BOOKSIMO

  I am absolutely delighted to be on the book tour today. Published in hardback by Gollancz on 3 rd September 2020, £14.99   The stunning new novella from No 1 bestselling author Joanne Harris: Orfeia is a  gender-flipped retelling of the Orpheus Myth, beautifully illustrated by  Bonnie Helen Hawkins  Description When you can find me an acre of land, Every sage grows merry in time, Between the ocean and the sand Then will you be united again. (Inspired by The Child Ballads 2 & 19) So begins a beautiful and tragic quest as a heartbroken mother sets out to save her lost daughter, through the realms of the real, of dream, and even into the underworld itself. But determination alone is not enough. For to save something precious, she must give up something precious, be it a song, a memory, or her freedom itself . . . Beautifully illustrated by Bonnie Helen Hawkins, this is a stunning and original modern fairytale. Review I recommend getting the hardback copy of this book to read. The be

  Description When Korede's dinner is interrupted one night by a distress call from her sister, Ayoola, she knows what's expected of her: bleach, rubber gloves, nerves of steel and a strong stomach. This'll be the third boyfriend Ayoola's dispatched in, quote, self-defence and the third mess that her lethal little sibling has left Korede to clear away. She should probably go to the police for the good of the menfolk of Nigeria, but she loves her sister and, as they say, family always comes first. Until, that is, Ayoola starts dating the doctor where Korede works as a nurse. Korede's long been in love with him, and isn't prepared to see him wind up with a knife in his back: but to save one would mean sacrificing the other... My Sister, the Serial Killer  is a blackly comic novel about how blood is thicker - and more difficult to get out of the carpet - than water... Review At 240 pages this didn't take me long to read. But is there ever a lot packed into thos

  Description 'Entertaining, erudite, eccentric -  The Bookseller's Tale  is a delight' Alison Light, author of  Common People: The History of an English Family 'The right book has a neverendingness, and so does the right bookshop.' This is the story of our love affair with books, whether we arrange them on our shelves, inhale their smell, scrawl in their margins or just curl up with them in bed. Taking us on a journey through comfort reads, street book stalls, mythical libraries, itinerant pedlars, radical pamphleteers, extraordinary bookshop customers and fanatical collectors, Canterbury bookseller Martin Latham uncovers the curious history of our book obsession - and his own. Part cultural history, part literary love letter and part reluctant memoir, this is the tale of one bookseller and many, many books. Review I'm not sure I am going to be able to do this book justice in my review, because it is just absolutely brilliant. Straightaway the book led me to ot

  Description Between life and death there is a library. When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change. The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren’t always what she imagined they’d be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger. Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live? Review The Midnight Library is a place between life and death and so to get there you must be about to die and that is what Nora has chosen to do. Except she doesn't realise that she will end up in the library with Mrs Elm the librarian, who  helps her to choose and check o

  Excited to be a part of the book tour for this book today. Synopsis: “For crying out loud! I can’t even cast on now.” Claire has never unravelled anything before, being a confident knitter. But now, to her dismay, everything she creates is a disaster, riddled with dropped stitches and glaring holes. It’s almost as if her hands have a mind of their own. Maybe it’s because her longest relationship to date has just ended, or perhaps it has something to do with the fact her career is on the ropes. “Don’t get frustrated with your needles! The problem lies with the knitter, not the knitting,” said Adrian, owner of Oddballs wool shop. Following his advice, in the desperate hope it will cure her woolly woes, Claire begins to turn her life around. Her grand plan involves FishTank, the online dating site. She convinces Adrian that if they sign up and find love, their problems will be solved (and she’ll have at least one area of her life sorted!). The trouble starts when he has far more luck in

  Description 'When did you last read a genuinely original thriller?  The wait is over ' A. J. Finn, bestselling author of The Woman in the Window ' I couldn't put  Eight Detectives  down  . . . I genuinely wanted to applaud at the end' Alex North, bestselling author of The Whisper Man All murder mysteries follow a simple set of rules. Grant McAllister, an author of crime fiction and professor of mathematics, once sat down and worked them all out. But that was thirty years ago. Now he's living a life of seclusion on a quiet Mediterranean island - until Julia Hart, a sharp, ambitious editor, knocks on his door. His early work is being republished and together the two of them must revisit those old stories: an author, hiding from his past, and an editor, keen to understand it. But as she reads, Julia is unsettled to realise that there are things in the stories that don't make sense. Intricate clues that seem to reference a real murder, one that's remained

  Description *A moving, unforgettable story inspired by true events* We all have something to tell those we have lost . . . When Yui loses her mother and daughter in the tsunami, she wonders how she will ever carry on. Yet, in the face of this unthinkable loss, life must somehow continue. Then one day she hears about a man who has an old disused telephone box in his garden. There, those who have lost loved ones find the strength to speak to them and begin to come to terms with their grief. As news of the phone box spreads, people travel to it from miles around. Soon Yui makes her own pilgrimage to the phone box, too. But once there she cannot bring herself to speak into the receiver. Then she finds Takeshi, a bereaved husband whose own daughter has stopped talking in the wake of their loss. What happens next will warm your heart, even when it feels as though it is breaking. When you've lost everything, what can you find . . ? Review I usually love books set in Japan, and whilst th