Shame
Melanie Finn (Orion)
***
Book buff
Set in an “Africa” that Western readers will recognise: traditional healers, dry landscapes, bribes, and even Aids orphans. It’s frustrating when this slice of the continent is constantly in the frame, but in this case it serves the story well. The wounds of others mix with the guilt of the protagonist, Pilgrim Jones who flees her life in Switzerland after a terrible tragedy. Seeking redemption, she finds herself in remote Tanzania. But blame and anger continue to stalk her, only one person in the world cares if she survives and he may be too late.
- Tiah Beautement @ms_tiahmarie
The Girl in the Photograph
Kate Riordan (Penguin)
****
Book fling
Quietly tender, this ghost story without a ghost is the evocative tale of Fiercombe Manor, haunted by past secrets and tragedies – but it’s also a period study gilded by romance. In 1932 Alice Eveleigh, a 22-year-old unwed mother, has been sent to hide her pregnancy under the eye of Firecombe’s elderly housekeeper when she discovers an old diary. The diarist is the ill-fated Elizabeth Stanton, lady of the manor in the late 1890s. Elizabeth’s fate is a mystery Alice is determined to solve – especially after she finds a photograph of the doomed beauty.
- Aubrey Paton
The Farm
Tom Rob Smith (Simon & Schuster)
****
Book thrill
Daniel is a young graphic artist living in London. His British father and Swedish mother have moved to a farm in southern Sweden, where he assumes they are enjoying a bucolic retirement – until the day his father calls to tell him his mother has had a psychotic episode and has fled to find Daniel. When she arrives, wild-eyed, she tries to convince him that his father has been involved in the disappearance of a young woman, and has had her declared insane to cover up. Who to believe? The suspense is unrelenting.
- Michele Magwood @michelemagwood
Through the Woods
Emily Carroll (Faber & Faber)
*****
Book fiend
This gothic graphic novel is a polished, chilling work of art, filled with five sinister, warped-fairy-tale stories that reach into your deepest fears. Things come out from the woods, and people go into the woods, coming back horrifically changed. There’s a lingering sense of unease at the end of every story that leaves the tiny hairs on the back of your neck properly raised. For a preview of Carroll’s brilliant talent, visit her website: www.emcarroll.com.
- Jennifer Platt @Jenniferdplatt
Book details
- Shame by Melanie Finn
EAN: 9780297608455
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- The Girl in the Photograph by Kate Riordan
EAN: 9781405917421
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- The Farm by Tom Rob Smith
EAN: 9781847396754
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- Through The Woods by Emily Carroll
EAN: 9780571288656
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