The Lightman System – Roger Hyams
£16.00Signed by the author.
The Littlest Yak: Home Is Where the Herd Is – Lu Fraser
£12.99Illustrated by Kate Hindley
Gertie doesn’t want to move mountains and pack all her belongings, but after a near-disaster along the way she learns that what matters is being with her family.
Age guide: 3-6
The Macmillan Collection of Greek Myths (Gift Edition)
£35.00Foreward by Joseph Coleho
Beautifully produced treasury of myths complemented by classic illustrations from artists such as Arthur Rackham, Walter Crane and Heath Robinson.
Age guide: 8-13
The Maiden – Kate Foster
£9.99Free shipping within the UK.
The Marriage Portrait – Maggie O’Farrell
£9.99From the sparse hard facts of the life of Lucrezia de’ Medici, daughter of the Grand Duke of Tuscany – married at fifteen, dead within a year, rumours of poison – O’Farrell weaves a tale of intrigue, passion, paranoia and beauty.
The Mermaid Moon – Briony May Smith
£12.99Molly and her best friend Merrin, a mermaid who lives in the harbour, are celebrating the one night when sea creatures can explore the human world.
Age guide: 4-7
The New Life – Tom Crewe
£16.99The New Life is a lyrical debut novel which balances big questions with small and powerful intimacies. Re-imagining a moment in Victorian history, it tracks the stories of two men, the middle-aged John Addington and the younger Henry Ellis, who embark on a project to write a book on the subject of ‘sexual inversion’ – male homosexual love, sexuality, and relationships. Both are married to women, but neither man’s marriage is conventional. John is pursuing a sexually-charged affair with a younger man from a socially-inferior background which his wife is helpless to prevent, while Henry and Edith’s marriage of two minds – intended as a demonstration of how the relationship between men and women might be redefined in The New Life for which they are both striving – comes under strain with the unanticipated intrusion of a third party. Against these human dramas the two men pursue their project, driven by principles and personal desires – but unbeknownst to them the ‘love that dare not speak its name’ is about to be forced out of the shadows and into the harsh, judgmental light of Victorian morality, public opinion, and the press.
Crewe writes with elegance and sympathy. This is a book that, first and foremost, is about people: their thoughts, their dreams, their desires. It is highly charged with sexual energy – the almost unbearable weight and pressure and desire deprived of an outlet: ‘lust as a winter coat worn in summer, never to be taken off’. The world of Victorian London through which his characters move is intensely atmospheric – a swirl of cold rooms, oppressive dark wooden furniture, carriages, labourers, meeting-house crowds, letters flying back and forth – but it is a light sketch to be filled in by the mind of the reader, unencumbered by lengthy descriptions. His observations on the dynamics of couples are subtle and enjoyable. John Addison and Henry Ellis confine the scope of their book to the subject of male inversion, but is often Crewe’s female characters which are the most captivating: the bold Angelica who inserts herself into Henry and Edith’s married life, John spirited teenage daughter, and his quietly suffering wife Catherine, trapped and constrained by her husband’s behaviour and by society’s intolerance.
Crewe – an editor at the LRB who has a PhD in 19th century history from Cambridge – describes himself in the afterword as merrily reshaping and rewriting the facts of the people and events which inspired the book with ‘the enthusiasm of the ex-historian’. In doing so he has created a sharp and sympathetic novel. His extensive suggestions for further reading will no doubt inspire a great many readers to dive deeper into this fascinating period and topic for themselves.
Review by Thomas Laskowski
The New Wife – JP Delaney
£14.00Free shipping within the UK.
The Night Ship – Jess Kidd
£9.99In 1628, a young girl embarks on a voyage on the Batavia, uncovering secrets and tensions both above and below deck. In 1989, Gil is fascinated by stories of nearby reefs and wrecks. A gripping drama which depicts the lives of two children bound together in a tale of brutal providence and friendship.
The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper – Roland Allen
£25.00Delightful history of the humble notebook, from medieval ledgers to the modern Moleskin, and of its enduring appeal as a private space to nurture creativity and ideas.
The Owl: A Biography – Stephen Moss
£14.99Elegantly written, well-illustrated, study of the secret lives and histories of seven species of British owl and the folklore and myths these charismatic birds, not often seen by humans, have inspired.
The Perfect Golden Circle – Benjamin Myers
£8.99Traumatised war veteran Culvert and affable, chaotic Redbone set out in a battered camper van to create a pefect crop circle in the fields of Wiltshire. A magnetic tale of two outsiders in need of healing whose friendship takes root against the cathartic background of the countryside.
The Power of Art: A World History in Fifteen Cities – Caroline Campbell
£30.00An innovative exploration of global art which focuses on different cities at pivotalmoments in their history to show how broader social, cultural and political landscapes fuelled the creativity of their artists.
The Queen of Dirt Island – Donal Ryan
£9.99Beginning in 1980s Tipperary, the story of the Aylward family told through four generations of women united by drama, tragedy, and the ongoing transgressions of their menfolk. A compassionate portrait of the power of blood ties.
The Race to the Future: The Adventure that Accelerated the Twentieth Century – Kassia St Clair
£18.00Free shipping within the UK.
The Race to the Future: The Adventure that Accelerated the Twentieth Century – Kassia St Clair
£20.00Lively story of the 1907 car race from Peking to Paris in which participants from around the world battled with rough terrain, fuel shortages, armed bandits and wild animals.