Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet is a powerful and deeply moving novel that brings a little-known piece of history to life.
Robin by Sarah Ann Juckes
Robin is a tender, quietly powerful story that deals with complicated emotions whilst never talking down to young readers.
The Night Creatures: Firefly by Robert Macfarlane and Luke Adam Hawker
Firefly is a beautifully crafted celebration of hope – a gentle, glimmering story of light found in darkness.
Hidden Treasue by Jessie Burton
Hidden Treasure by Jessie Burton is a spellbinding journey through war-time London and the foggy banks of the Thames — a world where secrets lie buried in river-mud and magic lurks beneath the surface.
Neurodivergent, By Nature
Neurodivergent, by Nature, by Joe Harkness is a great insight and indeed handbook into understanding how neurodivergent people see the world …
Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout
Tell Me Everything is a beautifully observed, quietly compelling novel that gathers some of Elizabeth Strout’s most-loved characters in the small town of Crosby, Maine.
Death at the White Hart
Death at the White Hart by Chris Chibnall plunges you straight into a chilling mystery in a coastal village somewhere in West Dorset.
Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell is a dazzling adventure into a world where myths are alive, danger lurks around every corner, and two courageous children might be the key to saving it all.
The Whispers of Rock by Dr Anjana Khatwa
Whispers of Rock by Dr Anjana Khatwa is quite unlike anything I’ve ever read and moved me in ways that I could not possibly have foreseen.
Burn by Ben Short
I’ve just finished reading Burn by Ben Short. Personal accounts and memoirs have not been a big part of my reading in the past but this book has definitely prompted me to add this genre of writing to my repertoire of reads.
Upon A White Horse by Peter Ross
From Stonehenge at mid-winter dawn to midsummer at Sycamore Gap, and from Ireland’s bog bodies to Dorset’s chalk giants, this is a journey that offers so much more than an exploration of the ancient sites.
The Healing Hippo of Hinode Park by Michiko Aoyama
Kabahiko, an old concrete hippo in Hinode children’s park, sits motionless in the children’s play park, while his paint peels and his mouth grins.
The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers by Samuel Burr
As a baby, Clayton Stumper was left in a hatbox on the steps of a most unusual institution: The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers, an eccentric group of puzzle fanatics led by esteemed crossword compiler Pippa Allsbrook
Strange Pictures by Uketsu
Creepy drawings, cryptic blog posts, and disturbing family secrets — this is no ordinary whodunnit.
Strange Houses
I was so intrigued by the highly original premise for Strange Houses that I dived in straight away and before I knew it, was hooked into the rather macabre mystery at the heart of the book.
Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz
Featuring his book-within-a-book detective, Atticus Pund, and the long-suffering real-world editor Susan Ryeland, this is the third novel in the series by the ingenious Anthony Horowitz.
The Hare-Shaped Hole by John Dougherty, illustrated Thomas Docherty
Beautiful picture book about grief and loss
Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton
Raising Hare is a masterpiece of nature writing – a tender, wise, and gorgeously observed memoir that blends lyrical descriptions with fascinating facts about hares, born of the author’s experience rescuing and raising a leveret.
The Department of Sensitive Crimes by Alexander McCall Smith
I have just read the first book in the Inspector Varg series by the ingenious Alexander McCall-Smith, known also, amongst other things, for his No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series.