mind ‘crumbles into dust.’ But before the afternoon ends, Joyce will have disappeared, leaving behind her terrified children and a pool of crimson blood that runs across the kitchen floor and stains the curtains.

While the Haneys’ neighbours get busy organising search parties, it is 22-year-old black woman Ruby Wright – the family’s ‘help’ who found the horror scene when she arrived for work – who is immediately arrested by the first police officers on the scene.

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In charge of the case is Detective Mick Blanke – fresh from the Big Apple and barely coping with the suffocating heat of Santa Monica ­– who promptly releases witness Ruby, convinced that she

CHILDREN'S BOOKS: Wild waterways, a top class dog and a pirate princess

Discover some of the world’s most amazing rivers, enjoy canine capers with a dog called Noodle, have fun making unicorns, meet a boy who loses more than his temper, and join a feisty princess on the trail of pesky pirates in a summer selection of children’s books

Age 7 plus
Amazing Rivers:
100+ Waterways That Will Boggle Your Mind
Julie Vosburgh Agnone
and Kerry Hyndman

IF you fancy a thrilling voyage down the world’s most extraordinary rivers, open the pages of this brilliant book and discover over one hundred stunning waterways! Amazing Rivers: 100+ Waterways That Will Boggle Your Mind comes from What on Earth Publishing which specialises in the art of telling stories through timelines. And for every question their informative books answer, they spark another one, helping to encourage young readers into a lifelong love of enquiring and discovering.

This intriguing, colourful, fact-filled book is the third in the entertaining Our Amazing World series and celebrates Earth’s magnificent waterways, revealing the animals that call them home, the societies that rely on them, and the environmental issues threatening them along the way.

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Written by Julie Vosburgh Agnone and illustrated by Kerry Hyndman, winner of the 2017 Blue Peter Book Award, Amazing Rivers delivers a whirlwind tour in which young readers learn about the incredible wildlife and plants that live in or near rivers, from brown bears catching salmon that swim upstream to anacondas large enough to eat a pig, and vast paddy fields in China’s Li River.

Explore astounding natural wonders, from a boiling river so hot you can cook an egg in it to a multi-coloured river that flows like a liquid rainbow. And discover awesome river traditions, from ritual baths to rubber duck racing and barefoot waterskiing. Amazing Rivers also addresses contemporary topics such as the environmental threats to rivers and what we can all do to help protect them, and includes a world map, which shows all the rivers profiled in the book, a lavish double fold-out spread with fascinating facts and figures, a helpful glossary and an index. An exciting new addition to Amazing Islands and Amazing Treasures, this is the perfect book for fearless adventurers and young eco-warriors!
(What on Earth Books, hardback, £14.99)

Age 8 plus
Noodle the Doodle Steals the Show
Jonathan Meres and Katy Halford

NOODLE the dog steals the show again in a new canine caper from stand-up comedian and actor Jonathan Meres. Young readers first met the adorable school pet – who really is in a class of his own – in Noodle the Doodle, the first book in a super-funny series which is published by Barrington Stoke in their trademark dyslexia-friendly format.

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Illustrated throughout by Katy Halford, Noodle’s new adventures are full of hilarious mishaps and mayhem as everyone’s four-legged friend joins the new boy in class for the school talent show. New arrival at Wigley Primary, Samir is shy and finds it hard to settle in but with a bit of help from Noodle the doodle, he starts to feel at home. When the class decide to put on a talent show to raise money for charity, Samir can’t decide what to do until his new best buddy Noodle gives him an amazing idea. Can the children in the class prove that Wigley’s has got talent...or will Noodle steal the show?

Meres puts on his own fine performance in this warm and wise story about friendship, fun and finding your feet in a new school while Halford’s gallery of playful black and white illustrations bring all the action to life. A class act from a top team…
(Barrington Stoke, paperback, £6.99)

Age 7 plus
Granny’s Little Monsters
Karen McCombie and Lee Cosgrove

MUD, glorious mud! Youngsters will be up to their eyes in mud, mayhem and monsters when they dig into this gloriously funny and frantic adventure from the highly-acclaimed and much-loved children’s author Karen McCombie. Published by Barrington Stoke in their trademark dyslexia-friendly format, and packed with Lee Cosgrove’s anarchic illustrations, Granny’s Little Monsters is the perfect fit for any for struggling or reluctant readers.

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Cousins Zac and Essie are helping their Granny Mo in her search for the perfect pet. She has tried everything from cats to axolotls, and just can’t find the right one. But when the trio go mudlarking in the river bank in search of items that people have dropped there over the years, they find a creature unlike anything else... Granny Mo might have set out looking for a pet but now she’s got a monster on her hands, and it’s about to get up to some mischief!

