How To Kidnap The Rich by Rahul Raina

Reviewer: Catriona Troth

What We Thought Of It:

“The first kidnapping wasn’t my fault. 
The others – they definitely were.”

I have to thank the brilliant Red Hot Chilli Writers podcast for introducing me to this dark and very funny satire on life in contemporary India.

Ramesh Kumar is a not quite a slum kid, but his life is pretty precarious. His father runs a chai stall in Old Delhi, and Ramesh spends most of his days grinding spices rather than attending school.

“My father and I lived in a one-room concrete shell, down an alley, then down another, and another, from the place Western tour guides said was the real India, the one with piles of spices, women in mango-coloured saris, men who smelled of hair oil and incense and dragged cows behind them, stately and fat; the one where whites got out of their AC jeeps and said who overwhelmed they were by the sights and sounds. This India, my India, smells like shit.”

This is Ramesh’s life, until the formidable Sister Claire takes him under his wing. For Ramesh is clever, very clever indeed. Clever enough that he begins taking exams for rich boys too lazy to study for themselves. It’s a nice little earner. Until one day he does just a little too well. He comes top in the All India’s – plunging his client, Rudi, into the national limelight.

Rudi becomes a quiz show host, darling of mothers all over India, and his and Ramesh’s fates become irrevocably bound to one another. But still Ramesh manages to walk a tightrope between success and disaster. Until Rudi offends the son of the wrong man. And the two of them are kidnapped.

The voice of Ramesh, as the first-person narrator of the tale, comes across loud and clear -and very funny. The prime target of his razor-sharp wit is the greed of modern Indian capitalism. But that doesn’t stop him taking some well-aimed swipes at the West, and especially the West’s infatuation with its own notion of ‘India’.

Raina paints a fascinating portrait of the multiple layers of society living cheek by jowl in modern Delhi.

“This was a nice-part, a lower-middle-class striver part of Delhi, on-the-up Delhi, half-filled-metro-hole Delhi […]. I wasn’t even talking about the really foul parts […] where people lived like gnats on a lemur’s ballsack, where everyone was missing teeth or organs or legs and nothing got better even as the GDPs and HDIs were going up, up, up all over United Nations PowerPoint slides.”

But it is Ramesh's escapades with Rudi, as they dig themselves ever deeper in the mess (largely) of their own making that will keep you turning the page deep into the night.

A glorious crime-caper romp wrapped up in a social satire -and a voice I can’t wait to hear more of.

You’ll Enjoy This If You Loved: White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, Q&A by Vikas Swarup, East of Hounslow by Khurrum Rhaman

Avoid If You Dislike: A dose of laughter with your peril (or vice versa).

Perfect Accompaniment: A cup of spiced chai

Genre: Crime, Humour

Buy This Book Here

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

Reviewer: Catriona Troth

What We Thought Of It:

From the opening pages, The Other Black Girl presents as a modern-day office comedy – a Black woman’s Working Girl, or The Devil Wears Prada. But all is not quite what it appears.

Yes, this is a take-down of the Whiteness of the publishing industry – an expose of the blunders and gaffes of its narrow demographic of gatekeepers. But there is a surreal element to it too. And that surreal element takes satirical aim at those who choose compliance and adjacency to power over solidarity and the fight for equality.

When Nella first sees that another Black woman has been hired by her exclusive (and very White) publishing house, she is delighted. But almost at once, something starts to feel off. She can’t put her finger on it, but just why is Hazel able to worm her way into everyone’s good graces so quickly? And who is sending Nella anonymous notes? Is she just jealous? Or paranoid? Or is something really wrong here?

And just what is in that special hair grease Hazel is so keen to share?

The Other Black Girl is playful and at times downright hilarious – but much of the fabric of the story is based on Harris’s own experiences in the publishing industry. It’s not difficult to draw parallels between the book launch at the centre of the story and one or two recent high-profile launches where embarrassing gaffes have been blamed on the lack of having any non-cis/het/white/middle-class staff senior enough to speak up. The absence of what Nella terms “For Us, by Us: the Effect of Black Eyes on Black Ideas.”

A clever and sharp-toothed debut with a sting in its tail. And I love the symbolism of the cover - the broken teeth of the black Afro comb, stark against the rich yellow background.

You’ll Enjoy This If You Loved: Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams; The Yield by Tara June Winch; The Hundred Year Old Man Who Jumped Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonassen;

Avoid If You Dislike: Wondering off the path of realism

Perfect Accompaniment: A luxury hair treatment

Genre: Comedy, satire, contemporary.

