So Very Beautiful Sweet Little Cub by K. S. D’arcy is a most beautiful book for the under-fives. It is written in rhyme with just four lines to each verse. There is a wonderful sing-song rhythm to each verse that bounces along, even when I read it in my head. Each verse presents the reader […]

Keep The Home Fires Burning Louisa by Jacqueline Carpenter is a comprehensive historical tale that covers the World War II period. It is mainly set in London with a short foray to Kent. This is a work of fiction that seamlessly blends with facts to cover key dates and happenings. Londoners are a stoic breed, […]

Community Lives A New Dawn Over Mulberry Lane by Rosie Clarke is a marvellous historical novel set in 1958. It is the eighth book in the Mulberry Lane series but can be read as a stand-alone. This was my first trip to Mulberry Lane and I loved it. The background to all the characters was […]

Stunningly Beautiful The Phone Box At The Edge Of The World by Laura Imai Messina is a stunningly beautiful book about grief and love and life. Whilst it is a novel, it has its roots in reality as it is based on the actual phone box at Bell Gardia in Japan. There is nothing magical […]

Step Out In Faith The Caterpillar And The Butterfly by Michael Rosenblum is a beautiful story for early readers. It has a powerful message about not letting fear rule our lives but to step out in faith and try new things. The book is perfect to read to young children or for early readers to […]

Beautiful So How Will You Sleep?  by Annabel Gardiner is an absolutely beautiful book and just perfect for young children. Each page explores how different animals’ sleep. With simple rhyme and repetition, it is a book that will encourage children to join in with the words. As older children follow along, the repetition will help […]

Powerful And Horrifying The German Wife by Debbie Rix is a powerful historical novel that consumed me from the start. As the title suggests, the reader follows the German wife from the 1930’s, through the war years and just beyond before leaping forwards to 1984. It is a powerful read as we witness a character […]

Highly Amusing Don’t Worry He Doesn’t Bite by Liam Mulvin is a highly amusing account of a West Country postman and the people and places he has encountered over the years. Each story is a bitesize chunk of just a single page. I enjoyed all the stories, some definitely had me laughing out loud, and […]

The Road To Redemption Escaping Pretense by Deborah Jean Miller is a powerful contemporary novel about love and life and family. I absolutely adored it. Everyone deserves to be loved – but within the book we meet a character who doesn’t think this applies to her. Every time someone gets close to her, she pulls […]

Thrilling And Tense Munich by Robert Harris is a marvellous historical political thriller that gripped me from the start. It is a work of fiction but very much grounded in fact as it surrounds the Munich Agreement of September 1938, and the infamous ‘peace for our time’ from Chamberlain. On the surface all is polite […]