Indulge in Books
As COVID-19 has us transitioning to hermits. We've put together a list of incredible Books to read during self-isolation.
CRUEL ACTS by Jane Casey
How can you spot a murderer?
Leo Stone is a ruthless killer – or the victim of a miscarriage of justice. A year ago, he was convicted of the murder of two women and sentenced to life in prison. But now he’s free, and according to him, he's innocent.
DS Maeve Kerrigan and DI Josh Derwent are determined to put Stone back behind bars where he belongs, but the more Maeve finds out, the less convinced she is of his guilt.
Then another woman disappears in similar circumstances. Is there a copycat killer, or have they been wrong about Stone from the start? This is the latest novel in the award-winning, bestselling Maeve Kerrigan series, but it works just as well as an entry point to the series, and the next book, The Cutting Place, is out in April.
‘Magnificent’ Marian Keyes
‘Clever, classy crime fiction’ Erin Kelly
HERE WE ARE by Graham Swift
It is Brighton, 1959, and the theatre at the end of the pier is having its best summer season in years. Ronnie, a brilliant young magician, and Evie, his dazzling assistant, are top of the bill, drawing audiences each night. Meanwhile, Jack – Jack Robinson, as in ‘before you can say’ – is everyone’s favourite compère, a born entertainer, holding the whole show together.
As the summer progresses, the off-stage drama between the three begins to overshadow their theatrical success, and events unfold which will have lasting consequences for all their futures.
Rich, comic, alive and subtly devastating, Here We Are is a masterly piece of literary magicianship which pulls back the curtain on the human condition.
The No. 2 Sunday Times bestseller and the BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week.
Mudlark (/'mAdla;k/) noun A person who scavenges for usable debris in the mud of a river or harbour.
Lara Maiklem has scoured the banks of the Thames for nearly twenty years, in pursuit of the objects the river unearths: from Neolithic flints to Roman hairpins, medieval buckles to Tudor buttons, Georgian clay pipes to Victorian toys. What began as a search for solitude came to reveal the story of a city, its people and their lost ways of life. Join her in this meditative journey along the river Thames, and through the great scope of history.
'Fascinating. Mudlarks are river scavengers, but Lara Maiklem is more like a time traveller' Guardian
Available as a glorious audiobook – read by the author – as well as Hardback, paperback or ebook.
NOT WORKING by Josh Cohen
'A PROBING EXPLORATION OF THE CREATIVE AND IMAGINATIVE POSSIBILITIES OF INACTIVITY' FINANCIAL TIMES
To do nothing at all is the most difficult thing in the world.' Oscar Wilde More than ever before, we live in a culture that excoriates inactivity and demonizes idleness. Work, connectivity and a constant flow of information are the cultural norms, and a permanent busyness pervades even our quietest moments. Little wonder so many of us are burning out. In a culture that tacitly coerces us into blind activity, the art of doing nothing is disappearing. Inactivity can induce lethargy and indifference, but is also a condition of imaginative freedom and creativity. Psychoanalyst Josh Cohen explores the paradoxical pleasures of inactivity, and considers four faces of inertia - the burnout, the slob, the daydreamer and the slacker. Drawing on his personal experiences and on stories from his consulting room, while punctuating his discussions with portraits of figures associated with the different forms of inactivity - Andy Warhol, Orson Welles, Emily Dickinson and David Foster Wallace - Cohen gets to the heart of the apathy so many of us feel when faced with the demands of contemporary life, and asks how we might live a different and more fulfilled existence.
THE PAPER BRACELET by Rachael English
Every baby's bracelet held a mother's secret...
Inspired by heartrending real events, the gripping new novel from No. 1 bestselling author Rachael English. Readers of Diane Chamberlain and Kathryn Hughes will love this book.
'A true storyteller who keeps you turning the pages' Cathy Kelly
For almost fifty years, Katie has kept a box of secrets. It dates from her time working as a nurse in a west of Ireland mother and baby home, and contains a notebook with details of the babies and young women she met there. It also holds many of the babies' identity bracelets.
Following the death of her husband, Katie makes a decision she has long kept at bay. She posts a message on an internet forum, knowing that the information she possesses could help reunite adopted people with their birth mothers. Soon, the replies are rolling in, and Katie encounters success, failure, heartache and joy as she finds herself in the role of part-detective, part-counsellor - chasing down leads, piecing together stories, and returning many of the bracelets to their original owners.
But there is one bracelet in the box that holds the key to a story that may never be told ...
The Paper Bracelet is a gripping and moving story of secrets, lies and a love that never dies.
THE PRISONER’S WIFE by Maggie Brookes
Inspired by the true story of a daring deception that plunges a courageous young woman deep into the horrors of a Nazi POW camp to be with the man she loves.
In the dead of night, a Czech farm girl and a British soldier travel through the countryside. Izabela and prisoner of war Bill have secretly married and are on the run, with Izzy dressed as a man. The young husband and wife evade capture for as long as possible—until they are cornered by Nazi soldiers with tracking dogs.
Izzy’s disguise works. The couple are assumed to be escaped British soldiers and transported to a POW camp. However, their ordeal has just begun, as they face appalling living conditions and the constant fear of Izzy’s exposure. But in the midst of danger and deprivation comes hope, for the young couple are befriended by a small group of fellow prisoners. These men become their new family, willing to jeopardize their lives to save Izzy from being discovered and shot.
The Prisoner’s Wife tells of an incredible risk, and of how our deepest bonds are tested in desperate times. Bill and Izzy’s story is one of love and survival against the darkest odds.
Published by Century (PRH), 16th April 2020. Pre-order here.
Tin Can Cook by Jack Monroe
Food writer and anti-poverty campaigner Jack Monroe presents Tin Can Cook, bringing together seventy-five recipes that you can rustle up from tinned and dried ingredients. Beautifully designed with accompanying quirky hand-drawn illustrations, this book is for you if you’ve struggled to make a dish because the recipe calls for an exotic ingredient you’ve never heard of. Jack does away with the effort; all her dishes are exciting and new, but you won’t have to look further than your local supermarket to make them.
Jack's recipes include Red Lentil and Mandarin Curry, Catalan Fish Stew, Pina Colada Toast and many more delicious and creative ideas. Simple and affordable, Tin Can Cook strips away the blinding glamour and elitism of many cookbooks and takes it back to the basics: making great-tasting food with ordinary ingredients.
VEG IN ONE BED by Huw Richards
Top grossing gardening book of 2019 in the UK.
"Huw Richards is the future of gardening" (The Guardian)
In just one raised bed, greenfingered wunderkind Huw Richards shows you how to grow vegetables easily, organically, abundantly and inexpensively so you have something to harvest every month of the year. Month by month, discover what you need to do and how to do it. Try it in your allotment, a small garden, or even on a roof terrace.
Everything is explained in clear, photographed steps: building your bed, growing from seed, planting, feeding, and harvesting. Huw shows how to guarantee early success by starting off young plants on a windowsill. He suggests what to grow in each part of the bed, and provides alternative vegetables to swap in or out depending on what you like eating. No-dig gardening methods remove most of the back-breaking work, too.
Veg in One Bed goes beyond the inspiring demonstrations on his YouTube channel "Huw Richards - Grow Food Organically". In this book he organises all his ideas and suggestions into a blueprint for growing your own vegetables month by month. Little growing experience? Only a small space? No matter - with Veg in One Bed, you can still eat food you have grown all through the year.
Enjoy!