Buy This Book Here

Breaking the Lore by Andy Redsmith

Review by JJ Marsh

What we thought:

Inspector Nick Paris doesn’t believe in fairies. Until he finds one crucified at the bottom of a garden. How is he supposed to investigate the murder of something that doesn’t exist?

He needs help and his intellectually challenged sergeant is more of a hindrance. Instead, he must put his faith in a talking crow with a nicotine addition, Tergil the elf, a rock troll and assorted other magical creatures from another realm. He is not ready for this and doubts he ever will be, no matter how much whisky he drinks.

This is a wonderful mash-up of crime caper and comic fairytale, with a laugh on every page. Redsmith has created a thoroughly enjoyable cast of characters, including the deadly Vanethria and his unexpected ally, a witch called Cassandra. The pace is crackling and this tone witty and dry, making this light-hearted adventure one to relish.
I hope we see more of Inspector Paris and his unusual companions.


You’ll enjoy this if you liked: Anything by Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams

Avoid if you don’t like: Urban fantasy and so-bad-they’re-good puns

Ideal accompaniments: Toast with crunchy peanut butter, ginger ale and Grieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King

Genre: Comedy, crime


Available on Amazon

This Green and Pleasant Land by Ayisha Malik

Reviewer: Catriona Troth

What We Thought:

Ayisha Malik has a way of luring you in with a book that appears to be a comedy of manners and then sucker punching you with something much deeper.

This time, Malik takes us away from cosmopolitan London to a sleepy English village of Babbel’s End where Bilal has moved with his young wife and step-son, and where apparently little has changed for hundreds of years

Bilal is the model of what Nikesh Shukla has dubbed the Good Immigrant – educated, integrated, a member of the parish council. His neighbours even call him Bill. But all that changes when a deathbed promise to his mother prompts Bilal to propose building a mosque in the village.

There are echoes here of two much-loved comedy programmes – Little Mosque on the Prairie and The Vicar of Dibley. But as always, inside the velvet glove of Malik’s humour is an iron fist of social commentary. She ruthlessly exposes that veneer that glosses over what Afua Hirsch describes in Brit(ish) as “classic British racism, only half said and half implied a kind of polite prejudice that is only more pernicious for its subtlety.”

Straight after Bilal’s announcement, Shelley, the doyen of the parish council, swings into action. Of course she’s not a racist. It has nothing to do with Bilal’s skin colour. But there was a certain way of doing things in these parts and it doesn’t include the building of mosques!

As the village takes sides between Shelley and Bilal,and the protests get nastier, things are complicated by the arrival of Khala, Bilal’s auntie, recovering after a fall. Khala is everything that Bilal and his wife were not – a visibly Muslim woman with limited English who has lived much of her life in Britain without apparently 'integrating' at all. Yet could she be the one who succeeds in building the bridges that will heal this fractured community?

Malik’s humour is as tender and bittersweet as ever. And the book is surely a foretaste of things to come, as the diversity of Britain’s big cities spreads inexorably out into the countryside. Here’s hoping that voices like Malik’s will help convince everyone that there is nothing to fear from this and everything to celebrate.

You’ll Enjoy This If You Loved: Sofia Kahn is Not Obliged by Ayisha Malik, The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling, Little Mosque on the Prairie (Canadian television show)

Avoid If You Dislike: Exploring the seamier side of English country life

Perfect Accompaniment: Zarda (sweet rice dish with raisins and almonds)

Genre: Literary Fiction, Humour

Available on Amazon

East of Hounslow by Khurrum Rhaman

Reviewer: Catriona Troth

What We Thought:

Somewhere in the territory between The Little Drummer Girl and Kingsman lies East of Hounslow by Khurrum Rhaman.

This is the story of hapless small-time drug dealer, Javid (‘call me Jay’) Qasim who, against all probability, is recruited by MI5 to infiltrate what they believe is a dangerous terrorist cell at his local mosque.

He is – apparently – the perfect candidate. At a turning point in his life. Credible as someone who could be sucked into extremism. But why did MI5 pick him over all other candidates? And why exactly is the leader of the cell so keen to have him along?

Rhaman’s MI5 is a bit shoddy and rundown – nothing like the hi-tech world of programmes like Spooks. And his terrorists are a long way from the extremist stereotypes and the bogeymen of the tabloid press. And yet the threat they pose is real enough. Will Jay be able to stop them? And at what cost to himself?

