Isaac And The Egg by Bobby Palmer

Isaac finds an egg three weeks after his wife died unexpectedly. He is at one of the darkest points in his life when he stumbles across an enormous white mass in the forest. It is clearly much too large to be from a nearby animal so it’s easy to wonder where it came from, whether...

Tell Me An Ending by Jo Harkin

Tell Me An Ending is based on the idea of memory deletion and the various ways it could be used throughout society. I love speculative fiction, and the idea of parallels with Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind brought this to the top of my list very quickly. If you delete a memory, how does...

Burning Questions by Margaret Atwood

Burning Questions by Margaret Atwood is a collection of essays and occasional pieces from 2004 to 2021. Some of these I had already read, or read snippets of, with others being completely new to me. The book is long, and well worth the full price for the hardback version for the variety of pieces to...

Common Ground by Naomi Ishiguro

Stan is 13 and struggling at a new school when he meets Charlie. Complete opposites, they click and become good friends despite their differences. Stan is struggling with bullies whereas Charlie knows exactly how to stand up for himself and helps to show Stan how to gain confidence. Both know what it means to be...

The Remains Of The Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Remains of the day is told from the perspective of Mr Stevens, a butler at Darlington Hall for many years. On a rare few days away from work, and a trip south to meet an old friend, Mr Stevens recalls key moments from his career and brings insight into some complex and curious relationships....

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

Being an adult is hard work when you stop to think about all the things we have to deal with just to keep the family ticking over. It only takes one bad decision to turn it around. Anxious people is about that one bad decision; A bank robbery gone wrong, a hostage situation, a leap...

The Glass Hotel by Emily St John Mandel

The Glass Hotel follows Paul and Vincent, brother and half sister, from their time as teenagers through to adulthood. Vincent and Paul didn’t have the easiest teenage years. Vincent lost her mother, and suffered from years of resentment from Paul for the collapse of his parent’s marriage. Both find themselves back living and working together...

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee 60th Anniversary Edition

To Kill A Mockingbird is a classic book that is as relevant today as it always has been. Written from a young girls perspective, “Scout” is a wonderful character. She sees the best in people and isn’t afraid to be her own person. Jem, her older brother is never far from her side and getting...

Tennis Lessons by Susannah Dickey

Tennis Lessons is a coming of age story. A young woman recounts short clips from her childhood through to her adult life. There are no filters on this, no rose tinted recollections or awkward parts removed, but the story is told in such an endearing style that you somehow need to be a witness to...

Instructions for the British People During The Emergency by Jason Hazeley and Nico Tatarowicz

As someone who regularly reads dystopian fiction, finding myself in the depths of a global pandemic while working and homeschooling two kids meant a very swift change of genre was needed. Instructions for the British People During The Emergency seemed like the perfect thing to read. A quick and hilarious handbook for surviving an emergency....