With her second book, Hazel Hayes has proven that her first hit was no fluke and cemented herself as a beautifully poetic writer with the skill to cut to the centre of her characters' emotions. And while it might feel at first glance that her second story might be retreading the path of her first, it is soon revealed that this time, she is going far, far deeper. 

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. 

At last, a nostalgic movie that lives up to its heritage.

I am a sucker for stories told out of chronological order, so Out of Love caught my eye a while ago. I don’t know why the concept appeals to me so much. I think it’s something about examining cause and affect, playing around with what the reader knows and when, that somehow suits my sensibilities.

Jo Jakeman’s debut, Sticks and Stones, was about facing the truth about your life and how you free yourself from the shackles that hold you down. Now her second book is about the next steps: trying to create something new in the shadow of your past.

I’ve had Ava DuVernay’s documentary 13th on my to-watch list for a while now. But it was a film I needed to be in the right mind-state to watch. I’ve not been in the right headspace to actively view anything for a while, but as soon as I was this was my first choice. And here’s the thing that struck me.

I enjoyed this book, but felt it only really got going in the second half. There is a really good story here, with a core concept that’s incredibly interesting once you reach it. However, I don’t feel that the set up and initial feel of the book gels that well with the second, much better, half.

I finding myself enjoying stories like this one; smaller focused family stories, where people are forced to face the cracks caused by the tiny things done in their past.

This story grabbed me from the start. We follow the characters Claire and Duncan, a couple whose marriage has been dead for years, in two separate time periods: Before and After. You find yourself immediately trying to work out the event between them, but Draper masterfully keeps you guessing.

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.