McCombie is on her best comedy form as she casts a magical spell of family fun, warmth and wit over this laughter-packed tale of the totally unexpected starring two mischievous grandchildren and their fun-loving Granny. Children will delight in these brilliantly bonkers adventures which tap into their fascination with treasure hunting and discovery, while Cosgrove’s picture perfect illustrations bring the story to glorious life. Mudlarking heaven for young adventurers!
(Barrington Stoke, paperback, £6.99)

Age 5 plus
Create-A-Unicorn
Danielle McLean

LITTLE ones won’t be ‘stuck’ for something to do when they get their hands on this cuter-than-cute activity book. Watch their imaginations run wild as they transform a series of everyday objects into magical unicorn friends using hundreds of colourful stickers. Add eyes, mouths, arms, and more to pictures of fruit, candy bars, flowers, toys, and other items.

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With more than three hundred stickers to choose from, colourful artwork by Julie Clough, and lots of fuel to fire up young imaginations, this is the perfect activity book for young artists and little unicorn lovers with BIG imaginations. Also included in this bright and beautiful new Cutie Stickers series is Create-a-Mermaid.
(Little Tiger Press, paperback, £4.99)

Age 3 plus
Sing Like a Whale
Moira Butterfield and Gwen Millward

LEARN how to make a noise like the animals do! Get ready to squeak, peep, roar and hoot like the animals with a fun-filled picture book from the top team of author Moira Butterfield and illustrator Gwen Millward.

Packed with energy, colour and a youthful sense of joy, Sing Like a Whale encourages little ones to whoop and sing and shout, and let their feelings out as they meet a collection of twelve animals from around the world and discover the sounds they make… and why. So open the pages of this wonderful book, hear the call of the wild world, and learn how to make a noise like the animals do! Hoot like an owl, howl like a wolf, roar like a lion, sing like a whale, squeak like a mouse, and laugh like a kookaburra.

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Sing Like a Whale features a different creature on each spread and each animal is accompanied by simple actions and sounds, along with dynamic type design and Millward’s bold illustrations to help children mimic each animal noise. The perfect book to read aloud one-to-one, or as a fun activity to engage a group of young children, promoting their listening skills, letting them vent their emotions, and getting them using their voices and moving their bodies!
(Welbeck Publishing, hardback, £12.99)

Age 3 plus
How Can You Lose an Elephant?
Jan Fearnley 

DOES losing your temper mean you might lose your friends as well? The multi-talented author and illustrator Jan Fearnley works her special magic on this funny, gentle and reassuring picture book story which delivers resonant lessons about friendship, tempers, and making amends.

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Ideal as a parental toolkit to help deal with tantrums, How Can You Lose an Elephant ? stars Oscar, a boy who loses everything — his football boots, his scooter, even his clothes. How lucky he is on a visit to the park when he meets Hugo, an elephant who never forgets anything! Soon the two friends become inseparable and Oscar starts remembering things. But one day, Oscar loses something very important — his temper — which means he might just lose his best friend as well.

Fearnley, creator of the bestselling Mr Wolf’s Pancakes, packs up an elephant trunk full of fun, wisdom, life lessons and gorgeous illustrations as the friendship between Oscar and Hugo casts a warm glow over this cute, cautionary tale.
(Simon & Schuster Children’s Books, hardback, £12.99)

Age 3 plus
Never Mess With a Pirate Princess
Holly Ryan and Siân Roberts

SHIVER me timbers… those pesky pirates have finally met their match in fiery, feisty Princess Prue! All the family are going to be sailing off into the sunset with this super, swashbuckling debut picture book from exciting new team, author Holly Ryan and illustrator Siân Roberts.

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Ideal for adventure-hungry toddlers and the perfect inspiration for both girls and boys, Never Mess With a Pirate Princess is a riotous rhyming romp starring the adorable Prue who just happens to be both a pirate and a princess, and is always ready to fight injustice and crime. Princess Prue was sweet and fair, till pirates stole her teddy bear. Don’t they know… you never mess with Prudence, the pirate princess!

Ryan’s mould-breaking heroine is sure to empower young readers as they share laughs, rhymes and teddy bear crimes. With Roberts’ bright, bold illustrations and the bouncy rhyming text, this blend of pirates and princesses is a joy to share and read aloud, and will help to fire up young imaginations and inspire a lifetime love of reading.
(Little Tiger Press, paperback, £6.99)

Age 3 plus
Bird’s Eye View
Frann Preston-Gannon

MARVEL at a bird’s eye view of the world – and the very different people in it – in a moving picture book from award-winning author and illustrator Frann Preston-Gannon. Bird’s Eye View is a warm, lyrical and revealing exploration of the many sides of humanity and carries with it important messages about taking care of our planet… and each other.

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Little Bird lives in a nest with her mother at the top of a tall tree. But Little Bird is curious about life beyond the forest and one day she leaves the safety and warmth of her nest and goes to explore the world. Her mama warns her to watch out for people, but what are they exactly? On her journey, Little Bird will see many people who are all very different. She sees cruelty and greed, but also the lasting qualities of love and kindness.

