This is a book for anyone who has ever wanted to step through the back of the wardrobe, receive a letter delivered by owl or stumble across a knife capable of cutting doors into alternate realities. It is a book written for this community, for anyone who has ever found comfort, magic or escape in the consumption or creation of stories. It’s about the stories we read, the stories that exist within stories and the stories we all live. This is a book that felt like it was written just for me and I feel so incredibly privileged to have received an early copy; thank you so much Vintage Books for the best bookish gift I could possibly have been given. I love you forever and always.

The Starless Sea is beautifully written with a multi-layered, non-linear narrative that twists and turns as the overarching story unfolds. It’ll give your brain a bit of a workout, give your heart a painful squeeze and be somehow familiar and strange all at once. It is completely unlike anything I have ever read and I know it’ll take multiple re-reads for me to fully untangle this stunning novel.

If this is what the results of seven years look like, I might have to start hoping that other authors slow down.

Longer, more revealing review to follow closer to publication date but if you haven’t pre-ordered this already, you really ought to - the Waterstones exclusive edition with the sprayed edges is STUNNING and remember that pre-orders are an AMAZING way to support your favourite authors.

The Korean owned Miracle Submarine is a hyperbaric chamber used to treat a myriad of issues including autism, cerebral palsy and impotence. When a fire results in the death of two and the life-changing injuries of two more, it sparks a legal case built on lies, omissions and deceit that will keep you on your toes from the first page until the last.

This is a truly stunning debut from Angie Kim and so much more than a courtroom based drama. Miracle Creek deals artfully with the topics of immigration, disability, family and what we are willing to do to protect those we love in a narrative that is just utterly compelling. A huge 5 ⭐️ from me and a perfect, page turning but thoughtful summer read. I’ve already got one fellow holidaymaker to buy it and you should definitely join her!

A huge thank you to hodderbooks for my Netgalley copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

A gripping, beautifully written example of ‘cli-fi’, a genre of fictional stories dealing with the very real environmental issues. Tiger follows Frieda (the addict doctor), Tomas (the smouldering conservationist) and Edit (survivalist, Mother and certified badass) as their lives become inextricably tied to the lives of a specific family of Siberian tigers.

There are strengths to each of the overlapping narratives but this book really finds its stride and the peak of its beautiful prose when we leave the South-West of England and join the tigers in their native habitat which Polly Clark does a stunning job of bringing vividly to life.

The descriptions and perspective of the tigers themselves left me with goosebumps. Powerful, majestic, unpredictable and dangerous. These are the creatures as narrated to us by David Attenborough but without the dangerous, sharper edges sanded down for the comfort of a Sunday night viewer.

Emotive, compelling and gripping. I think the start could have been a little stronger and the manner in which the various threads were brought together at the end felt a little rushed but otherwise a fantastic book. Highly recommend - 4.5 🌟 from me.

Pretty sure I bought the physical copy myself but a big thank you to Quercus and Netgalley for providing me with a free electronic copy so I was able to read this on holiday.

My colleague nudged me toward Fox 8 and then, when I loved that, very kindly let me borrow his copy of Lincoln in the Bardo. Side note - reading someone else’s book is genuinely more stressful than holding someone’s new born child.

Where do I even start? I have read a lot of fantastic books lately but none of them have felt this ‘complete’ or, and I cannot quite believe I’m using this term, so utterly flawless. Undoubtedly literary, the format and concept are totally bizarre and yet I was utterly transfixed from the first page to the last. It is a truly remarkable feat that in a book with so many characters, not a single moment or turn of phrase feels less than necessary.

From contemporary newspaper reports of Abraham Lincoln returning to a crypt to hold the body of his dead eleven year old son, Saunders has spun a truth-laced fiction that is painful, darkly funny, eerie, unsettling, strangely uplifting and so totally unlike anything else I’ve ever read. It is poetic, historical but also strangely contemporary and it regularly alternated between making me laugh and making me cry.

If you aren’t a literary fan or have no interest in character-driven narratives, you’ll probably hate it but if you like picking up books that are a little off-the-wall, this is a literary experience you can’t miss out on.

A book that will stay with me for a very long time to come (metaphorically, that is. I will be returning the book. I’m not a monster) and I suspect, after a little longer to reflect, this could well end on my list of all time favourites.

All the stars. Literally, all of them.

This book just... this book. Magical realism has very much wormed its way into my heart but I think I might just have a new favourite. In a nutshell we have Victorian London, a gutsy female detective, the ghost of a charming boxer, an irascible 7ft housekeeper and a kidnapping to solve. I’m telling you, it’s a winning recipe.

Things in Jars has mystery, intrigue, humour, suspense and so much heart. It’s eccentric but accessible, the prose is beautiful and compelling, the plot snatches you up like the Thames at its centre (but returns you in much better condition). Kidd has masterfully captured the bizarre relationship between science and the occult that has always made the era so fascinating to me. Absolutely un-put-down-able.

A huge, huge thank you to @canongatebooks for providing this bookseller with a copy of this incredible book.

It does a lot well. It’s an engaging and thought provoking bit of speculative fiction that seamlessly integrates the topic of mental health. The first few chapters had a bit too much cringey 90s nostalgia for me and I think we should blanket ban men from writing as teenage girls but, early bumps aside, a thoroughly enjoyable read with a compelling female protagonist. Totally recommend for fans of the speculative fiction end of the Sci Fi spectrum.

Someone should send Ian McEwan a copy.