Books of the Month – April 2017

General Fiction: Mark Thompson – Dust

An evocative coming of age journey across 60s America. This beautifully written debut novel would not be out of place alongside the work of Steinbeck and Philipp Meyer’s American Rust. At turns funny, and at others heart-achingly sad, the story unfolds around the honest and frequently irreverent observations of two young people trying to grow up fast in a world that is at times confusing, and at others seen with a clarity only the young may possess.

» Visit Mark Thompson’s website www.markthompsonwrites.com

British Crime: Julia Chapman – Date with Death

Samson O’Brien has been dismissed from the police force, and returns to his hometown of Bruncliffe in the Yorkshire Dales to set up the Dales Detective Agency while he fights to clear his name. However, the people of Bruncliffe aren’t that welcoming to a man they see as trouble.

» Follow @daleswriter on twitter

» Visit DalesDetective on facebook

Tough Crime: Melissa Ginsburg – Sunset City

Twenty-two-year-old Charlotte Ford reconnects with Danielle, her best friend from high school, a few days before Danielle is found bludgeoned to death in a motel room…  Ginsburg’s Houston is part of a lesser known south, where the urban and rural collide gracelessly. In this shadowy world, culpability and sympathy blur in a debut novel which thrillingly brings its three female protagonists to the fore. Scary, funny and almost unbearably sad, Sunset City is written with rare grace and empathy holding you transfixed, praying for some kind of escape for Charlotte.

» Visit Melissa’s website melissaginsburg.net

Fantasy: Vic James - Gilded Cage

Our world belongs to the Equals – aristocrats with magical gifts. All commoners must serve them for ten years. But behind the gates of England’s grandest estate lies a power that could break the world.

Welcome to the alternate contemporary Britain of The Dark Gifts … Have a quick ten years!

» Visit the website vicjames.co.uk

Science Fiction: Brenda Cooper – Edge of Dark

What if a society banished its worst nightmare to the far edge of the solar system, destined to sip only dregs of light and struggle for the barest living.  And yet, that life thrived?  It grew and learned and became far more than you ever expected, and it wanted to return to the sun.  What if it didn’t share your moral compass in any way?

» Visit Brenda’s website brenda-cooper.com

Paranormal/Urban Fantasy: Laura Bickle – Nine of Stars

Winter has always been a deadly season in Temperance, but this time, there’s more to fear than just the cold . . .

From critically acclaimed author Laura Bickle comes the first novel in the Wildlands series Nine of Stars.

It’s up to Petra and her coyote sidekick Sig to get ahead of both Owen, the new sheriff in town, and the unnatural being hunting them all — before the trail turns deathly cold.

» Visit website laurabickle.com

Teen: Becky Albertalli – Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda

Straight people should have to come out too. The more awkward it is, the better. Simon Spier is sixteen and trying to work out who he is – and what he’s looking for.

But when one of his emails to the very distracting Blue falls into the wrong hands, things get all kinds of complicated. Because, for Simon, falling for Blue is a big deal...

It's a holy freaking huge awesome deal.

» Visit Becky’s website beckyalbertalli.com

Classic: Iris Murdoch – A Severed Head

Martin Lynch-Gibbon believes he can possess both a beautiful wife and a delightful lover. But when his wife, Antonia, suddenly leaves him for her psychoanalyst, Martin is plunged into an intensive emotional re-education. He attempts to behave beautifully and sensibly. Then he meets a woman whose demonic splendour at first repels him and later arouses a consuming and monstrous passion. As his Medusa informs him, ’this is nothing to do with happiness’.

Non-Fiction: Hope Jahren – Lab Girl

If you like H is for Hawk, Oliver Sacks, Stephen Jay Gould, you will *love* Hope Jahren’s incredible memoir of a life in science.

» Visit Hope’s blog about interactions between women and men and Academia

Short Story Collection:  Annie Proulx – Close Range: Brokeback Mountain and Other Stories

The inspiration behind Life of Pi director Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain is one of the short stories to be found in this haunting collection of Wyoming tales. Short stories inspired by the harsh and unforgiving landscape of Wyoming.