Book Reviews: September 2018

The Faithful by Juliet West
Pan Macmillan 7.99
In the Sussex coastal village of Aldwick, in July 1935, sixteen-year-old Hazel is not relishing the thought of a long and tedious summer with her self-obsessed mother Francine. Suddenly left alone when Francine disappears to London with her lover, Hazel becomes involved with members of Oswald Mosley's blackshirts who have arrived in the village, with far-reaching consequences.
Juliet West, a Sussex writer whose first novel Before The Fall, set during the First World War, was hailed as a stunning debut, has produced in her second novel a moving and compelling picture of life in Britain in the mid 1930’s and the tensions and conflicts that emerged as people faced the prospect of another war.
“The Faithful is about many things: motherhood, fascism, life’s dilemmas, but mostly it is about love. Juliet West knows how to create an evocative sense of time and place, and then fill it with the most interesting characters, and finally, deliver a story that kept me guessing. I loved it.”
Claire Fuller, author of Our Endless Numbered Days and Swimming Lessons

At Home by Sarit Packer & Itamar Srulovich
Pavilion ￡26
This is the beautiful third book from Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich of the popular and acclaimed Honey & Co restaurants and shop which serve up Middle Eastern food London style. Concentrating on this time on the food they like to cook at home, it is stuffed full of simple, comforting, and just plain delicious recipes such as fig and feta pide, green shakshuka, chicken in plums with sweet spice, cherry pistachio bakewell and many more. Absolutely lovely.

The Last Wolf by Mini Grey
Penguin ￡11.99
When Little Red sets out one morning to catch a wolf, her mum isn’t at all worried as there hasn’t been a wolf in the area for at least a hundred years. But Red is undeterred and sets off, stalking and slithering through the wood, pouncing on bin bags and tree stumps, until she reaches the very deepest part of the forest… where she finds the Last Wolf, The Last Bear and the Last Lynx. It turns out that wild things are in short supply in the Last Forest, but Little Red thinks she knows what they might need…
With her trademark gorgeous and witty illustrations and spot-on text, Mini Grey, author and illustrator of the perennially popular Traction Man, has created a funny, sad and hopeful fairy tale for our time.

You're Called What?! by Kes Gray illustrated by Nikki Dyson
Pan Macmillan 6.99

From the award-winning author of Oi Frog, a hilarious celebration of the animal kingdom and the weird and wonderful names that are found there. Welcome to the Ministry of Silly Animal Names where all the creatures have one thing in common: they want to change their names, and who can blame them. Just the sort of picture book that fact loving youngsters with a sense of humour will absolutely love. An interesting index at the back proves that all the bizarrely named creatures do actually exist.