General

by Robin Hobb (Harper Voyager) ISBN 9780007376094 Just because a person likes a book, it does not mean it is a good book. Now I like this book and I like Robin Hobb. I have read her last five books and continued to read them even when, in my heart, I know she has gone […]

by Michael Robotham (Sphere) ISBN: 978-1-84744-221-5 In his seventh fiction production, Michael Robotham reacquaints us with Vincent Ruiz, a worn, imperfect but likeable retired London police detective, and Joe O’Laughlin, a perceptive psychologist. He introduces us to cast of other characters that ultimately collide after being launched into the story by a number of separate

by Lolo Houbein (Jacana) ISBN 9781770099111 This is the most useful and most beautiful book of the year. For experienced gardeners it is full of practical tips, but for people aspiring to grow their own vegetables, like me, it is a godsend! Houbein takes you step by step from planning your vegetable garden on a

by James Clelland (Jacana) ISBN 978-1-77009-925-8 James Clelland is the recipient of the EU Literary Award in 2010. He certainly is a compelling new voice in South African fiction. In this story his fiction is based on some truth. You cannot help laughing at what might be your own marriage. The story is about Angus,

 by Ellen Banda-Aaku (Penguin Books) ISBN 978-0-14-352753-4 Patterns of thinking and emotional behaviour seem to persist through generations. Pumpkin, a nine-year-old girl, is living in Lusaka. We are led through her torrid journey and the way she perceives it. Her mother a seemingly respectable and fashionable woman is secretly a drunk. Her father seldom sees

by Nicholas Hogg (Corsair) ISBN 9781849016476 ‘I never understood why men went to war, why men would die in the corner of a muddy field…until I saw her at the wedding.’ Sam Taylor has escaped a childhood hell by the grace of his intelligence, his sporting ability and his capacity to love. Kicked out of

by Lisa Jackson (Hodder & Stoughton) ISBN: 978 1 444 71341 1 Lisa Jackson is the author of twelve spine-chillers, with suitably creepy titles like Chosen to Die and Fatal Burn.  Devious, her new novel, opens with a gruesome taste of things to come – a young nun is found brutally murdered in a Cathedral

 by Sherrilyn Kenyon (Piatkus) ISBN 978 0 7499 5473 4 This book is badly written. I don’t say that often. No, wait that is not true. The point is, with most books, it is the boring plot coupled with the bad writing. This book is different. The plot is Star Wars, the good one. The

by Imogen Robertson (Headline Review) ISBN 978 0 7553 7203 4 The hanging of his brother in 1751, and a conspiracy of the era, sends Lord Keswick into seclusion. Thirty years later, as Gabriel Crowther, he is called back to uncover the mystery of a nameless tomb discovered on the Island of Bones. Mrs Harriet