Rhaman’s world is an uneasy balance between the absurd and the all-too-probable – a reflection of our society and its fears that creates a kind of uncanny valley. You’ll laugh, and then wonder maybe if you should be laughing – and then laugh again because sometimes laughter is the best weapon against fear.

You’ll Enjoy This If You Loved: Dear Infidel by Tamim Sadikali, Brothers in Blood by Amer Anwar, Three Lions (film).

Avoid If You Dislike: Finding humour in terrorism and counter-terrorism

Perfect Accompaniment: A pint of San Miguel

Genre: Thriller, Humour

Available on Amazon

The Other Half of Happiness by Ayisha Malik

Reviewer: Catriona Troth

What We Thought:

If Sofia Khan thought dating was hard, she is about to find out that marriage is even harder – especially when you haven’t spend quite enough time finding out about each other before tying the knot in a Karachi mosque.

Sofia’s mother won’t believe she is married unless they have a proper wedding ceremony back home, her husband is turning out to be a much more complicated creature than she’d imagined and now her publisher wants her to follow her book about Muslim dating with one about Muslim marriage. Just how many more problems can Sofia handle?

As ever, it is Sofia’s circle of irrepressible friends, Suj, Foz, Hannah and her sister Maars, who uphold her and sustain her through what will turn out to be the toughest time of her life.

Sofia Khan continues to demolish every stereotype of Muslim women. She is sexy, funny, with a huge heart - and just as confused about life as any modern woman. And she is absolutely nobody’s pushover.

Along the way, The Other Half of Happiness encompasses the pitfalls of book promotion for a Muslim woman, the manners and mores of Asian weddings and several things-you-never-knew about Ramadan.

From the opening lines to its unexpected ending, The Other Half of Happiness veers from bittersweet to laugh-out-loud funny. At the end, Sofia appears to be poised on the edge of another new adventure. But it may be a while (if ever) before we find out what happens next. Ayisha Malik is working on new book about building a mosque in an English country village that, sadly, doesn’t feature Sofia at all.

You’ll Enjoy This If You Loved: Sofia Khan is not Obliged by Ayisha Malik, Life Isn’t All Ha Ha Hee Hee by Meera Syall, The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

Avoid If You Dislike: Romantic Comedy tinged with an edge of sadness

Perfect Accompaniment: Masala chai and a lot of biscuits

Genre: Romance, Comedy


Available on Amazon

Life After Men (A Silver Sex Kittens Short Story #1) by Jean Gill and Karen Charlton

Reviewer: Liza Perrat, author of the French Historical, The Bone Angel trilogy (Spirit of Lost Angels, Wolfsangel, Blood Rose Angel) and new Australian 1970s series: The Silent Kookaburra and The Swooping Magpie.

What we thought: What a heart-warming and entertaining short story! Well, long short story really.

Being of a similar age, mid-50s, I could readily identify with the two main characters: Carys and Moira, just enjoying life and attempting to do the things they were always afraid of doing, or never got the opportunity, earlier in life.

We are introduced to other “Sex Kittens” in this story –– single, divorced or widowed women –– creating a humorous, warm-hearted and supportive circle of friends for future stories.

This story might not be long, but already we can see the characters changing, accepting their new life circumstances, and trying to make the best of them –– something with which many women of this age are faced. A situation that can be challenging, when one’s bloom of youth has faded, and when you lack the heart or stamina to “begin again”.

However, this story, the first of many in this series I believe, gives us hope that starting over is, in fact, possible. And maybe even enjoyable.

Funny, witty, laugh-out-loud, I would highly recommend Life After Men and I can’t wait for the next “Sex Kittens” story.

Avoid if you don’t like: Coming of Age stories featuring older women.

Ideal accompaniments: A glass of chilled white wine and some 80s music.

Genre: chick lit, humorous, short story

Available on Amazon

Can You Brexit without Breaking Britain? By Dave Morris and Jamie Thomson

Reviewer: JJ Marsh

What we thought:

An interactive gamebook which puts the reader in to the Prime Minister's shoes. Every decision you make has an effect and you must deal with the consequences. For such a polarising issue, this is accessible to all and good fun while making you think.

You wake up on the morning after the Brexit vote and choose your first move. Flip to the relevant page and pick your next option. When you hit a dead-end, go back to the fork in the road and have another go. This is not just about running the country, but maintaining control of your party and shining a light on yourself.

The PM must deal with quandary after crisis, all the while keeping tally of one's score under four headings: Authority, Economy, Goodwill and Popularity. Who must you keep happy? Who do you listen to? Where can you find friends? What advice dare you trust?

