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Including Deborah Levy's The Man Who Saw Everything, Lara Maiklem's history of the River Thames, Mudlarking, and Malorie Blackman's fifth Noughts and Crosses title Crossfire Home | Fiction | Non-Fiction | Children's | Genres | Publications | Prizes The Week in Review: 27th August 2019 Reviewers see eye to eye on Levy's The Man Who Saw Everything Good morning  Deborah Levy's The Man Who Saw Everything (Hamish Hamilton) has found itself in the critics' sights, with the Booker-longlisted title praised as "stylish", "extraordinary" and "electrifying". In the Observer, Stephanie Merritt commended the author's handling of heavy themes with "a lightness of touch and a painfully sharp sense of what it means to look back on a life and construct a coherent whole from its fragments", adding, "A third [Booker Prize] shortlisting for Levy would be well-deserved." Leo Robson in the New Statesman described The Man Who Saw Everything as "brave, terse, dense, plangent, unsettling", while Claire Allfree in the Daily Telegraph also backed it for the Booker shortlist, saying, "Its sheer technical bravura places it head and shoulders above pretty much everything else on the longlist, and it ought to make Levy a household name on a par with the similarly inventive Ali Smith." Lara Maiklem's history of the River Thames, Mudlarking (Bloomsbury), also sucked the reviewers in, with Rosamund Urwin in the Sunday Times writing, "It made even a capsized critic like me feel more sentimental about the Thames," and Neil Armstrong in the Literary Review describing it as "a lovely, lyrical, gently meandering book, filled with fascinating diversions and detail". The Bookseller's non-fiction previewer Caroline Sanderson made it her Book of the Month, writing, "If, like me, you are the kind of person who walks along shorelines with eyes cast down, you will thrill to this enthralling and evocative history of London and its people, told through objects found on the banks of the Thames." Malorie Blackman's fifth Noughts and Crosses title Crossfire (Penguin) blazed a trail straight into the critics' hearts, with Linda Buckley-Archer in the Guardian pronouncing it "a cracking story that fans of the series will love", praising the author's talent for "producing relatable characters, gutsy dialogue and page-turning action". In the Sunday Times, Nicolette Jones said, "Rich in moral and social issues, it is devastating about racial attitudes and tantalisingly inconclusive", while Suzi Feay in the Financial Times described the series' inversion of racial prejudice as "ingenious". By Kiera O'Brien, charts editor, The Bookseller Book of the Week The Man Who Saw Everything Deborah Levy 4.26 out of 5 | 10 reviews "an electrifying new novel" The Sunday Times "extraordinary" The Daily Telegraph "Time tricks, gender surprises and an unusual hero" The Times "clever, raw, and it doesn’t play by any rules" Evening Standard Read all reviews Latest Reviews Quichotte Salman Rushdie 3.57 out of 5 | 7 reviews "While Quichotte is funny, it’s rarely as funny as Rushdie thinks it is" The Observer How To Be an Antiracist Ibram X. Kendi TBC out of 5 | 2 reviews "How to Be an Antiracist offers a way out from the tangled disingenuousness of mainstream narratives around racism" The Observer Broken Ghost Niall Griffiths 3.29 out of 5 | 3 reviews "A novel about austerity and social