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As someone who has travelled solo for many years, I was curious to see whether Women Travel Solo by Lonely Planet would rekindle my desire to head off on another adventure. This beautifully produced collection brings together 30 inspiring stories from women who have travelled the world independently, each offering a unique perspective on the joys and challenges of solo travel. What impressed me most was the diversity of the contributors. Their backgrounds, travel styles and levels of experience vary enormously, making the book feel both inclusive and authentic. Rather than presenting solo travel through rose-tinted glasses, the writers openly…

2025 Booker Prize winner There’s no denying the audacity of Flesh, last year’s Booker Prize winner. It begins with a genuinely shocking set of events, which promises psychological depth and long-reaching consequences for the life of István, a working class teenage boy in Hungary. In the early pages, I found myself utterly compelled by how such a bombshell of events might echo throughout István’s life, shaping his decisions, relationships, and sense of self. Yet as the novel unfolds, to me that promise feels only partially realised.  This is a minimalist novel, with grief often depicted by white space. István is not a…

Ilona Andrews – (“Ilona Andrews” is the pseudonym for a husband-and-wife writing team and they are the duo behind the ‘Hidden Legacy’ series and ‘Innkeeper Chronicles’) - have once again created a mesmerising world of beautiful and terrifying creatures, complex characters; some relatable and some wholly not. Which is why it’s such a shame the plot line doesn’t hold up. I was bored, and as a blooded member of the ‘Book Devouring Horde’ (if you know, you know), that is a painful admission. Desperately anticipating this book, as I came to terms with Ilona’s decision to pause writing their other…

Heartbreaking but also beautiful - a story about life and death, the struggles of aging and illness and the need for care; family relationships; the importance of friendship and all of the beautiful things on that journey. Bo, 89, is losing control of his life, his capability to care for himself and his beloved dog, Sixten. Missing his wife, Frederika, who is in a nursing home with dementia, feeling distanced from his son Hans; it's difficult to watch his faculties diminish daily. You get to know the ups and downs of Bo's life through his memories, dreams and daydreams and…

Before we had duvets, we had eiderdowns and as the name suggests they were filled with the precious down that female Eider Ducks pluck from their breasts to line their precious nests. James Rebanks in a departure from his usual texts on English farming practises and also somewhat mentally exhausted, spends the Spring and Summer with an elderly woman called Anna and her friend Ingrid. Anna is one of the last remaining Duck Women – part of an ancient traditional practise that takes place every year on a tiny crag of a remote island off Norway and just below the…

My goodness. Welcome to the bleakest novel ever written. I thought I was well versed in the bleak: being a fan of miserable Russian classics, grim ol' Cormac McCarthy, and dystopian nightmares like 'We' and 'The Handmaid's Tale', but none of these come close to the dark, hopeless futility of Harpman's classic. I felt like I was trapped in the background of a lost Salvador Dali painting, i.e. a world that made no sense, in which the Holocaust was forever on repeat, and the bewildered 'but why?' constantly on the lips of the characters and reader is met only by…

I have just discovered this story although it has been out for a ninety years or so! It is the simple tale of a village farmhand going out into the blizzards to rescue some sheep. He journeys with his irrepressibly positive dog, and stolid dependable ram whose function is to provide leadership and reassurance for any flock they find. Our main character is a tough, kind-hearted Icelander who knows his business, but even he, on his 27th winter’s expedition, is tested to the very limits by nature’s fury. This is just the sort of book you want to read by…

Anyone who enjoyed Joanne Harris’s 1998 bestseller Chocolat and its sequels The Lollipop Shoes, Peaches for Monsieur le Curé and The Strawberry Thief is bound to love her latest creation, Vianne, published in May this year. For anyone new to the series, it’s a great place to start. Vianne is a prequel to Chocolat; it is the backstory of the memorable heroine, Vianne Rocher, whose trials and tribulations the series has followed. Set in Marseille in the mid-nineties, the latest book starts with Vianne’s arrival in the city. She has just scattered the ashes of her mother, with whom she has lived an itinerant lifestyle, in New York. Vianne…

Finding Hildasay, is Christian Lewis’ honest account of his struggle with mental health and PTSD following his time in the armed forces. He had found himself to be a father/ person he no longer wanted to be, therefore deciding that he needed to change. He made the decision to embark on a journey in which he didn’t know what was going to happen, by setting out to walk the entirety of the coast of the British Isles. Lewis raises the profile of the unseen mental health and physical battles faced by veterans. In doing so, he not only shares his…

Jenkins Reid tells a heartwarming, and yet a heartbreaking, story of Hollywood’s golden era through the eyes of Evelyn Hugo who mysteriously requests an unknown reporter to write her story. This fast paced roller-coaster follows the decisions, regrets and glory days of Hugo’s life, marriages, unexpected love and career, leaving the reader guessing throughout. You are left reeling as all is revealed and decades-long secrets come to light. This book made me feel every different emotion from page to page, never knowing where the plotline would lead. I appreciated Hugo’s tenacity in the face of so much struggle and its…