Month: May 2019

Review: Time Song – Searching for Doggerland

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Doggerland is the name given to the land mass now submerged beneath the North Sea, which once connected Britain with continental Europe. For much of the past two million years Doggerland was a rich landscape populated by diverse flora and fauna including mammoths, aurochs, bison, bears and humans. As recently as 7,000 years ago a significant area was land above sea level. All her life, Julia Blackburn has been fascinated by the ancient remains she has collected from the shores … Read more

Interview: Ann Cleeves

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Ann Cleeves is the author of over thirty critically acclaimed novels and in 2017 was awarded the highest accolade in crime writing, the CWA Diamond Dagger. She is the creator of popular detectives Vera Stanhope and Jimmy Perez who can now be found on television in ITV’s Vera and BBC One’s Shetland. The TV series and the books they are based on have become international sensations, capturing the minds of millions worldwide. Ann worked as a probation officer, bird observatory … Read more

Women’s Prize for Fiction Shortlist 2019

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The six-title shortlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction was announced last week. This award, previously known as the Orange Prize and the Bailey’s Women’s Prize, is open to any full-length novel written in English by a woman of any nationality. The novel must have been published in the UK in the previous year, though it may also have been published in English elsewhere. Kate Williams chairs this year’s judging panel and is joined by Arifa Akbar, Dolly Alderton, Leyla … Read more

Children’s Book of the Month: May 2019

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May’s BoTM is A Wolf Called Wander by Rosanne Parry and illustrated by Mónica Armiño. Inspired by a true story, A Wolf Called Wander is about family, courage and survival. The young wolf Swift lives and learns happily with his family and his pack in the mountains until the terrible day when rival wolves invade and take over their home. Alone for the first time, Swift decides against trying to survive on the fringes of his old territory and sets … Read more