breakdown is flawed yet compelling" The Observer Gentlemen of Uncertain Fortune Rory Muir 3.75 out of 5 | 3 reviews "plenty of detail" The Spectator Don't Believe A Word: The Surprising Truth About Language David Shariatmadari TBC out of 5 | 2 reviews "This lucid examination of linguistics entertains as much as it informs" The Observer The Unsettling of Europe Peter Gatrell 3.71 out of 5 | 8 reviews "The Unsettling of Europe is a positive and sympathetic book that seeks to rebalance the conversation. It is a bold, meticulously researched and frequently compelling account" The Sunday Times My Name Is Why Lemn Sissay 4.27 out of 5 | 4 reviews "It is sensational stuff told with an elegant restraint that leaves the reader feeling some of the hurt, bewilderment and anger that he has endured" The Sunday Times Confessions of a Bookseller Shaun Bythell 3.60 out of 5 | 3 reviews "A heart-warming love letter to books and bookshops, by an amenable fellow turned antisocial old misanthrope" The Guardian A Half Baked Idea Olivia Potts 3.80 out of 5 | 3 reviews "a gentle, lovely book" The Spectator Best Reviewed Crossfire Malorie Blackman 4.50 out of 5 | 3 reviews "one for the existing fan base" Financial Times The Offing Benjamin Myers 4.30 out of 5 | 5 reviews "an unexpectedly touching story of a friendship that conquers the barriers of age, class and gender" The Guardian Semicolon Cecelia Watson 4.17 out of 5 | 3 reviews "I loved this book; I really did" The Spectator Trick Mirror Jia Tolentino 4.00 out of 5 | 5 reviews "These reflections on feminism, drugs and reality TV reveal a new star" The Times The Turn of the Key Ruth Ware 4.00 out of 5 | 3 reviews "Eerie and tense" Prima Islamic Empires Justin Marozzi 4.00 out of 5 | 3 reviews "an outstanding history of Islam" The Sunday Times To War with the Walkers Annabel Venning 4.00 out of 5 | 3 reviews "It covers the harrowing experiences of her grandfather Walter and five siblings " Daily Mail Inland Tea Obreht 3.96 out of 5 | 11 reviews "I disliked this on first read, then was absolutely blown away" Irish Times I Never Said I Loved You Rhik Samadder 3.89 out of 5 | 4 reviews "this is a stunning memoir about grief and love, about vulnerability and the strength required to embrace it" The Times Most Reviewed Inland Tea Obreht 3.96 out of 5 | 11 reviews "I disliked this on first read, then was absolutely blown away" Irish Times The Unsettling of Europe Peter Gatrell 3.71 out of 5 | 8 reviews "The Unsettling of Europe is a positive and sympathetic book that seeks to rebalance the conversation. It is a bold, meticulously researched and frequently compelling account" The Sunday Times Quichotte Salman Rushdie 3.57 out of 5 | 7 reviews "While Quichotte is funny, it’s rarely as funny as Rushdie thinks it is" The Observer Mudlarking Lara Maiklem 4.13 out of 5 | 7 reviews " The mudlarks are snatching London’s history back from the river, piece by piece, before it disappears." The Daily Telegraph Is There Still Sex in the City? Candace Bushnell 2.58 out of 5 | 6 reviews "Say hello to your next book-club hit" Red Whiskey When We're Dry John Larison 4.00 out of 5 | 5 reviews "the punch and intensity of the writing and the voice of Jessie are rather remarkable" Daily Mail To unsubscribe from Books in the Media emails, click here To change your other preferences, click here. View our updated privacy policy here. © 2019 Bookseller Media Ltd.

