John Murray

An enchanting book. Take an idyllic English country house estate, with gardens, meadows, woods, a river, an island complete with folly and set it in a racy 1920s golden summer. People it with eccentrics, war heroes and survivors, slim young things and a pre-pubescent wunderkind and stir with Roman and Egyptian mythology, voodoo and lost tribe shamanism. Then sprinkle with ghosts and memories, death and sex.

An enthralling book about the Italian P.O.W.S.who converted two huts into a chapel at Lamb Holm in the Orkneys.Kirtsen Mckenzie gives us an insight into what life was like for the Italians, who lived there under very difficult circumstances with the extreme cold and gruelling hard work yet they found the time and the energy to convert and decorate this chapel.I believe that these men were on a spritual journey becouse this project gave them hope that things could only get better. This Chapel is a symbol of what can be achieved in adversity. ..read more

This book explores the river Indus from Pakistan to it's source in the Tibetan mountains. We are taken on a wonderful journey through several civilisations, then several era's of archaeology and religion. We also learn how the people live by the river Indus today.

As outlined in the subtitle, this is an account of the development and career of this particular plane and its part in the British war effort during the mid 20th century. It seems very thorough, covering both famous episodes - such as the Dambusters raids, and less well-known aspects, such as the disagreements over its design and the gambles taken to make the first planes.

Not having read any Maisie Dobbs mysteries before, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was delighted to make the acquaintance of this 1930's psychologist and investigator.

Gentle, principled Maisie has a bulldog streak, determined to get to the root of things and redress wrongs. In this story, totally relevant today, it's the treatment of the war veterans that lie behind the crime and Maisie and her assistant have to work hard to solve the mystery.

Hello! In such an age of digital technology and conversing in "real time" have we really lost the art of conversation? Catherine Blyth certainly seems to think so, and I am inclined to agree with her. Conversation has been reduced to inane texts and "banter" on facebook, limited to witty reposts and one line statements that can only be answered in text speak - lol indeed.

If, like me, you generally skip the preface, don't do so on this occasion. I was expecting archaeology, architecture, maps and diagrams as well as famous prisoners from this "story of Newgate gaol". But what you get is a social history defined by the tales of selected inmates of this infamous prison. As such it is informative, perhaps too repetitive in the filth, faeces and stench department, and with some interesting nuggets re origin of phrases such as ‘left in the lurch' and lives of some less well known criminals.

Building on his well received biographies of Turner and Faraday, James Hamilton brings us London from Nelson's death at Waterloo in 1815 to the Great Exhibition of 1851. The London Lights are the men, and women, who, freed from the threat of invasion from France, turned the capital into the scientific, artistic and intellectual centre of the world.

Elliott Hall's first novel is a brilliant homage to the likes of Raymond Chandler, James Ellroy and Dashiell Hammett - you can hear Robert Stack doing the narration here. I loved this noir book that is so classic in it's style and story telling. Hall is an excellent writer with a wonderful way with words with characters that are well rounded and full of action.

Skylight is a wonderful first novel from Kelly Simmons. It follows a woman who suffers from an acute panic disorder and what happens when she finds an intruder in her home with one of her children in his arms during the night. She begs him to take her instead and so, he does. 

She spends the next days a captive with no idea why her family has been chosen and if she will ever see them again and as a result she has to deal with many home truths and her past.