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Costa Book Of The Year 2020
Congratulations to Monique Roffey for winning the Costa Book Of The Year Award 2020! David, a lone Caribbean fisherman encounters a mermaid and is entranced. After she is brutally caught and about to be horribly exploited he rescues her and helps her recover. They fall in love and Aycayia begins to transform back to the young woman she was before she was cursed. Everyone who meets Aycayia has their lives changed for good or bad as jealousies, old passions … Read more
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Children’s Book of the Month: December 2019
Aya, her mum and baby brother Moosa have recently arrived in Manchester having fled the bombs of Aleppo, and having been separated from Aya’s father during the long, dangerous journey. Now Aya has to take charge, acting as translator and carer for her mother, and as a second mother to Moosa. But one day as Aya and her family sit waiting to see their caseworker, Aya discovers a ballet class in the room upstairs, a find which changes the course … Read more
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Children’s Book of the Month: November 2019
Phoebe, sad and lonely in Griselda Bone’s Home for Strays, is afraid her Miracle Day will never come. Her friends have been adopted one by one until one snowy Christmas eve Phoebe the wordsmith, and her little dancing dog Herb are the only two remaining inmates of the rancid orphanage where ‘daydreaming is banned, skipping is forbidden and hide-and-seek is out of the question’. But just when things are looking as bleak as they could be, a magical snow dragon … Read more
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Children’s Book of the Month: September 2019
Who thinks it’s exciting that rats have come to live in the ground floor flat? The young bunnies do, but the other residents of Pickle Rye aren’t so sure that they want dirty, smelly rats as neighbours: rats are messy, rats steal food, rats are thieves and chew through walls. But once the occupants of flats 2-7 have hopped and trotted and padded and clattered down to meet the new arrivals they find kind, friendly, tidy rats offering…cake. This is … Read more
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Review: How to Stop Time
Aging slower than the rest of humanity, Tom Hazard appears to be 41, but is actually over 400 years old. This is a well written love story full of old fashioned romance and a yearning for a happy ending, yet the time twist means Tom is an outsider. Always changing his identity and location to avoid detection, Tom becomes a history teacher. This role enables him to bring alive the tales of the past to classes of present day schoolchildren. … Read more
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Review: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
Eleanor Oliphant has organised her life to ensure unexpected events do not occur. Keenly timetabled, she wears the same clothes to work every day and follows the same weekly routine. Eleanor’s understanding of life is touching in its clarity, funny and sad. Perhaps inevitably her world begins to unravel with what initially appears to be a minor event. Her subsequent insights into her past are heart wrenching and although it isn’t easy, her willingness to engage in the process is … Read more
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Review: I am I am I am
Told in Maggie O’Farrell’s flowing yet penetrating style, this memoir is a delicious series of vignettes. Her eighth book and first autobiographical work was conceived of while caring for her daughter who lives with a severe auto immune disorder, and describes her own brushes with death. ‘Most of us tend not to dwell on our mortality since that way madness lies, but many have stood on the precipice, often several times over, and stared it squarely in the face.’ This … Read more
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Review: In Our Hands
The business dictionary defines community businesses as ‘self-organised networks of people with common agenda, cause, or interest, who collaborate by sharing ideas, information, and other resources.’ In Our Hands by Steve Wyler explores the history and early origins of community business, delving into the creation of medieval guilds, seventeenth century radicalism, friendly societies and early co-operatives to the present day. Steve examines how, generation after generation, people have turned to community business, whether in response to the social evils of … Read more
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Review: Blue Planet II
Written by two BBC producers of the show, this book contains varied content across the series alongside stunning photography. Each chapter brings to life a different habitat in the ocean and explores creatures from the disturbing bobbit worm to the unbelievable pod of spinner dolphins. Captivating images and interesting information make this a lovely Christmas gift to any fan of Blue Planet II or perhaps the perfect coffee table book. Narrated by David Attenborough, the new Blue Planet series has … Read more
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Review: St Martin’s Island
The disastrous fire which destroyed the Royal Clarence Hotel in October 2016 shocked Exeter and received widespread dramatic coverage. The historic hotel made up one corner of the block of buildings between St Martin’s Lane and Broadgate, many of which are ancient constructions and for which still exist rich historical documentation. Todd Gray and Sue Jackson have mined this rare concentration of archival and architectural information to produce a fascinating and commendably approachable history of the buildings so recognisable to … Read more
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