While witty and acerbic with a sly dig at the contemporary players in the Brexit drama, this is well researched and intelligently thought out. Facts and realities underpin every move and you cannot claim a lack of knowledge as all the implications are there on paper.

Bear in mind the British media are watching, ready to criticise everything from your choice of holiday to frivolous footwear. Reading this while watching the reality play out on our TV screens is a bizarre experience.

Highly recommended for anyone who wonders what the hell is going on and why. Warning: might possibly make you feel sorry for Theresa May.

You’ll enjoy this if you like: Witty political drama such as The Thick of It; Yes, Minister; Dear Bill

Avoid if you don’t like: Politics, the British, having to deal with the fallout of your decisions

Ideal accompaniments: Full English breakfast, a pint of British Bulldog and Bach's St John Passion

Genre: Humour, Contemporary

Available on Amazon

How Not to Be a Boy by Robert Webb

Review by JJ Marsh

What we thought:

Perhaps because so much of Webb’s upbringing reflected my own references, obsessions and interests – but as a girl – I found this wholly absorbing.

His angle is why masculinity is all messed up and he uses himself as an example. It’s hard to disagree. He does not shirk from all the teenage toss and mature arseholery, giving his younger self both a cringe and a pass.

Going from early childhood to maturity, we experience the world in present tense through the eyes of young Robert. He progresses from princeling, to adolescent, to adult with sharp self-assessment framed by the background he grew up against.

What does it mean to be a man? Who are your role models? What if you fancy boys as well as girls? What if you’re afraid of your father figure?

This makes the book sound soul-searching and miserable when it is precisely the former and not at all the latter. I laughed aloud so many times and noted great lines, while occasionally dabbing my eyes at the more poignant moments.

This is a grown-up analysis of why we should all be feminists under a personally searching light.

It’s an excellent, thought-provoking read from a very funny writer, who punctures his own ego and addresses how he rejects traditional masculine roles while frequently fulfilling them.

Highly recommended.



You’ll enjoy this if you liked: Believe Me by Eddie Izzard, How to be a Girl by Caitlin Moran

Avoid if you don’t like: Memoir, analysis of gender conditioning, good jokes

Ideal accompaniments: A pint of Carlsberg, a fish finger sandwich and the theme to Star Wars.



Available on Amazon

Scotland Yardie by Bobby Joseph; illus Joseph Samuels

Reviewer: Catriona Troth

What We Thought:

Graphic novels aren’t usually my thing, but when I read that it was “the first UK, Black, urban graphic novel that takes on institutionalised racism, police brutality, Brexit and the gentrification of London through the lens of satire,” I couldn’t resist.

Scotland Yardie is a spliff-smoking, gun-toting Jamaican police officer parachuted into Brixton cop shop as part of the latest drive against institutionalised racism. He is partnered with PC Ackee-Saltfish, a home-grown black police officer determined to follow all the rules and be better than all the rest.

Together they must combat racism, corrupt police officers and a dangerous new drug taking over Brixton's streets.

Scotland Yardie plays on tropes that have been the mainstay of cop buddy films and TV shows from Lethal Weapon to Due South. But Joseph turns them on its head, makes fun of their conventions and pushes them to their most illogical extreme in order to satirise racism, ham-fisted anti-racism and modern British policing.

The delight of the graphic novel lies in a large measure in the illustrations by Joseph Samuels. The often quite crowded background images are packed with pop-culture references – such as the school gates where the teachers on show range from Jack Whitehall from Bad Education to Snape from Harry Potter. Or the taxi driver who is straight out of Taxi Driver.

The main pop-culture crossover in Scotland Yardie, however, is with Breaking Bad. I don’t want to give too much away, but if you are a fan of the show (especially a British fan), you will love the spin Joseph has put on it.

Scotland Yardie may be a revival of a comic originally created for Skank magazine in the 1990s, but it is bang up-to-date. It brings in Boris Johnson, Brexit - even Broadchurch.

Outrageous, irreverent and needle sharp.


You’ll Enjoy This If You Loved: East of Acre Lane by Alex Wheatle, Breaking Bad, 2000AD

Avoid If You Dislike: Politics in your graphic novels

Perfect Accompaniment: Fried Chicken

Genre: Graphic Novel

Available on Amazon

Shameless by Paul Burston

Reviewer: David C Dawson www.davidcdawson.co.uk.

What We Thought:
This is a real Marmite of a book. You either love it or you hate it. I first read Shameless several years ago and I laughed out loud many times while reading it. The book is like Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City - except with far more drugs and gay bitchiness.