Filled with Preston-Gannon’s trademark textured illustrations, with their eye-catching use of colour and bold design, and beautifully capturing the natural world around us, this wise and universally appealing story speaks loudly to readers young and old.
(Templar Publishing, paperback, £6.99)

Age 3 plus
The Rapping Princess
Hannah Lee and Allen Fatimaharan

JUST because you can’t sing doesn’t mean you’re out of tune! Feel the rhythm and find your hidden voice with this fabulous, funky fairytale from author Hannah Lee and illustrator Allen Fatimaharan, the exciting partnership that brought young readers My Hair, a stylish and exuberant debut picture book celebrating the amazing versatility of styling black hair.

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This talented duo emerged from the FAB Prize for undiscovered BAME writers and illustrators and in a clever and playful new rhyming story, they set their sights on a young black princess whose gift for rapping reaps unexpected rewards. Princess Shiloh lives in a kingdom where her mother and father are the Queen and King. Being a princess is a tough job for someone so small but it’s even harder when you have a problem you can’t solve. You see, every princess in the kingdom can sing except for Shiloh… whose special gift is rapping. Can she find her voice and learn to stand out from the crowd in a different way?

It turns out Shiloh might not be able to sing like her sisters but she has other talents, and sometimes it’s about embracing your differences and celebrating them. The Rapping Princess, with its inspirational messages and vibrant illustrations was inspired by rapping ‘queens and princesses’ of our times such as Queen Latifah, Missy Eliot, Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé, and is guaranteed to get tiny tots rapping and tapping to the rhythmic verse!
(Faber & Faber, paperback, £6.99)

Age 2 plus
Roar!
Amelia Hepworth and Jorge Martín

EVERYONE is going to giggle and guffaw when they turn the final page of this upROARious lift-the-flap book! Roar! is the inventive life-the-flap board book creation of author Amelia Hepworth and illustrator Jorge Martín and features a cute animal story with a VERY noisy surprise in its tail.

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Duck is interviewing the animals to find the best roar in town! Could it be Mouse who has been doing a lot of practice, or maybe Penguin who tries his best, and a dog who can only shout Woof? Surely it will be the dinosaur who wins the day… or maybe not! There are lots of monstrously loud laughs to enjoy as youngsters peep under the flaps, follow the story and join in the noisy sign-off.
(Little Tiger Press, board book, £9.99)

Age one plus
Little Nature: Build
Isabel Otter and Pau Morgan

THE animals are ready to build! If your little ones are buzzing to learn about nature, let them take a walk on the wild side with this fascinating board book. There is so much to learn and enjoy as young readers explore creatures that build their own homes and use clever, peek-through holes to uncover their amazing creations.

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This charming book is an ideal and gentle introduction to some amazing wildlife habitats, and lets little ones discover how bees, eagles, spiders and beavers create their homes with beeswax, sticks, silk thread or branches, Made from 100 per cent recycled board to help look after our planet, and beautifully illustrated by Pau Morgan, this clever book is essential reading for all budding eco warriors and nature lovers!
(Little Tiger Press, board book, £6.99)

Age from birth
Little Days Out: At the Shops
Illustrations by Sally Garland

LIFE is a voyage of discovery for little ones so treat them to a series of fun-filled ‘days out’ with this colourful series of board books. Ideal for reading aloud and developing early word recognition, the educational and entertaining Little Days Out series is full of places that are more than likely to become familiar to babies and toddlers.

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Here we go to the shops and peep beneath the large and accessible flaps to discover all the different foods you can find in the supermarket, from fruit and vegetables to sweet treats and freshly baked bread. A tasty dish for curious youngsters who love to explore!
(Catch a Star, board book, £6.99)

Age from birth
Let's Go! On a Submarine
Rosalyn Albert and Natalia Moore

LITTLE ones love to be on the go and the inventive Let’s Go! series is guaranteed to set their engines running!These fun and vibrant board books, which are ideal for preschool age children, come from the stable of Catch a Star, an imprint of New Frontier Publishing which was established in Australia in 2002 with the motto ‘to inspire, educate and uplift.’

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Each book features a mode of transport and uses Rosalyn Albert’s simple, engaging text alongside Natalia Moore’s vibrant illustrations to encourage toddlers and early learners to explore the great outdoors as they begin the early years of discovery.

In Let's Go! On a Submarine, youngsters are invited to go on a submarine and cruise beneath the sea where they discover strange and wonderful creatures who swim fast and free through underwater cities with underwater trees and buildings made of coral. With their fun rhymes, sturdy pages and appealing illustrations, these user-friendly books are a hands-on winner with adventurous (and noisy!) toddlers.
(Catch a Star, board book, £6.99)