With her latest novel, Philippa East has cemented herself as a master of the domestic, character-driven thriller. With a plot that keeps the reader guessing, “A Guilty Secret” is another wonderful exploration of what happens when our traumas catch up with us. 

I picked this up on a whim, worried it wouldn't be as good as I remembered. But I was happy to discover it’s just as powerful now as it was when I read it twenty years ago.

What else can I say about this book, other than it’s exactly what you would expect from something written by Brian Blessed? Just sit back and let yourself enjoy page after page of anecdotes that don’t seem like they could happen to any other person.

It’s been a while since I've read a book I almost literally couldn’t put down. Fall of Giants is Ken Follett at his best. Historical fiction, epic in scale yet filled with individual emotions and events.

Sometimes my favourite book of the year is one that had the best story. Or maybe its one that displayed the most engaging writing. Or perhaps it will have introduced me to a new writer I know I’m going to love.In 2020, it’s a book that was exactly what I needed at exactly the time I read it: Hazel Hayes’ "Out of Love"

Every country has racism. But is that something we need to face, hold up, and forever atone for? Or something to move past and forget? (Spoiler, it’s the first one). Neiman, as a Jewish woman who grew up in the American South in the ‘60s, and has since lived in Berlin in the ‘80s, as well as Israel along the way, has a rather unique perspective of how different cultures dealt with their legacies. 

I first read The Eye of the World by the pool in a hotel in Spain, having picked it up on a whim from the airport bookshop. If I remember correctly, the quote on the front cover said something along the lines of it being better than Tolkien. So I figured, if I were to be able to properly mock such a boastful claim, I needed to have read the book in question. When I got home, I immediately ordered Book Two.