Paul Burston was a well-known writer on gay topics for the London-based Time Out magazine by the time Shameless, his first novel, came out in 2001. He has published three novels since, and several short stories.

Thirty-two year old Martin works in advertising. He is kind and decent, unsuited to the cut and thrust of corporate life. At the start of the book, his boyfriend of four years has run off with a male prostitute. His friends John and Caroline are far too distracted by their drug-use and egotistical problems to be of any use to Martin. With no one to turn to, he decides to throw himself into a wild, hedonistic lifestyle. One that he feels he missed out on in his youth.

This is when Burston exposes Martin to the full on, and potentially destructive world of late 1990s gay London. The caricatures of gym bunnies, leather men, twinks and cocaine clubbers are brilliantly drawn. Martin is drawn into the excesses of a shameless, self-obsessed, cliquey world. Because Burston writes this as a morality tale, Martin ultimately finds that there is a price to pay.

Paul Burston’s style of writing is fresh and easy to read. His observations are shockingly accurate. I cannot tell you how I know this. Trust me, they are.

Shameless is witty, bitchy, trashy, camp, sweet and frothy, but always lots of fun. The characters of Martin, John and Caroline are fully formed and true to life. The essence of the London club-scene jumps from the pages. Paul Burston's books are accessible and unpretentious. His stories rocket along, like an express train. They are filled with humour, pathos and occasional insight.

I strongly recommend this book, unless you are of a nervous disposition. If you are, I would simply say, you should get out more.

You’ll enjoy this if you like: The Gay Divorcee: Paul Burston, Tales of the City: Armistead Maupin

Avoid if you don’t like: Occasional explicit sex description and drug usage

Ideal accompaniments: A very pink gin

Genre: Humour, LGBTQ

Available from Amazon

A Spot of Bother, by Mark Haddon

Reviewer: JJ Marsh

What We Thought: Haddon’s breakthrough novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, gave the reader the unusual experience of piecing together a mystery through the eyes of Charlie, a young boy on the autistic disorder spectrum. In A Spot of Bother, we experience a domestic drama through various perspectives.

George, recently retired, finds a lesion on his hip. Despite his doctor’s assurances that it is eczema, he becomes convinced it’s cancer. He begins having panic attacks and seeing death and disease everywhere. His mental imbalance affects his wife, Jean, who has been quietly having an affair. To add to the disturbance, their daughter Katy announces she’s getting married to Ray, whom nobody likes. This bombshell causes a ripple effect and creates a rift in her brother’s relationship with Tony.

Haddon’s prose is spare and fluid, making you laugh aloud while wishing the characters knew what you know. There’s an almost theatrical feel to the way the scenes build to acts and climax in set pieces which border on farce. It’s a deceptively easy read, light in tone and suburban in setting, yet explores the heart of human relationships. Best of all, the fact we see the same incidents from differing perspectives forces us to acknowledge our own personal filters of experience. Not exactly a comfort read, but ultimately comforting.

Ideal accompaniments: a white wine spritzer, a tube of sour cream and chives Pringles and Gardeners’ Question Time on in the background.

You’ll enjoy this if you like: Alan Bennett, Mike Leigh, David Nicholls.

Avoid if you don’t like: suburban domestic drama set in Peterborough.

Genre: General fiction

Available from Amazon

No Bed for Bacon by Caryl Brahms and SJ Simon

Reviewer: Catriona Troth

What we thought: In 1941, at the height of the London Blitz, two immigrants – a Russian bridge player and a second-generation Turkish ballet critic – set out to write what would turn out to be one of the most quintessentially English comic novels ever written. The two were both fire wardens, and when they weren’t on duty together, they would leave each other cryptic notes in the watch’s log, to the puzzlement of their fellow wardens.

It may seem strange to review a book that was written almost three-quarters of a century ago. But this is a book I read and reread until the original Penguin paperback I found on my parents’ bookshelves fell apart in my hands, and only to start all over again when it was reprinted after the film, Shakespeare in Love, came out.

At its heart, No Bed for Bacon shares its story with Shakespeare in Love – a young noblewoman who falls in love with the theatre and disguises itself as a girl-boy-player. But while the film focuses on the love story between Shakespeare and Viola, Brahms and Simon give us the whole panoply of Elizabethan life. Like a Brueghel or a Where’s Wally picture, the story romps from one vignette to another. One moment, we’re in the thick of court intrigue, and the next we’re with the horse holders outside the theatre, or conspiring with rival theatre managers, or playing witness to the execution of Mary Queen of Scots.

