General

by Anthony Horowitz (Walker Books) ISBN 979-1-4063-1049-8 I was so sorry to learn that this was the last of the Alex Ryder books.  It certainly is fabulous and the story pulls you along page by page.  How the author manages to get his hero out of very tight spots is a tribute to his wonderful

by Mandivamba Rukuni (Penguin) ISBN: 9780143026808 Being Afrikan by Mandivamba Rukuni is the most inspiring, enlightening, educating piece of information I have read in a long time. The blurb says: this “is a book that will change your view of what of what it is going to take for us to co-create the Afrika we

The Stranger’s Child by Alan Hollinghurst (Picador) ISBN: 9780330483247

by Naomi Wood (Picador) ISBN: 9780330530125 In this dystopian novel, a debut by Naomi Wood, an alternative reality of England in the eighties is created: people have been banned from England, where the Church took power and the non-believers are expelled to an island. Nathaniel is a gang leader, born on the island. He is

South African Odyssey: The Autobiography of Bertha Goudvis edited by Marcia Leveson  (The Isaac & Jessie Kaplan for Jewish Studies and Research at the University of Cape Town and Picador Africa) ISBN: 9781770101029 Bertha Goudvis trekked across South Africa following her father who was a smous. He later became a gold prospector and Innkeeper. Living

by Professor Richard Wiseman (Macmillan) ISBN: 978-0-230-75298-6 Why can you see ghosts and I can’t? How can the medium reading my future be so accurate? According to Prof Wiseman, we are being conned into seeing things that aren’t really there. And he should know. He started his career as a magician and then studied a

by Anthony Capella (Sphere) ISBN 978-1-84744-122-5 In the France of 1670 Carlo Demirco’s mastery of the extraordinary new art of creating ice creams leads him to wealth, women and a position at the court of Louis X1V. He is sent to London along with the lovely Louise, an impoverished lady-in-waiting.  Louise has an iron will

by Joanna Trollope (Doubleday ) ISBN: 978-0-385-61799-4 The story kicks off with a wedding. Luke, Rachel’s youngest son, is the last to marry. Rachel’s husband, Anthony, is admiring the bride’s butt. This is as far as the humour goes. After Luke’s wedding, Rachel has to redefine her life. She is used to being a mother

by Elle Newmark (Doubleday) ISBN: 978038561426 This historical novel takes you back in time to two important years in India. Two British expats, Evie and Martin Mitchell, arrive with their son in Masoorla in 1947. Their marriage is strained because of Martin’s suppressed wartime memories and her struggle to make a new life in an