Including Naomi Wood's The Hiding Game, Taffy Brodesser-Akner's Fleishman is in Trouble and Dave Goulson's The Garden Jungle Home | Fiction | Non-Fiction | Children's | Genres | Publications | Prizes The Week in Review: 22nd July 2019 The Hiding Game is in the critics' sights Naomi Wood's The Hiding Game (Picador) has found acclaim among reviewers, with Sarra Manning in Red stating simply, "A love story set in the Bauhaus art school during Germany's turbulent 1920s? Be still, my pounding heart!" In the Guardian, Hannah Beckerman wrote, "Interweaving the personal and the political, Wood creates an atmospheric backdrop through which to explore the impact of macro events on art, culture, friendship and personal freedoms," and the Sunday Times' Nick Rennison said, "With great conviction, Wood summons up the intensity of the students’ camaraderie and the forces that destroy it." Malcolm Forbes in the Literary Review praised The Hiding Game as "as well-timed as it is well-written".  Taffy Brodesser-Akner's Fleishman is in Trouble (Wildfire) had no strife racking up a near-perfect star rating, as India Knight in the Sunday Times declared it "the novel of the summer...I can’t believe it’s a first novel. Pure brilliance." Siobhan Murphy in the Times agreed, writing, "It’s wry, deeply felt and moving — it’s definitely the book you should read this summer," and the Guardian's Katy Guest wrote, "This is an honest, powerful, human story with no apologies. And it will do the 'American Novel' a power of good." Climate change polemics have, much like the Earth, never been hotter, and Dave Goulson's The Garden Jungle: Or, Gardening to Save the Planet (Jonathan Cape) has earned sunflower-heights of praise from the critics. The Bookseller's non-fiction previewer Caroline Sanderson pronounced it "eye-opening", and Melanie Reid in the Times agreed, adding, "[Goulson] is a man you’d just love to visit your garden and show you its invisible wonders, teach you how to nurture them." The Sunday Times' John Carey encapsulated many reviews of climate change titles by writing, "It is a constant revelation, just don’t expect it to cheer you up." By Kiera O'Brien, charts editor, The Bookseller Book of the Week The Hiding Game Naomi Wood 4.00 out of 5 | 5 reviews "A love story... during Germany's turbulent 1920s? Be still, my pounding heart!" Red "a suspenseful story of obsession" The Sunday Times "Wood summons up the intensity of the students’ camaraderie and the forces that destroy it." The Sunday Times "as well timed as it is well written" Literary Review Read all reviews Latest Reviews When We Were Rich Tim Lott 3.13 out of 5 | 4 reviews "the book finally triumphs" The Sunday Times The English Job Jack Straw TBC out of 5 | 2 reviews "...highly readable, full of vivid history, diplomatic anecdotes and personal observation" The Observer The Carer Deborah Moggach 4.00 out of 5 | 7 reviews "a masterpiece of red herrings and surprises" The Sunday Times Everything You Ever Wanted Luiza Sauma 3.82 out of 5 | 4 reviews "Sauma has the horrors of the workplace nailed with satirical precision" The Sunday Times I Am Sovereign Nicola Barker 4.21 out of 5 | 5 reviews "Nicola Barker has repeatedly challenged convention. And she is not stopping now" The Sunday Times Passionate Spirit Cate Haste 3.43 out of 5 | 7 reviews "meticulously researched and absorbing" The Observer Diary of a Somebody Brian Bilston 3.23 out of 5 | 7 reviews "a spoof too far" The Observer Ducks, Newburyport Lucy Ellmann 4.11 out of 5 | 4 reviews "stuck between insanity and genius" The Sunday Times Expectation Anna Hope 4.00 out of 5 | 3 reviews "intelligent and humane" The Observer Best Reviewed The Chain Adrian McKinty 4.63 out of 5 | 3 reviews "This is genuinely unputdownable" The Guardian Escape from Earth Fraser MacDonald 4.50 out of 5 | 3 reviews "a true history of rocketry, espionage and sex cults" The Sunday Telegraph King of the World Philip Mansel 4.22 out of 5 | 5 reviews "(a) thorough success in comprehending not just the world and the age, but the king and the man" The Daily Telegraph I Am Sovereign Nicola Barker 4.21 out of 5 | 5 reviews "Nicola Barker has repeatedly challenged convention. And she is not stopping now" The Sunday Times Ducks, Newburyport Lucy Ellmann 4.11 out of 5 | 4 reviews "stuck between insanity and genius" The Sunday Times The Garden Jungle Dave Goulson 4.00 out of 5 | 3 reviews "this book will teach you a great deal about the creatures who live right outside your door and are waiting for you to get to know them" The Sunday Times Knife Jo Nesbo 4.00 out of 5 | 3 reviews "Harry Hole is back battling his demons — and a serial rapist" The Times Homesick Catrina Davies 3.91 out of 5 | 5 reviews "Two powerful books by low-paid women struggling to keep a roof over their heads illustrate the severity of Britain’s housing crisis" The Observer Novacene James Lovelock 3.90 out of 5 | 5 reviews "The Gaia theorist sees at least one reason why superintelligent machines might want to keep humans around" Financial Times Most Reviewed Sweet Sorrow David Nicholls 3.82 out of 5 | 17 reviews "a road-tested romance" Financial Times Live a Little Howard Jacobson 3.82 out of 5 | 10 reviews "[a] bold, funny novel" The Spectator Night Boat To Tangier Kevin Barry 3.60 out of 5 | 10 reviews "(a) thrilling tale of has-been Irish gangsters ends up treading water" The Daily Telegraph On Chapel Sands Laura Cumming 4.60 out of 5 | 9 reviews "a deeply felt, forensic yet ultimately empathetic examination of human motivation and its attendant sorrows" The Daily Telegraph Last Witnesses: Unchildlike Stories Svetlana Alexievich, Richard Pevear, Larissa Volokhonsky 4.38 out of 5 | 9 reviews "the voices... float out of her pages, across time, bearing layer upon layer of truth directly to our hearts" The Spectator Asghar and Zahra Sameer Rahim 3.82 out of 5 | 7 reviews "The demands of Western love and Eastern tradition" Times Literary Supplement © 2019 Bookseller Media Ltd.