Dipping in and out of original sources – from Philip Henslowe’s account book to first-hand descriptions of the burning of the Globe Theatre – the two authors play fast and loose with history, without ever quite departing from it. We are treated to a host of comic creations, from a vain Raleigh and a miserly Lord Burghley to a Francis Bacon who bears a suspicious resemblance to Malvolio. Along the way, the authors have a sly dig at those who theorise that Bacon was the real author of the plays.

My favourite passage is where the ageing Queen Elizabeth, surrounded by her old sea dogs on a royal barge that has run aground in the Thames, relives the defeat of the Armada. But there is so much to choose from. As the authors themselves say in their opening note, “This book is fundamentally unsound.” And all the better for it.

You'll enjoy this if you love: The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson, The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde, Shakespeare in Love

Avoid if you dislike: Playing fast and loose with history, mocking Shakespeare

Perfect Accompaniment: A foaming mug of ale

Genre: Humour. Historical fiction, Historical absurdity

Available from Amazon

The Days of Anna Madrigal by Armistead Maupin

Reviewer: Catriona Troth

What We Thought: When I was pregnant with my first child, my uncle handed me a copy of Tales of the City. “Perfect when you can’t concentrate for long,” he said. He was right. It was also the beginning of a love affair that has lasted over twenty years.

This week I have had the pleasure and the pain of listening to the BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Significant Others (the 5th volume of the series) by day, while reading the 9th and apparently final volume, The Days of Anna Madrigal, by night.

Tales of the City is the granddaddy the modern serial novel, beginning life as a weekly column in the San Francisco Examiner. Like Alexander McCall Smith’s 44 Scotland Street or Todd Babiak’s The Book of Stanley, it brings together an ensemble of eccentric characters, one of which is the city in which it is set.

If you haven’t read any Tales before, this is not the place to start. You need to go back to the beginning, climb the wooden steps to 28 Barbary Lane in 1976, meet the young Mrs Madrigal as, one by one, she gathers her ‘logical family’ around her. As Brian tells his new wife, “It makes more sense if you’ve lived it”

It is, however, a fitting swansong for the series. Anna Madrigal, now 92, is determined she will “leave like a lady.” But first she has some unfinished business. While Michael, Shawna, Ben and Jake make their way to the Burning Man Festival in Nevada (“a Fellini carnival on Mars,” as Michael dubs it), she travels with Brian and Wren back to the town of Winnemucca and the Blue Moon whorehouse where it all began.

Male, female, gay, straight, transsexual – Anna Madrigal loves all her children. Her reflections on Michael (“In no time at all an entire orchestra of gender traits were at Michael’s command and he took joy in the mix.”) would serve equally as a metaphor for the whole tolerant, quirky, creative community that surrounds her.

For forty years, Maupin has charted the history of the San Francisco gay community, from the hedonistic beginnings of the Gay Pride movement in the 70s, through the first wave of AIDS deaths in the 80s, to survival into a middle age that neither Maupin nor his creation, Michael Tolliver, expected to have. Now in his sixties, Michael is embracing, a little reluctantly and from the perspective of a slightly bemused uncle, a new decade – financially impoverished, social media savvy – but in its own way, as bravely experimental as the first.

As this story closes, there are hints that the fourth generation of this 'logical family' is on its way. But it seems that Maupin is leaving it to someone else to write their story. He and Michael are bowing out.

In many ways, the Tales are novels of manners. This book, like the previous ones, is sprinkled with pop-culture references (Game of Thrones, True Blood...) that will no doubt baffle future generations of readers. Before long, the world Maupin describes will seem as outmoded as Jane Austen’s.

His characters, though, will live on, as vivid and loveable as ever. Anna Madrigal, Michael Tolliver: we salute you.

You’ll enjoy this if you like: Tales of the City vols 1-8, 44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith, The Open Arms of the Sea by Jasper Dorgan.

Avoid if you don’t like: Serial novels with ensemble casts and negligible plots, casual references to gay sex and drug use.

Ideal accompaniments: A cup of Arabian Mocha, “the sinsemilla of coffees."

Genre: LGBT fiction, Humour

Available from Amazon

Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett

Reviewer: Catriona Troth

What we thought: Back in summer 2013, Terry Pratchett came to Beaconsfield Library. He and Rob Wikins, his close friend and assistant, had just sent off the first draft of Raising Steam to their editor. Rob read a passage from near the beginning, when the Discworld gets its first glimpse of a steam train.

