Friday, January 28, 2022

Fingersmith, by Sarah Waters

Two girls, who know nothing of each other, are thrown together in their teenage years.  Sue has been raised by villains and thieves in what amounts to a "den" in the backstreets of London. She knows poverty and hardship, but, despite losing her own mother as a baby, knows she is loved by Mrs Suckersby, the brains of the criminal operation.

Maud has grown up under the care of her uncle, in a manor house in the countryside, totally isolated from the real world outside their estate. Maud has also lost her mum, but she is neither loved nor cherished by her uncle, who uses his niece to further his strange literary research.
Enter the handsome and enigmatic Gentleman.  He has a devilish plan to wheedle his way into Maud's life and heart, in pursuit of the family fortune which she will inherit on her eighteenth birthday, and Sue is a crucial part of his plan.

Sarah Waters is a master story-teller, and this tale is one of those rare books that I just couldn't wait to get back to, and was grateful for a long read (500 pages).  Bed-time got earlier and earlier as I was drawn deeper into the plot!  The relationship between the two girls is heart-warming, but at the same time that I was celebrating their friendship I was feeling Sue's guilt at being part of Maud's imminent downfall.

I really liked Sue, and I just wanted the Gentleman to disappear so that the girls could just settle into a quiet and peaceful existence together, giving and getting exactly what each deserved in their young but troubled lives.

But that wouldn't have made for much of a tale, would it?  Instead, Waters weaves a dramatic spider-web of deceit and betrayal, which leaves the reader heartbroken over the potential fate of both girls. And even though we learn early on in the story about Gentleman's dastardly deed, that's really just the start of the plot twists. 

- Jeanette




Paperback, £8.99. Find it in the Fiction section!

Friday, January 21, 2022

All the Things we Do in the Dark, by Saundra Mitchell

“Nooo! I forgot my book. What am I going to read while I eat my lunch?!”

“You’re in a book shop – just pick something!”

“Fine! This one!”



Ah, a love story for the ages: a human and their book, reluctantly meeting in a flurry of hunger and desperation. Alas, we did meet, and that’s what truly matters! So here we go…

Ava has been through enough. Like, from childhood, she’s been through enough pain and fear for a lifetime. She’s dealing with far more than what should have been her lot; anyone’s lot, for that matter. But there are bad people out there, and because of bad people, Ava knows how to protect herself. Her mother knows how to protect her. So does her best friend, her tattoo artist, her… well, that’s about it really. Those are all the people.

But Ava literally strays down the wrong path one day, and she finds a dead body. She names her Jane Doe, and she is her friend. Not the alive Jane Doe; the dead Jane Doe. Jane was hurt too, just like Ava was. Ava can tell. Jane Doe was lucky enough to die from her pain. Ava is left behind to live with the hers.

In protecting Jane from further humiliation, grief, and anguish, Ava doesn’t tell a soul about her. Not even her best friend or her mother or her tattoo artist.

And as if finding a dead body weren’t frightening enough for a trauma-riddled teenager, she also falls in love in the same week. The world is bonkers, and it keeps surprising Ava. And things only get more twisted from there.

A member of our book club describes certain books as “Soul Books”. I suppose that is a play on soulmate, and frankly, it is perfection. And in grabbing this book at random one day, I found my third Soul Book*.

There are short breaks in this story for poetry. The prose is its very own special poetry. It is lyrical, immeasurable, unemulated; it has clarity and irreverence and power that I have been needing to drink down like a thirsty peasant. At times, I just had to put the book down, shut my eyes, and think about nothing. Just to give myself a chance to catch up.

This book is deceptively powerful and an emotional ride. Approach with caution, and with open arms. I’ll certainly be keeping it close for a while.



*The other two are “The Fault in our Stars”, by John Green; and “I’ll Give You the Sun”, by Jandy Nelson.  





- Sian

Paperback, £7.99. Find it in the Young Adult section!

*Content warning: assault, sexual trauma, flashbacks


Friday, January 14, 2022

Moonfleet, by J Meade Faulkner

Moonfleet is a lovely quick read for an adult, and I imagine it to be a spell binding adventure for younger readers. With the chapters being relatively short, it makes an ideal bedtime chapter book for tweens.

This story has a similar vibe to Treasure Island, with its young protagonist John Trenchard, like Jim Hawkins, beginning the story parentless and living in a costal Inn. Stories of pirates and smugglers fill John’s head, and before long he is caught up in his own adventure.

My favourite part of this story was the code-breaking and treasure hunt element, which really made me feel I was on that journey with John, which helped me become invested in the narrative… as if pirates weren’t enough!

There’s plenty of action to capture the attention of young readers, with twists and turns to keep it fresh, and injustices to make your blood boil. It’s the sort of book that – if you were to read it young - would stick with you and make you want to revisit it. As an adult, it makes you want to go and explore the places mentioned in the story and imagine your own pirate filled adventures.




- Anara

Paperback, £3.99. Find it in our children's section!

Friday, January 7, 2022

Take Me With You When You Go, by David Levithan and Jennifer Niven

This book is an epistolary - which in this case means it is formed entirely of emails - a fact which, initially, put me off picking up the book. I'm not necessarily sure why it put me off, since every epistolary I've read has been wildly successful and engaging. Alas, I gave in and I really enjoyed it.

The emails are between siblings Bea and Ezra, after Bea runs away from home. Being a few years older than Ezra, Bea feels she's ready to escape their disastrous and terrifying home life... and leaves Ezra behind. About which Ezra is livid. He's stuck behind with their dangerous step father and clueless mother; stuck with Bea's ex-boyfriend, the latter of whom believes Ezra knows more about Bea's whereabouts than he's letting on. 

And to be fair, he does. Nobody knows that Ezra is in touch with Bea, nor does anyone know that she has gone looking for their biological father. It's all a bit of a mess, really.

This story definitely had me on the edge of my seat at times, willing these helpless teenagers to find sanctuary, acceptance, and contentment, despite the awful adults surrounding them. It gets you thinking about connection and identity; about how distant those things may feel if you don't know where you came from, or who loves you. Who wants you. Who lied about those things.

A solid young adult drama, with a real depth and gripping plot development. There's a lot to learn from these young characters, even as an adult. 



- Sian


Paperback, £7.99. You can find this in the Young Adult section!