All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Reviewer: Liza Perrat, author of Spirit of Lost Angels, Wolfsangel and Blood Rose Angel

What we thought: Set in both Germany and France before and during WWII, this brilliant literary masterpiece moves back and forth in time, switching points of view amongst several finely-spun characters with whom we identify and empathise. Through beautifully flowing prose, the author paints pictures of light, and dark, and everything in between.

It is an amazing story of determination and love from both sides of WW2 and Occupied France. The author weaves historical fact––The German Occupation of France and the secret radio broadcasts of the French resistance––with the fictive story of a cursed diamond, into a rich and compelling story, deftly guiding the reader toward the day when gifted German boy, Werner, and blind French girl, Marie-Laure meet during the bombing of Saint-Malo.

Right from the first page, each small part of the story puzzle fits together as deftly as the miniature models Marie-Laure’s father constructs to help his daughter navigate the streets of Paris and Saint-Malo. And culminates in an unpredictable outcome as the final plot piece slots into place to uncover the hidden treasure.

Heartbreaking but ultimately uplifting, this portrayal of the light we don’t, or cannot see, is nothing short of dazzling; a novel to inhabit, to learn from and to mourn once it’s finished.

You’ll like this if you enjoyed: literary works such as The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey, The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt and Sue Monk Kidd’s The Invention of Wings.

Avoid if you don’t like: character-driven, descriptive drama that doesn’t necessarily end happily ever after.

Ideal accompaniments: glass of smoky Bordeaux red wine, a portion of pigeon pie and a comfortable armchair (you won’t be moving for a while).

Genre: Historical Literary Fiction

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Us by David Nicholls

Reviewer: JJ Marsh

What we thought: Like much of Nicholls’ previous work, this is a gentle, carefully observed bittersweet romcom with surprising depth. Douglas Petersen recounts the story of how he met Connie, his wife, their love affair and the early years of their marriage. This is interwoven with his current situation twenty-five years on, when Connie is thinking of leaving him.

The family, Douglas, Connie and their 17-year-old son Albie, had planned to spend their summer holiday travelling Europe, doing The Grand Tour. Despite the precarious state of their relationship, Connie insists they should go ahead with their plans, stating that just as the trip made a man of all those 18th century adventurers, it will have the same effect on their son. The trip does indeed make a man of both him and his father.

Douglas is tightly buttoned, understated and very cautious. He believes that with careful organisation and the right mindset, he will be able to save his marriage and improve the father and son dynamic. Circumstances and his own attitudes, however, conspire against him, and he finds himself behaving most out of character. He learns to let go and in doing so, discovers who he really is.

Read with skilful nuances and a light touch by Justin Salinger, the book is laugh-aloud funny in places. These alternate with typically Nicholls touching, thoughtful and recognisable moments which occur in every relationship. As with One Day, he sidesteps the Hollywood resolution and provides surprises right till the end.

A perceptive and wonderfully observed novel to leave you thinking.

Favourite line: "As long as there is breath in my body, she will never lack for AA batteries."

You’ll enjoy this if you liked: One Day, The 7.39, Love Actually, A Spot of Bother

Avoid if you don’t like: Family tensions, European cities, parallel timelines

Ideal accompaniments: A baguette with ham & cheese, a bottle of Amstel and Björk’s Human Behaviour.

Genre: Contemporary

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The Six and the Crystals of Ialana by Katlynn Brooke

Reviewer: JW Hicks

What we thought: An ideal first read for young adults attracted by the fantasy genre.

Fundamentally this novel is a Quest story. Three village boys, Jarah, Blaidd and Adain are forcibly conscripted into the army. Tristram, a young soldier press ganged some years before them, helps them escape. The escape is instigated by the onset of the mysterious dreams they all share. The dreams set them on a quest of discovery. Not only do they learn about reincarnation and their own past lives, but they gain astonishing information about the world they live in.

On their travels they meet three other dream guided teens, Djana, Kex and Tegan, and discover new things about themselves, some pleasing... some horribly disturbing and deeply troubling.

The questers viewing their past lives through dreams, learn that their deaths were brought about by treachery, that they were betrayed by one of their number; one of their brother questers.

Together and with some other-worldly help the companions must defeat an all-powerful enemy and prevent the cataclysmic destruction of their world.

This fast moving story is packed with peril and unexpected twists and turns... and magic, oodles and oodles of magic.

You’ll enjoy this if you like: The Beast Quest series and the works of Andre Norton and Terry Brooks

Avoid if you don’t like: Magic, mystery and psychic crystals.

Ideal accompaniments: For adults: A deckchair within sound of the sea and a tall glass of Pimm’s No 1. For teens: a flagon of Iron Bru, a family sized packet of Kettle Chips, and a comfy sofa.

Genre: Fantasy

The Bitter Trade by Piers Alexander

Reviewer: Gillian Hamer, author of The Charter, Closure, Complicit, Crimson Shore & False Lights (www.gillianhamer.com)

What we thought: I'm not sure what I was expecting from this novel after reading the synopsis, but my expectations were well and truly surpassed by a debut novel which feels as if it has been confidently penned by a master of the craft.

Opening in 1688, we are introduced to Calumny Spinks, our central character, whom, despite his impoverished beginnings seems destined to lead a life of intrigue and adventure. Lanky-limbed and redheaded, Calumny comes alive to the reader, who are soon grinning at his clever wit, his talent at mimicry and his thirst for rule-breaking. He's a wonderful character, and I found great pleasure in taking Calumny's hand and allowing him to take me on a journey of sounds, smells, tastes, that brought alive the city of London during that period.

