Adults Books
Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
Faber paperback £9.99
A fresh, funny, quirky American novel.
Greta has recently moved to the hipster town of Hudson, NY, and is staying in a dilapidated old farmhouse with her eccentric friend Sabine. She spends her days transcribing the taped sessions of an unconventional sex therapist called Om, but soon finds herself developing an unhealthy obsession with one of Om’s married clients, a woman Greta nicknames ‘Big Swiss’ - being tall and from Switzerland.
One day, Greta recognizes Big Swiss’s voice at the dog park. In a panic, she introduces herself with a fake name and very soon the two become embroiled in an intense affair. But both women carry scars from trauma earlier in life, and have very different ways of dealing with them, on top of which Big Swiss is unaware of Greta’s true identity, and of course Greta has been transcribing her most intimate secrets… so we are on a crash course for disaster! Full of sharp observational humour and witty one-liners, this is a bonkers read for fans of Ottessa Moshfegh.

Ravenous: How to get Ourselves and our Planet into Shape by Henry Dimbleby & Jemima Lewis.
Profile Books £10.99
An essential and very readable examination of the food industry by Henry Dimbleby, the founder of the Leon restaurant chain, government adviser and author of the radical National Food Strategy.
The modern Western diet is now the biggest cause of preventable illness and death in the developed world and the food industry is wrecking the environment. Dimbleby goes behind the scenes to unravel the complex web behind corporate Big Food, looking at how supermarkets, fast-food outlets and huge agro-businesses control global food production. Informative and well-researched but never fatalistic, the book goes on to examine how many of Dimbleby’s National Food Strategies have been implemented by the UK government thus far (spoiler alert – not many!) and ends with 15 recommendations at governmental level as well as practical personal strategies, with the optimistic take out being “We can do this!” A great follow-on read from Chris Van Tulleken’s Ultra-Processed People.

Children’s Books
One previous favourite into paperback this month plus one brand new recommendation!
 
Greenwild by Pari Thompson.
Macmillan paperback £7.99
A Potter-esque magical fantasy story which adds an inventive environmental slant to the familiar ‘chosen child’ narrative.  
Daisy Thistledown has spent her 12 years travelling the globe with her eccentric journalist mother. When her mum goes missing on a trip to the Amazon, Daisy’s search for her opens a portal into the Greenwild - a world of Green Magic, where Botanists summon vines from their fingertips and magical mini-moss can shrink you down to thumb-size!
But all is not well in this astonishing land. Before long Daisy finds herself confronting a dangerous presence that threatens green magic on both sides of the portal. She joins forces with a botanical genius, a boy who can talk to animals, and a talking cat with attitude, to channel the power that will revive the Greenwild and find her missing mother - and save her own world too. Bursting with fresh ideas, a really enjoyable read for ages 8-12.

Time-Travelling with a Tortoise by Ross Welford.
Harper Collins £7.99
Ross Welford is one of my favourite children’s writers, and has a knack for creating vivid, unforgettable, quirky characters within fast-moving, science-based plots laced with earthy Northern humour.  I am so excited to see this sequel to his fantastic debut novel, Time-Travelling with a Hamster! We return to the lovable character Al Chaudhury, who’d previously travelled back in time to save his dad. After a horrible accident befalls his beloved grandad, Al is propelled back in time – but accidentally leaves someone behind, trapped in a prehistoric dimension! To save his grandad and the future of his entire family, Al must save the day .. but time travel isn’t as simple as he thought!