Including Francesca Segal’s Mother Ship, Howard Jacobson’s latest, Live a Little, James Lovelock's Novacene and Lisa Taddeo's Three Women Home | Fiction | Non-Fiction | Children's | Genres | Publications | Prizes The Week in Review 1st July 2019 Mother Ship welcomed with glowing reviews Good afternoon, One of the big trends for the past couple years has been “memoirs that matter”, life stories by non-celebrities which touch deeper and wider issues (like grief, dementia, mental health) with huge hits in this area including Adam Kay’s This Is Going to Hurt (Picador) and Raynor Winn’s The Salt Path (Michael Joseph). A new title that seems assured to scale the bestseller lists—if critics’ views are to go by—is novelist and journalist Francesca Segal’s Mother Ship (Chatto).  The book chronicles Segal’s 56-day stay in the “mother ship”, a neo-natal care facility, after her twin daughters were born 10 weeks premature. In her glowing review, the Daily Telegraph’s Claire Allfree calls the book “a radiant memoir about a terrible parenting experience”, while Hannah Beckerman writes in the Observer that it is a “compelling and emotionally taut exploration of what it means to be a parent”. Overall, reviewers gave Mother Ship an almost perfect 4.67 star rating.   There were good notices, too, for 2010 Man Booker Prize winner Howard Jacobson’s latest, Live a Little (Vintage). In her four-star The Independent review, Holly Baxter says the novel was “penned with [Jacobson’s] trademark verbose flourishes… there is a lot to feast on; but for someone looking for an emotionally honest storyline, the book also delivers”. Alex Clark in the Guardian is even more effusive, saying Live a Little was “bitterly funny” and “a meander of a novel that nonetheless feels urgent”.   The newest book by James Lovelock—environmentalist, Gaia theory inventor and near-centenarian (he turns 100 on 26th July)—has reviewers chattering. In Novacene (Allen Lane), Lovelock argues that the human era on Earth is already ending and new beings are emerging from Artificial Intelligence.  The Guardian’s Steve Poole praises Novacene for its “mischievous wit” and says it “is a bracing corrective to the crypto-Christian guilt and self-loathing of much traditional environmentalism”. James McConnachie in the Times has quibbles with Lovelock’s overall theory, but admits: “The hypothesis might not be true. But it doesn’t half make you think.” By Kiera O'Brien, charts editor, The Bookseller The Week in Review Mother Ship Francesca Segal 4.67 out of 5 | 5 reviews "a moving story about motherhood" The Guardian "[a] moving account of being deprived of the customary markers of care" Financial Times "will have you in tears" The Spectator "raw yet exquisite" The Observer Read all reviews Latest Reviews Three Women Lisa Taddeo 4.32 out of 5 | 7 reviews "An astonishing portrait of female desire, written in searing prose" The Sunday Times Sweet Sorrow David Nicholls 4.00 out of 5 | 5 reviews "the sense of nostalgia is visceral and intense, almost time-bending" The Sunday Times Where Reasons End Yiyun Li 4.10 out of 5 | 9 reviews "It seems fantastical – but then real events can be fantastical too. " London Review of Books Nervous States William Davies (Author) 3.29 out of 5 | 7 reviews "In this account it is not so much economic exploitation as illness that is ‘the common element among all those affected by the mechanisms of oppression’." London Review of Books Passionate Spirit Cate Haste 3.27 out of 5 | 5 reviews "a muse who inspired genius" The Sunday Telegraph The Warlow Experiment Alix Nathan 0.00 out of 5 | 2 reviews "An experiment in making someone live underground for years backfires badly" The Sunday Times Lost and Wanted Nell Freudenberger 3.20 out of 5 | 5 reviews "applying science to a story of love and loss" The Sunday Times The Lost Boys Catherine Bailey 3.75 out of 5 | 3 reviews "The powerful story of two innocents caught up in a plan to kill Hitler" The Sunday Times The Russia Anxiety Mark B. Smith TBC out of 5 | 2 reviews "The great merit of such a contrarian book is that it prompts a review of prejudices. " The Sunday Times Best Reviewed Last Witnesses: Unchildlike Stories Svetlana Alexievich, Richard Pevear, Larissa Volokhonsky 4.50 out of 5 | 3 reviews "a masterpiece of clear-eyed humility" The Guardian Travellers Helon Habila 4.50 out of 5 | 3 reviews "(a) bravura exploration of the refugee crisis" The Guardian The Good Thieves Katherine Rundell 4.33 out of 5 | 3 reviews "It’s likely to be the best children’s book you’ll read this year." The Times On Chapel Sands Laura Cumming 4.31 out of 5 | 7 reviews "a deeply personal story but one that also draws on practised skills as a critic and a writer." The Spectator Big Sky Kate Atkinson 4.23 out of 5 | 11 reviews " utterly riveting " Daily Mail Homing Jon Day 4.18 out of 5 | 5 reviews "The book is awash with historical and literary detail, and moving moments" The Daily Telegraph The Way to the Sea Caroline Crampton 4.17 out of 5 | 4 reviews "Crampton writes beautifully of the area’s charms" The Sunday Times This Green and Pleasant Land Ayisha Malik 4.14 out of 5 | 3 reviews "this wise, warm-hearted novel deserves to be shared by reading groups across the cities and shire" The Sunday Times After The End Clare Mackintosh 4.00 out of 5 | 4 reviews "this is a life-affirming story" The Sunday Times Most Reviewed Cari Mora Thomas Harris 2.76 out of 5 | 12 reviews "Harris’s first thriller in 13 years is a pale imitation of his most famous creation" The Guardian Siege Michael Wolff 3.35 out of 5 | 12 reviews "The author’s follow-up book on Trump’s second year is hilarious, scary and filled with a sense of impending doom" Financial Times Big Sky Kate Atkinson 4.23 out of 5 | 11 reviews " utterly riveting " Daily Mail City of Girls Elizabeth Gilbert 3.66 out of 5 | 9 reviews "The Eat Pray Love author said she wanted to write a book ‘that would go down like a champagne cocktail’. And that’s just what she’s done" Irish Times Shadowplay Joseph O'Connor 3.93 out of 5 | 8 reviews "hugely entertaining" The Guardian Bitcoin Billionaires Ben Mezrich 3.17 out of 5 | 7 reviews "There are moments of hilarity... but they are unintentional" New Statesman © 2019 Bookseller Media Ltd.

