NEWS 1 MARCH 2024
Lots of new books worth a mention this week!
Piglet by Lottie Hazel got a lot of pre-publication attention. A young woman and her seemingly perfect partner prepare for their wedding. A compelling story of a young woman, her desires and insecurities. Well written, with characters whose welfare you will care about, clever and funny, great debut novel!
After Annie by Anna Quindlen – as always written with an understanding of the human condition, of family relationships, and friendship. The power of love and triumph over adversity, and always hope.
We’ve Got Issues by Phillip MGraw is a new book on how to come home to our core values, fortify our families, and re-embrace self-determination and self-governance.
New in paperback
The Queen of Dirt Island by Donal Ryan is an uplifting celebration of fierce, loyal love and the powerful stories that blend together generations of the Aylward women of Nenagh, Tipperary.
The Sisters of Belfast by Melanie Maure tells the story of orphaned twin sisters whose lives diverge for decades, until fate – and faith – eventually reunite them.
The Midwife of Auschwitz by Anna Stuart is a novel based on events during the holocaust and the concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, the women who gave birth in such a desperate place and time, and the midwives who did their best to help.
Old Babes in the Wood by Margaret Atwood is a collection of stories, some profoundly moving and tender, some funny, some sad, all will illuminate, delight, and entertain.
For mystery readers
Somehow a great escape from the real world – as Agatha Christie once wrote “a detective story is complete relaxation, an escape from the realism of everyday life. It has, too, the tonic value of a puzzle – a challenge to the ingenuity. It sharpens your wits – makes you mentally alert. To follow a detective story closely you need concentration. To spot the criminal needs acumen and good reasoning powers. It has also a sporting interest and is much less expensive than betting on horses or gambling at cards. Its ethical background is usually sound. Very, very rarely is the criminal the hero of the book. Society unites to hunt him down, and the reader can have all the fun of the chase without moving from a comfortable armchair.”
You Can’t See Me by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir is Icelandic Noir at its best – this one set at a futuristic hotel amongst the dark lava flows on a remote peninsula, as a wealthy family gathers for a reunion.
Come Death and High Water by Ann Cleeves is classic crime, as her earlier novels, featuring amateur detectives George and Molly Palmer-Jones, are being re-issued. This one set at a bird observatory on the North Devon coast.
What We Buried by Robert Rotenberg. A decade after the murder of a man at a Toronto café, his brother travels to an Italian hill town, once terrorized by the Nazis, looking for answers.
The Prey by Yrsa Sigurdardottir weaves together a story that involves a box of photo albums found in the attic of a small fishing village, a missing couple from Reykjavik, and a mysterious phone call received at a remote radar station.