A young schoolgirl learns a great deal about families, love and loyalty in 1980's rural Ireland. This novella gave me more to enjoy and to think about in 88 pages than most books can manage in 400.
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Thirteen-year old Lizzie and Evie are inseparable until Evie suddenly disappears. Lizzie is convinced their close bond will help solve the mystery, but does Evie's older sister, Dusty, know more than she's letting on? An engrossing, emotional read which took me back to just how it felt during that transitional time when you stop being a little kid and start to get disturbing glimpses of the adult world.
View The End of Everything
When Katharina Linden vanishes during the Karneval in quiet Bad Munstereifel, ten-year-old Pia imagines it 'seemed like something from a fairy tale'. But the magic quickly turns to horror: Katharina fails to return, two more young girls disappear and a grim pattern emerges from the past to terrify the townspeople. This pacy and suspenseful crossover book will hold readers from nine to ninety spellbound until the final page.
View The Vanishing of Katharina Linden
In this assured debut, we see 1980’s rural Suffolk through the eyes of an angst-ridden teenager. Family feuds and long-buried secrets play out against the backdrop of a changing landscape. A convincing portrayal of life in a small village and a welcome departure from all the twee novels that uphold the rural idyll.
This whimsical novel is a story about family, friendship and the bond shared by a brother and sister. Crammed to bursting with incidents and observations, at times it reads like the diary of a precocious child. An undemanding book that deals with dark subjects in a light-hearted manner and one that will certainly divide opinion.
This is a book to be slowly savoured. A story of secrets and misunderstandings - I recognised Gwenni's world immediately. A funny and touching story which I loved very much.
View The Earth Hums in B Flat
This crime novel takes place in 1980's Ireland - still a patriarchal society, permeated with religious hypocrisy and casual misogyny. But this is not just the usual run-of-the-mill detective plot. Running beneath is a far more compelling study of grizzly family secrets and lies, culminating in an all too believable and heart breaking ending. You will need a strong stomach for some of the scenes.
View In the Rosary Garden
Wow! This book had me on the edge of my seat! Peggy escapes home to England after living with her father in a run-down cabin in the forests of Bavaria. Taken as a child of 8, she believes the reasons he gives for the retreat – until, 9 tortuous years on, she rebels. Some gripping passages, full of light and shadow and a breathtaking conclusion.
View Our Endless Numbered Days
This is raw emotion pinned down into precise social context in the Naples of the 1990s - a fast read where you worry for Giovanna on every page. Ferrante is brilliant on sex, friendship, envy, aspiration - complicated and blunt at the same time. It's not just the lies the adults round you tell, it's the lies you tell yourself as you grow up. Can't wait for a sequel.
View The Lying Life of Adults
Would you help a friend to die? This is such a warm, funny book about a very sad and serious subject. Alex tells his story with such honesty and dignity though he never sees the funny side of it. I loved it all - from the reading club to CERN!
View The Universe Versus Alex WoodsYou won’t find the biggest bestsellers on Whichbook as everyone knows about them already. But you can use your enjoyment of a current bestseller to see titles with a similar mood that you might try next.
