Reviews

  Lying on the ground at the edge of a ripe wheat field, John Lewis-Stempel describes in loving detail all the life he observes: flowers, insects, birds, a field mouse even a toad waddles past; he is mesmerised and stays there for hours. For 30 years from 1930, Lewis-Stempel’s grandparents ran Woodston farm. It was…

  Nick Hayes’ The Book Of Trespass shocks, challenges and informs our understanding and acceptance of land ownership and the law in England.  William the Conqueror began the process of exclusion, defining the royal forests as spaces from which commoners were barred then parcelling up huge areas to gift to his barons who assumed ownership…

  Rob Biddulph is an award-winning author and illustrator of picture books, but this is his first published novel and we can easily see it garnering more awards for him! Peanut Jones is miserable because her beloved artist father has gone missing but whilst looking through the collection of illustrated post-its he drew for her,…

  A thrillingly ambitious novel that spotlights the cruelties and injustices of child migration from Central America to the USA. Telling the stories of one family’s road trip to the deserts of Arizona to find the homeland and memorials of the last free Apaches and the desperate train journey taken by some ‘illegal’ child migrants,…

  Past mysteries and present crises collide in a whirlwind adventure that explores family, friendship, and standing up for what you believe in. The Quinn Family Circus is in need of a new headline act. Ever since Bastjan’s mother died in a terrible aerobatic accident, ticket sales have been declining. Now, in desperation, the ruthless…

  Jane, somewhere around a mid-point in life, finds herself at a moment of reckoning. A creative writing tutor, she suffers from both an unsteady sense of conviction in her task and acute, shifting physical pains that strike at unpredictable moments. Reflecting on the formative relationships in her life, she recalls the conflicts and currents…

If you’ve been suffering from a reading slump, this is the ideal book to get you back on a reading roll. Featuring the same cast of characters that stole our hearts in Dear Mrs Bird, Yours Cheerfully continues the tale of the spirited Emmeline Lake and her best friend Bunty as they navigate their way through 1941.…

  Scarlet’s mum has moved out, and taken Scarlet with her. Of course, no-one is telling Scarlet the whole story. Is she expected to just accept this massive upheaval to her life without complaint? The adults in her life seem outraged if she expresses even the smallest amount of dissatisfaction or even curiosity. They’re treating…

  Klara is an Artificial Friend (AF) intended to be bought for children as a companion. She spends her days staring out of a store window observing the humans and surroundings, dreaming of the life outside. When she is eventually purchased for an ill teenage girl and uprooted to the remote countryside, her unique and…