V for Victory
A real gem! Lissa Evan is a supremely gifted writer - astute, funny and warm - for both children and adults. We loved her comedic novel, 'Crooked Heart', which introduced Vee, a suburban con-woman, and ultrabright orphan Noel as they joined forces in the unlikely...
How I Saved the World in a Week
A nail-bitingly thrilling survival drama for readers of 8-12 years by the author of 'The Boy in the Tower'. Rule Number 1: Always be Prepared…. Billy’s mum isn’t like the other mums. She’s a scientist, for starters, and takes Billy out of school to train him in the...
Adam 2
One of the best middle-grade fiction novels I have read this year! An exciting science fiction thriller for ages 9+. In a bleak future world, torn apart by a civil war between humans and advanced A.I robots, some scavenging children come across a cute little robot,...
When we Got Lost in Dreamland
A moving and exciting story of brotherhood, friendship & the power of dreams! Imagine having the ability to step inside your dreams, to consciously control the action and the setting, and even meet your friends there! When 11-year-old Malky accidentally steals a...
Entangled Life
A really fascinating book, which blew our minds! The facts that fungi are closer to animals than plants, that they can solve a maze by the most efficient route, that they can have hundreds of different genders, the revelations come thick and fast. One of those books...
Surfacing
Poet Kathleen Jamie’s latest collection of luminous, clear-eyed essays is a profound meditation on humans’ place in history and within the natural world. From a 500 year old Inuit village being gradually revealed by warming summers in Alaska, to the shifting sand...
The Garden Jungle: or Gardening to Save the Plane
There have been some fabulous natural history books published this year, and this is one of my favourites. Dave Goulson, professor of Biology at the University of Sussex, takes us through the ways in which the average garden can support the myriad of creatures that...
The Gospel of the Eels
This is a lovely exploration of the complicated natural history of the eel, and of those entangled in its slimy coils, from Aristotle and Freud, to the author and his father. After nearly two and a half thousand years of study, we now know the rough outline of the...
Akin
From Emma Donoghue, the international bestselling author of Room, comes Akin, a brilliant tale of love, loss and family, enjoyed by our evening book group in August. A retired New York professor's life is thrown into chaos when he takes his great-nephew to the French...
Pizazz
Sussex-based author and illustrator Sophy Henn is a firm local favourite having wowed local primary schools with her highly entertaining author visits for her previous series, the hilarious Bad Nana books. Her young fans will be delighted that she’s now back with the...