We have been sent more wonderful books. Here is a selection to get stuck into.
Wild At Once by Vivianne Crowley. Perfect for spiritual people who want to unleash the wild magic within them. Out March 10.
What secret power is hiding within you?
There is an untamed wildness within each of us. Once found and nurtured, this wild power can lead to true and boundless freedom, creativity and purpose, and discovery of your deepest inner wisdom.
Witch, high priestess, doctor of psychology: Vivianne Crowley has been given many labels over the years. Wild Once is the extraordinary and inspiring tale of a life lived magically, of adventures into the unknown and of finding spiritual nourishment through reconnection with the natural world. It shows what can happen when you have the courage to step into the unexplainable and live untamed.
It is also an evocative, intricate account of a hidden world, a rich tour of modern magical practices, from meditation to manifestation, shamanism to spellwork. Magic is waiting to be discovered. It is here, just beneath the surface, if only you know where to look…
We all have wild magic within us; this book will inspire you to find it.
One For Sorrow by Helen Fields. Perfect for thriller fans: this a clever and riveting book. Out in March.
Three for a girl, four for a boy
DCI Ava Turner and DI Luc Callanach face death every day – and not just the deaths of the people being taken hostage by the killer.
Five for silver, six for gold
When it becomes clear that with every tip-off they are walking into a trap designed to kill them too, Ava and Luc know that finding the truth could mean paying the ultimate price.
Seven for a secret never to be told…
But with the threat – and body count – rising daily, and no clue as to who’s behind it, neither Ava nor Luc know whether they will live long enough to tell the tale…
A Spoonful of Murder by J.M Hall. Perfect for fans of fun and cosy crime. Out March 17th.
Every Thursday, three retired school teachers have their ‘coffee o’clock’ sessions at the Thirsk Garden Centre café.
But one fateful week, as they are catching up with a slice of cake, they bump into their ex-colleague, Topsy.
By the next Thursday, Topsy’s dead.
The last thing Liz, Thelma and Pat imagined was that they would become involved in a murder.
But they know there’s more to Topsy’s death than meets the eye – and it’s down to them to prove it…
Sit down with a cup of tea and this perfectly witty, page-turning cosy crime novel. Fans of Agatha Christie, Death in Paradise and Midsomer Murders will be hooked from the very first page.
Sorry isn’t Good Enough by Jane Bailey. Perfect for fans of psychological thrillers. This was a huge hit at Frost, an intelligent and pacy read that leaves you wanting more. Out February 7th.
‘The trouble is, we don’t recognise every danger when we see it. And that’s how Mr Man manages to creep into our lives.’
It is 1966, and things are changing in the close-knit Napier Road. Stephanie is 9 years old, and she has plans:
1. Get Jesus to heal her wonky foot
2. Escape her spiteful friend Dawn
3. Persuade her mum to love her
But everything changes when Stephanie strikes up a relationship with Mr Man, who always seems pleased to see her. When Dawn goes missing in the woods during the World Cup final, no one appears to know what happened to her – but more than one of them is lying.
May 1997, and Stephanie has spent her life trying to bury the events of that terrible summer. When a man starts following her on the train home from London, she realises the dark truth of what happened may have finally caught up with her.
The Royal Game by Anne O’Brien. Perfect for fans of historical fiction. This is a glorious and compelling read.
England, 1444. Three women challenge the course of history…
King Henry VI’s grip on the crown hangs by a thread as the Wars of the Roses starts to tear England apart. And from the ashes of war, the House of Paston begins its rise to power.
Led by three visionary women, the Pastons are a family from humble peasant beginnings who rely upon cunning, raw ambition, and good fortune in order to survive.
Their ability to plot and scheme sees them overcome imprisonment, violence and betrayal, to eventually secure for their family a castle and a place at the heart of the Yorkist Court. But success breeds jealousy and brings them dangerous enemies…
An inspirational story of courage and resilience, The Royal Game, charts the rise of three remarkable women from obscurity to the very heart of Court politics and intrigue.
Her Last Request by Mari Hannah. This is another stunner from Mari Hannah, she is at the top of her game.
Some victims leave clues to their killers…
A Hidden Clue
A victim leaves a note for the SIO who will investigate her death. This not what DCI Kate Daniels expects to find concealed at a crime scene.
A Desperate Plea
The note contains a last request: ‘Find Aaron’. But is Kate searching for a potential second victim, or a killer?
The Countdown is on…
Following the clues, Kate becomes the obsession of her adversary who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Will she find Aaron before he does?
Emily and Daisy by Paul Yates. A lovely and thoroughly enjoyable time slip novel.
This is a love story. A love story with a difference that lives across time and space and explores the ways in which the accidents of love can combine in the forging of a life.
Rural Devon, World War II. In her last year of school and living above the family shop, Daisy studies for her exams and keeps her journal. After he paints a watercolour portrait of her, she falls for James, a young army captain.
Paris, the end of the twentieth century. Emily lives comfortably with her father, having just left university and unsure of what comes next. Upon discovering Daisy’s portrait, she becomes enchanted by the young woman who seems to have inexplicably disappeared from her uncle’s life.
Campiston house in rural Sussex connects the two women. In her teens Emily spends her Summer vacations with her great uncle, but he never speaks of Daisy. Later, James wills the house to Emily who pursues the mystery of Daisy’s disappearance.
Their lives may have different trajectories, but something resonates with Emily as she delves deeper into the traces of Daisy’s world. Each revelation demands that Emily see herself and her world in new ways.
The Goodbye Coast by Joe Ide. An old-school novel with a new twist. Lots of fun.
The seductive and relentless figure of Raymond Chandler’s detective, Philip Marlowe, is vividly re-imagined in present-day Los Angeles. Here is a city of scheming Malibu actresses, ruthless gang members, virulent inequality, and washed-out police. Acclaimed and award-winning novelist Joe Ide imagines a Marlowe very much of our time: he’s a quiet, lonely, and remarkably capable and confident private detective, though he lives beneath the shadow of his father, a once-decorated LAPD homicide detective, famous throughout the city, who’s given in to drink after the death of Marlowe’s mother.
Marlowe, against his better judgement, accepts two missing person cases, the first a daughter of a faded, tyrannical Hollywood starlet, and the second, a British child stolen from his mother by his father. At the center of The Goodbye Coast is Marlowe’s troubled and confounding relationship with his father, a son who despises yet respects his dad, and a dad who’s unable to hide his bitter disappointment with his grown boy.
Steeped in the richly detailed ethnic neighborhoods of modern LA, Ide’s The Goodbye Coast is a bold recreation that is viciously funny, ingeniously plotted, and surprisingly tender.
In Defence of Witches by Mona Chollet. A well-researched and timely novel. Essential reading.
A source of terror, a misogynistic image of woman inherited from the trials and the pyres of the great early modern witch hunts – in In Defence of Witches the witch is recast as a powerful role model to women today: an emblem of power, free to exist beyond the narrow limits society imposes on women.
Whether selling grimoires on Etsy, posting photos of their crystal-adorned altar on Instagram, or gathering to cast spells on Donald Trump, witches are everywhere. But who exactly were the forebears of these modern witches? Who was historically accused of witchcraft, often meeting violent ends? What types of women have been censored, eliminated, repressed, over the centuries?
Mona Chollet takes three archetypes from historic witch hunts, and examines how far women today have the same charges levelled against them: independent women; women who choose not to have children; and women who reject the idea that to age is a terrible thing. Finally, Chollet argues that by considering the lives of those who dared to live differently, we can learn more about the richness of roles available, just how many different things a woman can choose to be.