Including Jon Day's Homing, Katherine Rundell's The Good Thieves, Louise Candlish's Those People and many, many more book reviews Home | Fiction | Non-Fiction | Children's | Genres | Publications | Prizes The Week in Review: 27th June 2019 Critics flock to praise Day's Homing Good morning, Jon Day's Homing: On Pigeons, Dwellings and Why We Return (John Murray) soared straight into a four-star rating, with the reviewers practically cooing. Jon Moran in the Guardian praised it as "big-hearted and quietly gripping", while Joe Shute in the Daily Telegraph wrote that the author "beautifully interweaves the twin threads of his life through these years, as he settles down with his partner and starts a family, while at the same time training his birds to fly ever further away". The Financial Times' Kate Bradbury believed it to be "nature writing at its best", despite its urban setting, adding, "He gives life to the underbelly of London, brings light to the squalor and litter." Katherine Rundell's The Good Thieves (Bloomsbury Children's) has also stolen into the critics' affections. Alex O'Connell in the Times described Rundell as "fast becoming one of our greatest living children’s authors", adding that The Good Thieves is "beautifully written" with "a rollicking crime plot". "It's likely to be the best children's book you'll read this year," she wrote. In the Sunday Times, Nicolette Jones said the title was "irresistible", adding, "Every inch of it is a delight", while Philip Womack in the Literary Review wrote that it was "full of lovely, startling scenes" and "a generous-hearted sense of adventure and companionship". Louise Candlish's Those People (Simon & Schuster), her first book since the Nibbie-winning Our House, had reviewers almost camped out in her drive—Laura Wilson in the Guardian said the story of unruly neighbours descending on a smugly gentrified London street will "have you vibrating in impotent fury", praising the title's "lovely dark humour" and "the delicate, merciless filleting of human interactions". Sarra Manning in Red praised it as "utterly gripping", while Patricia Nicol in the Sunday Times delighted in the "feverish atmosphere" and Candlish "skewering the peccadilloes and prejudices of her middle-class subjects". By Kiera O'Brien, charts editor, The Bookseller Book of the Week Homing Jon Day 4.18 out of 5 | 5 reviews "What can pigeons tells us about the idea of home? In this big-hearted, gripping book, a new ‘flyer’ waits as his birds race back to London" The Guardian "a vivid evocation of a remarkable species" Daily Mail "reveals eerie parallels between human and bird life" The Observer "Day’s book melds nature writing with urban grit to examine our urge to take root" Financial Times Read all reviews Latest Reviews Three Women Lisa Taddeo 4.36 out of 5 | 4 reviews "a minute journalistic account of the defining sexual relationships in three people’s lives" The Guardian Travellers Helon Habila 4.50 out of 5 | 3 reviews "(a) bravura exploration of the refugee crisis" The Guardian On Chapel Sands Laura Cumming 4.33 out of 5 | 6 reviews "a deeply personal story but one that also draws on practised skills as a critic and a writer." The Spectator The Most Fun We Ever Had Claire Lombardo 3.75 out of 5 | 3 reviews "A rich, engrossing family saga, spiked with sisterly malice" The New York Times Last Witnesses: Unchildlike Stories Svetlana Alexievich, Richard Pevear, Larissa Volokhonsky 4.50 out of 5 | 3 reviews "a masterpiece of clear-eyed humility" The Guardian After The End Clare Mackintosh 4.00 out of 5 | 4 reviews "this is a life-affirming story" The Sunday Times Gresham's Law John Guy TBC out of 5 | 2 reviews "The subject matter is often dry, entailing detailed discussion of interest and exchange rates, but Guy presents it with clarity and authority" The Herald Night Boat To Tangier Kevin Barry 3.65 out of 5 | 6 reviews "It is a book about consequences, which means it’s a book about the past." The Herald This Brutal House Niven Govinden 3.14 out of 5 | 4 reviews "a peacocking, glitter-fuelled extravaganza, in