Each character we encounter leaps off the page, each road we tread feels authentic, and the language, style and pace are all polished to perfection. So, what can I say. If I had boxes to tick it would be tick, tick, tick, tick and tick. Any negatives? Only one ... we have to wait for the follow up. Highly recommended!

You’ll enjoy this if you like: Hilary Mantel, Sarah Waters, Elizabeth Chadwick.

Avoid if you don’t like: Period settings and London locations.

Ideal accompaniments: Porridge and ale.

Genre: Historical Fiction.

Available from Amazon

The End of the Affair by Graham Greene

Reviewer: JJ Marsh

What we thought: In response to the interview question ‘Which book do you wish you’d written?’, Charlie Maclean mentioned this classic. A title I knew but had never read. Then I spotted the audiobook narrated by Colin Firth. Done deal. Any excuse for that man’s cadences in my earhole.

Firth’s voice does indeed add all kinds of wonderful to this story, but there’s already a very good reason this is a classic. It’s thoughtful, beautiful, angry, passionate, tragic and layered. At its heart is the love affair between Bendrix and Sarah. At its soul is the essential question – how to live one’s life?

Greene starts his story at the end, and the beginning. Bendrix meets the cuckolded husband, Henry, on the common. Friends once, they have a drink and a sequence of events is set in motion. Bendrix’s passionate love affair with his wife is, at her instigation, over. Their passions, however, are not so easily extinguished.

Characters struggle on three fronts: circumstances, desires and acceptable behaviour, as the narrative flicks back and forth between past and present with a terrible, classically tragic inevitability. The backdrop is WWII, and Greene makes the best use of a literal and metaphorical dropped bomb.

Layers peel away revealing other affections, superstitions, class distinctions and sympathies/antipathies based on social conditioning.

Impossible to say more without wrecking the enjoyment for the why-have-I-never-read-this-before reader. Read it and relish the joy of a master storyteller.


You’ll enjoy this if you liked: Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks, Atonement by Ian McEwan, The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

Avoid if you don’t like: Slow burning stories, switching timelines, buttoned-down British characters

Ideal accompaniments: An English muffin with salted butter, chicory coffee and Don’t Me Fence Me In, by Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters

Genre: Literary fiction, classic 

Available from Amazon

Palomino Sky by Jan Ruth

Reviewer: JD Smith, author of Tristan and Iseult and the Overlord series www.jdsmith-author.co.uk

What we thought: Palomino Sky is the second book in The Midnight Sky series, following the lives of James and Laura. Whilst the book is a sequel, I have read it as a standalone, and found myself immediately immersed in the couple's wedding plans.

Will it go smoothly? I think we all know the answer to that.

Laura's fun and loving, she just wants to be held and to live the life she sees before them. She wants to be married and be happy. But James is still running from his dead wife, He wants to sell his farmhouse and accompanying stables, a place that seems so perfect for him and Laura, but holds too many daily reminders of his previous life and love. And then a devastating accident throws him back into depression.

Maggie's more down to earth and matter-of-fact. Deep down she desires to feel needed after her husband is made redundant and promptly turns their family home into a B&B. And with too much time on her hands she's prone to meddling. But when her daughter's liaison with an undesirable man comes to light, everything is thrown into chaos.

Jan Ruth writes with the honesty and reflection that gives a very real representation of life and the way we live. Her characters are more than 3D, they live and breathe, they are people you and I know in our own lives. They are our neighbours and our friends, and depict a life filled with the same dramas we face day to day.

You’ll enjoy this if you like: Drama, relationships, funny stories, Bridget Jones.

Avoid if you don’t like: Romance, annoying teenagers, horses.

Ideal accompaniments: Mug of hot chocolate, packet of custard creams.

Genre: Women's fiction

Available from Amazon

The Demented Lady Detectives' Club

Reviewer: Barbara Scott Emmett, author of Delirium: The Rimbaud Delusion, The Land Beyond Goodbye, and Don’t Look Down.

What We Thought: There are two narrative strands in this novel. One is written from the point of view of a woman with a colourful past, which she attempts to record before dementia hits and her memory goes. She remains unnamed until near the end. The other strand focuses on Janet Bretherton, a widow who we first met in The English Lady Murderers' Society.

Janet now lives in a small town in Devon where she is starting to make friends and find a way to live on her own. In this novel, as in the previous one, we are offered a selection of older women to get to know, along with Janet. Belle, who Janet met in France is visiting and may become a permanent resident. Christine runs an esoteric bookshop, Sandra works as a psychic, Frieda has a vintage clothes shop and there are three or four others. All these ladies belong to a bookclub and meet regularly.

When a mysterious man is found dead in the river, speculation is rife as to who he might be and who (if anyone) killed him. The bookclub members jokingly suggest they become The Demented Lady Detectives' Club. Janet, a writer of detective novels, takes the idea more seriously and, with Belle's help, tries to work out who the man was and what happened to him. She reasons that the answer to these questions will be the most obvious ones and can therefore be discovered simply from the known facts. She has, however, despite her acquaintance with DI Stephen Gregg, very few facts to go on.

Will Janet discover the murderer before the police do? Will the second narrator, and her shocking secrets, be revealed? And will the relationship between Janet and the much younger DI Gregg go anywhere?

This is a sometimes funny, sometimes serious novel which at times seems like cosy crime. Don't be fooled though – there is a gritty side to it. As is usual with Williams' crime novels, the morality of the crime, the criminal and the justice (which may or may not be dished out) are blurred.

A satisfying and enjoyable read that pokes fun at New Agers in a gentle and affectionate way.

You’ll enjoy this if you like: Detective novels that don’t conform to stereotypes.

Avoid if you dislike: Novels featuring older women.

Ideal accompaniments: A nice cup of tea with a shot of something strong in it.

Genre: Crime / General Fiction.

Available from Amazon