Book Reviews: March 2022
March 1st, 2022
Young Adult / Children’s books
The Hunt for the Nightingale by Sarah Ann Juckes
£7.99 Simon & Schuster
A tender, moving story of love, loss, and friendship with an endearing narrator.
9-year-old Jasper doesn’t understand why his sister Rosie hasn’t come back from university to take him birdwatching. She’d promised they would hunt for a nightingale in Spring. So, Jasper sets out on foot, across country, in search of Rosie and their nightingale. Along the way, Jasper meets a host of characters who are also searching for lost things, and realises he has a talent for helping people. As Jasper finally comes to terms with the truth, so he also realises that in the darkest of times, hope, beauty, nature and friendship can help to heal the deepest heartbreak. Ages 8+.
Pizazz vs the Demons by Sophy Henn
£6.99 Simon & Schuster
Another dynamic, hilarious story about Pizazz, the 9-and-a-half-year-old superhero, brimming with witty illustrations and zany energy!
Poor Pizazz is faced with a new enemy – herself! Or, to be more precise, 5 DEMON Pizazzes… thanks to super baddie CopyCat and her SuperPower Duplicator (TM). ‘How are you going to defeat yourself, Pizazz?’ I hear you ask. Well, that’s a good question! No spoilers here, read it and find out!
Perfect for readers of 7 and up who enjoy comics and humour!
The Cats we Meet Along the Way by Nadia Mikail
£7.99 Guppy Books
A refreshingly different novel for teenagers, this is a wild road trip through Malaysia at the end of the world!
17-year-old Aisha hasn’t seen her sister, June, for almost 2 years after a family falling-out. After a shock announcement about the end the world being nigh, Aisha and her mum decide to track down runaway June and heal the rifts of the past.
With Aisha’s boyfriend, his parents, and a stray cat in tow, they embark on the road trip of a lifetime, in a decorated campervan! Ages 12+
New in Hardback:
Moonlight and the Pearler’s Daughter by Lizzie Pook
£14.99 Pan Macmillan
Gripping, atmospheric debut historical novel, which immerses you in the sweltering, cut-throat underworld of a 19th Century Australian pearl-fishing community, rife with corruption, prejudice and blackmail.
Headstrong Eliza Brightwell is determined to discover the truth about her father, Charles, a successful pearler, who has gone missing from his boat at sea.
Whispers from the townsfolk suggest mutiny and murder, and Eliza is convinced there is more to the story. She must decide just how much she is willing to pay - and how far she is willing to go - to uncover the truth.
The Slowworm’s Song by Andrew Miller
£18.99 Hodder Sceptre
A profound, tender and beautifully-written tale of guilt and redemption, by the Costa-award-winning author of Pure.
Paperback Non-fiction
The Sleeping Beauties by Suzanne O’Sullivan
£10.99 Pan Macmillan
A fascinating, moving and unsettling exploration into the mysteries of the human mind, by Wellcome Prize-winning neurologist Suzanne O’Sullivan.
Inspired by a poignant encounter with the sleeping refugee children of Sweden, she tra vels the world to visit other communities who have also been subject to outbreaks of so-called ‘mystery’ illnesses. From a derelict post-Soviet mining town in Kazakhstan, to the Mosquito Coast of Nicaragua via an oil town in Texas, to the heart of the Maria Mountains in Colombia, O’Sullivan hears remarkable stories from a fascinating array of people, and attempts to unravel their complex meaning. For fans of Oliver Sacks.
The Hunt for the Nightingale by Sarah Ann Juckes
£7.99 Simon & Schuster
A tender, moving story of love, loss, and friendship with an endearing narrator.
9-year-old Jasper doesn’t understand why his sister Rosie hasn’t come back from university to take him birdwatching. She’d promised they would hunt for a nightingale in Spring. So, Jasper sets out on foot, across country, in search of Rosie and their nightingale. Along the way, Jasper meets a host of characters who are also searching for lost things, and realises he has a talent for helping people. As Jasper finally comes to terms with the truth, so he also realises that in the darkest of times, hope, beauty, nature and friendship can help to heal the deepest heartbreak. Ages 8+.
Pizazz vs the Demons by Sophy Henn
£6.99 Simon & Schuster
Another dynamic, hilarious story about Pizazz, the 9-and-a-half-year-old superhero, brimming with witty illustrations and zany energy!
Poor Pizazz is faced with a new enemy – herself! Or, to be more precise, 5 DEMON Pizazzes… thanks to super baddie CopyCat and her SuperPower Duplicator (TM). ‘How are you going to defeat yourself, Pizazz?’ I hear you ask. Well, that’s a good question! No spoilers here, read it and find out!
Perfect for readers of 7 and up who enjoy comics and humour!
The Cats we Meet Along the Way by Nadia Mikail
£7.99 Guppy Books
A refreshingly different novel for teenagers, this is a wild road trip through Malaysia at the end of the world!
17-year-old Aisha hasn’t seen her sister, June, for almost 2 years after a family falling-out. After a shock announcement about the end the world being nigh, Aisha and her mum decide to track down runaway June and heal the rifts of the past.
With Aisha’s boyfriend, his parents, and a stray cat in tow, they embark on the road trip of a lifetime, in a decorated campervan! Ages 12+
New in Hardback:
Moonlight and the Pearler’s Daughter by Lizzie Pook
£14.99 Pan Macmillan
Gripping, atmospheric debut historical novel, which immerses you in the sweltering, cut-throat underworld of a 19th Century Australian pearl-fishing community, rife with corruption, prejudice and blackmail.
Headstrong Eliza Brightwell is determined to discover the truth about her father, Charles, a successful pearler, who has gone missing from his boat at sea.
Whispers from the townsfolk suggest mutiny and murder, and Eliza is convinced there is more to the story. She must decide just how much she is willing to pay - and how far she is willing to go - to uncover the truth.
The Slowworm’s Song by Andrew Miller
£18.99 Hodder Sceptre
A profound, tender and beautifully-written tale of guilt and redemption, by the Costa-award-winning author of Pure.
Stephen Rose is an ex-soldier and recovering alcoholic living quietly in Somerset. He has just begun to form a bond with the daughter he barely knows when he receives a summons - to an inquiry into an incident during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, which he has spent his life trying to forget. To testify would jeopardise his fragile relationship with his daughter. And if he loses her, he loses everything. Instead, he decides to write her an account of his life; a confession, a defence, a love letter…. What was his youthful error, back in 1982, and why has it consumed him so?
The Sleeping Beauties by Suzanne O’Sullivan
£10.99 Pan Macmillan
A fascinating, moving and unsettling exploration into the mysteries of the human mind, by Wellcome Prize-winning neurologist Suzanne O’Sullivan.
Inspired by a poignant encounter with the sleeping refugee children of Sweden, she tra vels the world to visit other communities who have also been subject to outbreaks of so-called ‘mystery’ illnesses. From a derelict post-Soviet mining town in Kazakhstan, to the Mosquito Coast of Nicaragua via an oil town in Texas, to the heart of the Maria Mountains in Colombia, O’Sullivan hears remarkable stories from a fascinating array of people, and attempts to unravel their complex meaning. For fans of Oliver Sacks.
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