“The bystanders, most of whom were by now byrunners, and in certain instances bystampeders, fled and complained, except of course for every little boy of any age who followed it with eyes open wide, vowing there and then that he would be the captain of the terrible noxious engine, oh yes, indeed!”

It’s clear on every page of this book that Terry and Rob are still at heart small boys goggling at a locomotive. The love of steam is woven into every passage.

Raising Steam sees the return of Moist von Lipwig, former conman and thief, whose gift of getting along with people of all species have led him to run, in turn, Ankh-Morpork’s Post Office, Clacks, Bank, Mint – and now the Ankh-Morpork and Sto Plains Hygenic Railway. Under the (largely) benign direction of Vetenari, he finds himself in partnership with engineering genius, Dick Simnel, and serial entrepreneur Sir Harry King, the King of the Golden River (formerly Piss Harry).

What begins as an idea to build a line from Ankh-Morpork to Sto Lat, to enable fresh produce to be brought to the city before it spoils, becomes a race against time to build a line all the way to Uberwald when the Low King of the Dwarfs is overthrown by extremists.

But like all Discworld books, this is so much more than a story about the building of a railway. With his sights as firmly as ever on our world, in this, his last adult Discworld novel, Pratchett tackles terrorism and religious fundamentalism. It’s perhaps not his most subtle dig ever, but when the grags – the deep dwarfs that want to bring down the modern world - destroy one of clacks towers on which Ankh-Morpork’s communications depend, Vetanari’s response is “This isn’t war. This is a crime.”

One theme that has run through all the Discworld novels is the redemption of species once regarded with fear and suspicion. Trolls, werewolves, vampires - they've all been given a chance to show that they, too, are just as human as the rest of us. And now it is the turn of the goblins, first introduced in Unseen Academicals and enlarged upon in Snuff, to complete their road to hero status. For it turns out the goblins are very good mechanics indeed, as well as determined fighters.

In fact the only species I can think of who have never been redeemed by Pratchett are the Elves, who in Lords and Ladies turned out to be very unpleasant indeed. Perhaps in the Discworld’s very last outing, Shepherd’s Crown, (the fourth and last Tiffany Aching book, to be published in September) they too may get their chance.

I can’t wait.

You’ll enjoy this if you like: Any of Terry Pratchett's books, especially the Moist von Lipwig stories (Going Postal, Making Money); The Titfield Thunderbolt (film)

Avoid if you don’t like: Satire based on a fantasy world.

Ideal accompaniments: A cup of tea and a bacon sandwich, cooked on the stoker's shovel.

Genre: Humour, Satire

Available from Amazon

The Biology of Luck, by Jacob Appel

Reviewer: JJ Marsh

What We Thought: One of the greatest things about being a reviewer is that you get sent things you might never have discovered. The Biology of Luck is one such find.

This is the story of Larry Bloom, and one key day in his life as a tour guide of New York City. Larry has a date that evening with the woman he worships, Starshine, and he will offer his love. To prove himself, Larry has written a novel, fictionalising Starshine’s life. He called it The Biology of Luck and sent it to an agent.

In the morning, he receives a reply from the literary agency but does not open the letter. He will wait till he is in the presence of Starshine to know if he is a success or a failure. He will risk his day collapsing into double rubble for the hope one ‘yes’ might trigger a second.

The book follows Bloom on one extraordinary day when he swings from optimism and love for his city to maudlin misery which drives him to contemplate jumping off a bridge. Meanwhile, the reader follows Starshine through her day, which is fictionalised in the words of Larry Bloom.

It’s a daring experiment with form and in fact character, as we only grow to know the Starshine as seen through Larry’s eyes. But it works. It’s fabulously written and conjures a cast of secondary characters whom you’d happily follow into their own stories: Bone, the one-armed caretaker; Eucalyptus, the morbid ivory-carver; Colby, the trust-fund plastic-romantic; Jack, the fifty-four year old revolutionary who sees Amsterdam as the promised land; the Armenian florist who can read your luck in your face; Aunt Agatha who loves the feel of fruit and Ziggy Borasch in search of the Great American Sentence... I could go on.

The analytical self-absorption of our two protagonists feels like a hall of mirrors leading us with increasing tension to the big moment. This is a literary comedy, crammed with superb set pieces which border on farce, threaded with observations on New York, history and luck, accompanied by allusions from Homer to Joyce, and references from Whitman to Batman. An absolute delight from a truly impressive writer.

