Book Reviews: October
September 29th, 2022
CHILDREN’S
GHOSTLIGHT by Kenneth Oppel.
Guppy Books £7.99.
Kenneth Oppel is a Canadian children’s writer, and a supremely gifted storyteller. He is the author of the incredible Inkling and the unsettling The Nest.
‘Rebecca Strand was just sixteen when she and her father fell to their deaths from the top of the Gibraltar Point Lighthouse in 1839. Just how they fell - or were they pushed- remains a mystery. And their ghosts haunt the lighthouse to this day’ ... 15-year-old Gabe tells this story every day when he gives the summer ghost tour on Toronto Island. He tries to make it scary enough to satisfy the tourists, but he doesn’t believe in ghosts - until he finds himself face to face with the ghost of Rebecca Strand. The true story of her death is far more terrifying than any ghost tale Gabe has told.
Rebecca reveals that her father was a member of the Order, a secret society devoted to protecting the world from ‘the wakeful and wicked dead’ - malevolent spirits like Nikolas Viker, the ghost responsible for their deaths. But the Order has disappeared, and Viker’s ghost is back – and growing ever stronger. Now Gabe and his friends must find a way to stop Viker before they all become lost souls...
Ghostlight is a fresh, modern take on the ghost story, suitable for readers of 10-15. Prepare to be THRILLED and chilled to the bone!
Colours Colours Everywhere by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Sharon King-Chai.
Macmillan, hardback £14.99 (published 13th October)
This is Julia Donaldson’s third book with the incredibly talented illustrator Sharon King-Chai, creators of the award-winning Animalphabet and Counting Creatures. Follow the adventures of a little girl and her bright blue, tree-frog companion as they explore the world of colours. Children can peep through cut-out scenes and lift the flaps as they enjoy the story.
Julia’s deceptively simple rhyming text and Sharon’s sumptuously beautiful artwork combine to create a book which will be treasured by generations.
*signed copies will be available
ADULT
Best of Friends by Kamila Shamsie.
Bloomsbury hardback £16.99
All our bookshop staff are huge fans of Pakistani / British novelist Kamila Shamsie, who writes thoughtful, world-spanning novels, which subtly weave together the political and the personal.
Her new novel, Best of Friends is true to form; a powerful story which explores the ties of childhood friendship through a changing world. The novel is divided into 2 sections; the first follows two girls, confident, privileged Maryam and studious Zahra, as they navigate their teenage years in 1980’s Pakistan. As Pakistan’s dictatorship crumbles, the friends are excited at the prospect of a female Prime Minister, and the promise of societal change, and this part of the story reaches a chilling climax one night when the girls make a snap decision, with far-reaching consequences…
The second part of the story fast-forwards to London in 2019, where we catch up with principled Zahra, now Director of the Centre for Civil Liberties, and wealthy Maryam, a powerful venture capitalist for ethically dubious facial-tagging technologies – ideologically the two women are poles apart, but remain bound together by loyalties, disloyalties, and the memory of that night, which echoes through the present in unexpected ways.
An exquisitely nuanced portrait of friendship against a politically-charged backdrop, this is a profound and satisfying story.
Landlines by Raynor Winn
Penguin £20
Raynor Winn’s first book, the bestselling and beloved Salt Path, was inspired by being evicted soon after learning that her husband Moth was terminally ill. They packed up their old life and walked into a new one on the South West Coast Path, an outdoor life that seemed to miraculously improve Moth’s health.
While their circumstances are now much more secure, Moth’s health is still declining. Could walking be the answer once more? Not knowing the answer, but always hoping, they set off again, this time on the Cape Wrath Trail, a grueling 200 mile path through the Scottish highlands and west coast.
Beautifully written, as Raynor Winn’s many fans have come to expect. Lovely cover illustration from Angela Harding too.
GHOSTLIGHT by Kenneth Oppel.
Guppy Books £7.99.
Kenneth Oppel is a Canadian children’s writer, and a supremely gifted storyteller. He is the author of the incredible Inkling and the unsettling The Nest.
‘Rebecca Strand was just sixteen when she and her father fell to their deaths from the top of the Gibraltar Point Lighthouse in 1839. Just how they fell - or were they pushed- remains a mystery. And their ghosts haunt the lighthouse to this day’ ... 15-year-old Gabe tells this story every day when he gives the summer ghost tour on Toronto Island. He tries to make it scary enough to satisfy the tourists, but he doesn’t believe in ghosts - until he finds himself face to face with the ghost of Rebecca Strand. The true story of her death is far more terrifying than any ghost tale Gabe has told.
Rebecca reveals that her father was a member of the Order, a secret society devoted to protecting the world from ‘the wakeful and wicked dead’ - malevolent spirits like Nikolas Viker, the ghost responsible for their deaths. But the Order has disappeared, and Viker’s ghost is back – and growing ever stronger. Now Gabe and his friends must find a way to stop Viker before they all become lost souls...
Ghostlight is a fresh, modern take on the ghost story, suitable for readers of 10-15. Prepare to be THRILLED and chilled to the bone!
Colours Colours Everywhere by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Sharon King-Chai.
Macmillan, hardback £14.99 (published 13th October)
This is Julia Donaldson’s third book with the incredibly talented illustrator Sharon King-Chai, creators of the award-winning Animalphabet and Counting Creatures. Follow the adventures of a little girl and her bright blue, tree-frog companion as they explore the world of colours. Children can peep through cut-out scenes and lift the flaps as they enjoy the story.
Julia’s deceptively simple rhyming text and Sharon’s sumptuously beautiful artwork combine to create a book which will be treasured by generations.
*signed copies will be available
ADULT
Best of Friends by Kamila Shamsie.
Bloomsbury hardback £16.99
All our bookshop staff are huge fans of Pakistani / British novelist Kamila Shamsie, who writes thoughtful, world-spanning novels, which subtly weave together the political and the personal.
Her new novel, Best of Friends is true to form; a powerful story which explores the ties of childhood friendship through a changing world. The novel is divided into 2 sections; the first follows two girls, confident, privileged Maryam and studious Zahra, as they navigate their teenage years in 1980’s Pakistan. As Pakistan’s dictatorship crumbles, the friends are excited at the prospect of a female Prime Minister, and the promise of societal change, and this part of the story reaches a chilling climax one night when the girls make a snap decision, with far-reaching consequences…
The second part of the story fast-forwards to London in 2019, where we catch up with principled Zahra, now Director of the Centre for Civil Liberties, and wealthy Maryam, a powerful venture capitalist for ethically dubious facial-tagging technologies – ideologically the two women are poles apart, but remain bound together by loyalties, disloyalties, and the memory of that night, which echoes through the present in unexpected ways.
An exquisitely nuanced portrait of friendship against a politically-charged backdrop, this is a profound and satisfying story.
Landlines by Raynor Winn
Penguin £20
Raynor Winn’s first book, the bestselling and beloved Salt Path, was inspired by being evicted soon after learning that her husband Moth was terminally ill. They packed up their old life and walked into a new one on the South West Coast Path, an outdoor life that seemed to miraculously improve Moth’s health.
While their circumstances are now much more secure, Moth’s health is still declining. Could walking be the answer once more? Not knowing the answer, but always hoping, they set off again, this time on the Cape Wrath Trail, a grueling 200 mile path through the Scottish highlands and west coast.
Beautifully written, as Raynor Winn’s many fans have come to expect. Lovely cover illustration from Angela Harding too.
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