Adult Books
Force of Hate by Graham Bartlett, Allison & Busby. Hardback £16.99
Force of Hate, Brighton crime-writer Graham Bartlett’s follow up to his first, blistering thriller Bad for Good does not disappoint, delivering another punchy, exciting story starring the thoroughly decent and very determined Chief Superintendent Jo Howe.
When a firebomb attack at a Brighton travellers' site kills women and children, CS Jo Howe has strong reason to believe the new, dubiously elected, far-right council leader is behind the murders. As Jo digs deeper into the killings, she uncovers a criminal human trafficking ring. Going against the wishes of her chief constable, Jo once again puts herself at deathly risk to expose a devastating plot  - from which the murderous politician looks sure to walk away scot-free. Once again, Graham’s long career in the police and his local knowledge give this thriller a gritty, authentic edge, and it’s an action-packed ride throughout!
Book 1 in the series, Bad for Good, has just been released in paperback. Graham will be stopping by the shop to sign/ dedicate copies of both in early April so give us a shout if you’d like to order a signed copy!

How High We Go In the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu. Bloomsbury paperback £8.99
A mind-blowing literary sci-fi debut, told in intricately interlinked narratives, which is sublime, moving, unique, and heart-shattering in equal measure.
The year 2030: As researchers investigate an ancient settlement revealed by melting Siberian permafrost, they discover the perfectly preserved body of a young Neanderthal girl, and a devastating virus is unleashed. The novel proceeds to hop from character to character, skipping forward in time, as the virus spreads, wild-fires rage and ocean levels rise, and humanity adapts in a myriad of ways …
We meet an ex-comedian working at a ‘last-rites’ amusement park, sending terminally-ill children off on their final loop-the-loop, a scientist working on pig-to human organ transplants who forms a deep bond with a talking pig, the voices of departed loved-ones are implanted in robot dogs, a physicist develops a singularity in his brain which provides the answer to inter-planetary travel, a select group of humans set off into deep-space in search of habitable planets… Yes, there is grief and death, but it is balanced by humour and quirky inventiveness, and much fun can be had tracing the links between the characters, who are all of Japanese or Asian descent. The final chapter - hundreds of light years away - provides a neat and mind-blowing twist which ties everything together.  
A virtuoso feat of story-telling, spanning centuries, continents and celestial bodies to tell a tale of human resilience, love, and compassion. Will appeal to fans of David Mitchell’s Ghostwritten and Emily St John Mandel.

How to Read a Tree by Tristan Gooley, Hodder & Stoughton. Hardback £22 – Event price £17
Tristan Gooley runs the Natural Navigation school, AND he is the only living person to have both flown solo and sailed singlehanded across the Atlantic! He has appeared on The Today Programme, BBC Stargazing Live and The One Show, and his previous books include How to Read Water, The Walker’s Guide to Outdoor Clues & Signs, and The Natural Navigator. So we are super-excited that he’s going to speak about his new book How to Read a Tree at our event on April 11th. This is a hugely informative yet eminently readable book with a wealth of rich detail along with plenty of diverting facts - Did you know that a pale line down the centre of a leaf indicates water is nearby? Or that a touch of reddish or purple bark signals new growth? Or that the veins on a leaf can help you find water? I didn’t, but I’m delighted to have broadened my understanding of these majestic wonders, so central within our fragile eco-systems.  

Children’s Books
Wild Song by Candy Gourlay, David Fickling books, hardback £12.99
Candy Gourlay is a Filipino-British novelist, and Wild Song continues the story of Luki, a character from her amazing novel Bone Talk. In Bone Talk, we met Samkad and Luki, two kids from a remote Philippine hill tribe, and saw the devastating impact that the arrival of the first Americans wrought on their small community. Now, the year is 1904. Luki is growing up, and in her hill-tribe this means she is expected to become a wife and a mother - but she still dreams of becoming a warrior. When her tribe are offered a journey to America to be part of the St. Louis World's Fair, Luki jumps at the chance – but she will discover that the land of opportunity does not share its possibilities equally . …
An exciting story with an unforgettable, feisty heroine – a consciousness-raising read for independent readers aged 9-13.


HappyHead by Josh Silver. Oneworld paperback £8.99
A guest review by one of our teenage reader-helpers, Rose Bailey Ornella, age 14.  Thanks, Rose!
Teenager Seb is sent on a life-changing trip, to a radical new retreat designed to improve teen’s mental health. Seb is determined to make a go of the opportunity and turn his life around, but as the assessments and challenges the programme presents them with become more disturbing, Seb and his new friend Finn begin to wonder what the real motivation behind the retreat is - and to realise there may be no escape! Rose says 'This book is ominous, gripping and fascinating, I definitely recommend it for anyone who enjoys a thrilling adventure'.