which transvestites and transsexuals compete against each other for kudos and cash prizes" The Spectator Best Reviewed Sweet Sorrow David Nicholls 4.67 out of 5 | 3 reviews "humour, poignancy and at least one big, ugly cry" Red Mother Ship Francesca Segal 4.57 out of 5 | 4 reviews "raw yet exquisite" The Observer Big Sky Kate Atkinson 4.36 out of 5 | 8 reviews "Atkinson — once again — gleefully upends crime-fiction convention" The Times The Good Thieves Katherine Rundell 4.33 out of 5 | 3 reviews "It’s likely to be the best children’s book you’ll read this year." The Times Homing Jon Day 4.18 out of 5 | 5 reviews "The book is awash with historical and literary detail, and moving moments" The Daily Telegraph Salt Slow Julia Armfield 4.17 out of 5 | 4 reviews "a savage, blackly thrilling debut" The Daily Telegraph The Way to the Sea Caroline Crampton 4.17 out of 5 | 4 reviews "Crampton writes beautifully of the area’s charms" The Sunday Times This Green and Pleasant Land Ayisha Malik 4.14 out of 5 | 3 reviews "this wise, warm-hearted novel deserves to be shared by reading groups across the cities and shire" The Sunday Times Family Business Peter J. Conradi 4.00 out of 5 | 3 reviews "I recommend this book, because he writes thoughtfully and well" The Spectator Most Reviewed Cari Mora Thomas Harris 2.76 out of 5 | 12 reviews "Harris’s first thriller in 13 years is a pale imitation of his most famous creation" The Guardian Siege Michael Wolff 3.35 out of 5 | 12 reviews "The author’s follow-up book on Trump’s second year is hilarious, scary and filled with a sense of impending doom" Financial Times Big Sky Kate Atkinson 4.36 out of 5 | 8 reviews "Atkinson — once again — gleefully upends crime-fiction convention" The Times City of Girls Elizabeth Gilbert 3.63 out of 5 | 8 reviews "City of Girls is an education in love, and an iridescent delight." The Spectator Shadowplay Joseph O'Connor 3.93 out of 5 | 8 reviews "hugely entertaining" The Guardian Bitcoin Billionaires Ben Mezrich 3.17 out of 5 | 7 reviews "There are moments of hilarity... but they are unintentional" New Statesman © 2019 Bookseller Media Ltd.

Including Jon Day's Homing, Katherine Rundell's The Good Thieves, Louise Candlish's Those People and many, many more book reviews Home | Fiction | Non-Fiction | Children's | Genres | Publications | Prizes The Week in Review: 24th June 2019 Critics flock to praise Day's Homing Good morning, Jon Day's Homing: On Pigeons, Dwellings and Why We Return (John Murray) soared straight into a four-star rating, with the reviewers practically cooing. Jon Moran in the Guardian praised it as "big-hearted and quietly gripping", while Joe Shute in the Daily Telegraph wrote that the author "beautifully interweaves the twin threads of his life through these years, as he settles down with his partner and starts a family, while at the same time training his birds to fly ever further away". The Financial Times' Kate Bradbury believed it to be "nature writing at its best", despite its urban setting, adding, "He gives life to the underbelly of London, brings light to the squalor and litter." Katherine Rundell's The Good Thieves (Bloomsbury Children's) has also stolen into the critics' affections. Alex O'Connell in the Times described Rundell as "fast becoming one of our greatest living children’s authors", adding that The Good Thieves is "beautifully written" with "a rollicking crime plot". "It's likely to be the best children's book you'll read this year," she wrote. In the Sunday Times, Nicolette Jones said the title was "irresistible", adding, "Every inch of it is a delight", while Philip Womack in the Literary Review wrote that it was "full of lovely, startling scenes" and "a generous-hearted sense of adventure and companionship". Louise Candlish's Those People (Simon & Schuster), her first book since the Nibbie-winning Our House, had reviewers almost camped out in her drive—Laura Wilson in the Guardian said the story of unruly neighbours descending on a smugly gentrified London street will "have you vibrating in impotent fury", praising the title's "lovely dark humour" and "the delicate, merciless filleting of human interactions". Sarra Manning in Red praised it as "utterly gripping", while Patricia Nicol in the Sunday Times delighted in the "feverish atmosphere" and Candlish "skewering the peccadilloes and prejudices of her middle-class subjects". By Kiera O'Brien, charts editor, The Bookseller Book of the Week Homing Jon Day 4.18 out of 5 | 5 reviews "What can pigeons tells us about the idea of home? In this big-hearted, gripping book, a new ‘flyer’ waits as his birds race back to London" The Guardian "a vivid evocation of a remarkable species" Daily Mail "reveals eerie parallels between human and bird life" The Observer "Day’s book melds nature writing with urban grit to examine our urge to take root" Financial Times Read all reviews Latest Reviews Gresham's Law John Guy TBC out of 5 | 2 reviews "The subject matter is often dry, entailing detailed discussion of interest and exchange rates, but Guy presents it with clarity and authority" The Herald Last Witnesses: Unchildlike Stories Svetlana Alexievich, Richard Pevear, Larissa Volokhonsky 4.50 out of 5 | 3 reviews "a masterpiece of clear-eyed humility" The Guardian A History of the Bible John Barton 4.31 out of 5 | 7 reviews " A belter of a book" Irish Times After The End Clare Mackintosh 4.00 out of 5 | 4 reviews "this is a life-affirming story" The Sunday Times Night Boat To Tangier Kevin Barry 3.65 out of 5 | 6 reviews "It is a book about consequences, which means it’s a book about the past." The Herald This Green and Pleasant Land Ayisha Malik 4.14 out of 5 | 3 reviews "this wise, warm-hearted novel deserves to be shared by reading groups across the cities and shire" The Sunday Times On Chapel Sands Laura Cumming 4.11 out of 5 | 3 reviews "The daughter of two artists, Cumming intuitively refracts the natural world through art." The Times Asghar and Zahra Sameer Rahim TBC out of 5 | 2 reviews "Sameer Rahim shows the differences between them with wit and tenderness, and a wry lemon-twist of satire." The Times The Making of Poetry Adam Nicolson 4.23 out of 5 | 8 reviews "He pays minute attention to physical textures and seasonal changes" The Guardian Best Reviewed Mother Ship Francesca Segal 4.57 out of 5 | 4 reviews "raw yet exquisite" The Observer Big Sky Kate Atkinson 4.36 out of 5 | 8 reviews "Atkinson — once again — gleefully upends crime-fiction convention" The Times Stalingrad Vasily Grossman 4.31 out of 5 | 7 reviews "A Soviet writer unpopular in Russia, popular in the West" Times Literary Supplement Court Number One Thomas Grant 4.22 out of 5 | 4 reviews "an affecting study of how the law gets it right – and wrong" The Guardian The Heartland Nathan Filer 4.21 out of 5 | 7 reviews "wholly balanced" The Spectator Salt Slow Julia Armfield 4.17 out of 5 | 4 reviews "a savage, blackly thrilling debut" The Daily Telegraph The Way to the Sea Caroline Crampton 4.17 out of 5 | 4 reviews "Crampton writes beautifully of the area’s charms" The Sunday Times This Storm James Ellroy 4.00 out of 5 | 8 reviews "rewards the attentive" The Observer Family Business Peter J. Conradi 4.00 out of 5 | 3 reviews "I recommend this book, because he writes thoughtfully and well" The Spectator Most Reviewed Cari Mora Thomas Harris 2.76 out of 5 | 12 reviews "Harris’s first thriller in 13 years is a pale imitation of his most famous creation" The Guardian Siege Michael Wolff 3.35 out of 5 | 12 reviews "The author’s follow-up book on Trump’s second year is hilarious, scary and filled with a sense of impending doom" Financial Times Big Sky Kate Atkinson 4.36 out of 5 | 8 reviews "Atkinson — once again — gleefully upends crime-fiction convention" The Times City of Girls Elizabeth Gilbert 3.63 out of 5 | 8 reviews "City of Girls is an education in love, and an iridescent delight." The Spectator Shadowplay Joseph O'Connor 3.93 out of 5 | 8 reviews "hugely entertaining" The Guardian Bitcoin Billionaires Ben Mezrich 3.17 out of 5 | 7 reviews "There are moments of hilarity... but they are unintentional" New Statesman © 2019 Bookseller Media Ltd.