You’ll enjoy this if you like: Ned Beauman, Woody Allen, Thomas Pynchon, NYC

Avoid if you dislike: Introspective main characters, unconventional narratives, present tense

Ideal accompaniments: Eat a pastrami and corned beef sandwich. Drink a Manhattan with rye whiskey. Then agonise over whether you’re being clichéd or postmodern.

Genre: Literary, humour

Available from Amazon

Callum Fox and the Mousehole Ghost by AC Hatter

Reviewer: Catriona Troth

What we thought: Callum is on his way to Cornwall to stay with the grandfather he barely knows. He doesn’t know it, but he is following in the footsteps of Jim, an evacuee from London sent to Cornwall at the start of the Second World War.

But when Callum has a head-on collision with an ambulance in the Cornish village of Mousehole, his life collides with Jim’s. Somehow in the course of the accident, he has acquired the ability to see ghosts. And when the ghosts realise, they won’t leave him alone.

Jim is a ghost too, but he keeps insisting he is granddad’s best friend, which to Callum makes no sense at all. He must have died when he was still a kid.

Callum Fox is funny, exciting and full of intrigue. Hatter skilfully blends story lines in the past and the present.

The story is rooted deep in the Cornish landscape, from the tiny fishing port of Mousehole to the tin mine at Geevor where the story reaches its tense climax. Whether you know Cornwall or not, Hatter’s writing will transport you straight there.

You’ll enjoy this if you liked: Carrie’s War by Nina Bawden, The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson

Avoid if you dislike: Blending history with humour and a dose of the paranormal

Perfect Accompaniment: a ice cream cone on the beach

Genre: Children’s Lit, humour, history, paranormal

Available from Amazon

The Girl Who Saved The King of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson

Reviewer: Catriona Troth

What we thought: Jonas Jonasson has a genius for finding the cracks in history, inserting his characters into them and spinning out of them a surreal shaggy dog story. His books read like A Series of Unfortunate Events for grownups.

The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden starts in Soweto in the 1970s, with Nombeko, an illiterate latrine attendant with a special knack for numbers. Having had the misfortune to be run over on her fifteenth birthday by the Chief Engineer of South Africa’s secret nuclear weapons programme, Nombeko finds herself as a bonded labourer in his office, surrounded by barbed wire fences and guard dogs. The only glimmer of hope is that she is considerably smarter than her new boss.

Thousands of miles away, in Sweden, twins are born to monarchy-hating Ingmar Qvist, both of whom will be called Holger but only one of whom will officially exist.

Between those two improbable circumstances lies a web of bizarre coincidences and narrowly avoided disasters.

I am not quite sure how Jonasson gets away with putting the current Swedish Prime Minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt , along with King Carl Gustaf, in the back of a potato truck along with a bomb that was never supposed to exist. But somehow he does.

It helps if you know enough about 20th Century history to recognise when real world figures – such as Chinese President Hu Jintao – intrude on the story. But the story can be enjoyed even if you aren’t entirely sure where real life ends and fantasy begins.

You’ll enjoy this is you liked: The Hundred Year Old Man Who Jumped Out of the Window and Disappeared.

Avoid if you dislike: playing fast and loose with world history

Perfect Accompaniment: chicken casserole, potatoes and lots of vodka (and a small package of antelope meat)

Genre: Comic Fiction

Available from Amazon

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

Reviewer: Catriona Troth

What we thought: Don Tillman is a professor of genetics at a prestigious Australian university. He is also an undiagnosed sufferer from Asperger’s Syndrome, who governs his life via time slots allocated to his Standardized Meal System, scheduled work-out, household cleaning, work assignments and his only two friends, Gene and Claudia. So when he decides he needs to get married, he approaches the problem scientifically, designing a sixteen-page questionnaire aimed at finding his perfectly compatible woman.

But when Gene introduces Rosie, a wildcard who could hardly be a worse fit with Don’s carefully thought out measures, he starts to discover that there is more to relationships than shared values and tastes. He also plumbs some hitherto unsuspected depths in his own character.

This is a feel-good book, full of charm and dry wit. It will make you stop and think about what really makes a perfect match – and how we recognise one when we find it. It will also remind you that it's never too late to try something new, or something out of your comfort zone.

You’ll enjoy this if you liked: Salmon Fishing on the Yemen by Paul Torday, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka

Avoid if you dislike: Geeks, lists and questionnaires

Perfect Accompaniment: lobster, mango and avocado salad, champagne and cocktails

Genre: Comic Fiction

Available from Amazon