About the Book: 1979 After being bullied at school, Jane Kelly dreads spending the summer holidays alone, friendless. So, when Acacia Miller moves in next door, Jane imagines carefree days of trading secrets and pinkie promises with a new best friend. But as their friendship grows, Acacia remains stubbornly guarded about her home life, and … Continue reading Book Review: Wildflower by Monique Mulligan
Domestic Violence
Book Review: Loveland by Robert Lukins
About the Book: Two women stand in the shallows, a man dead at their feet, while around them buildings burn. Amid the ruins of a fire-ravaged amusement park and destroyed waterfront dwellings, one boarded-up building still stands. May has come from Australia to Loveland, Nebraska, to claim the house on the poisoned lake as part … Continue reading Book Review: Loveland by Robert Lukins
Quick Shots Book Review: The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth
About the Book: The moment she laid eyes on Heather Wisher, Tully knew this woman was going to destroy their lives. Tully and Rachel are murderous when they discover their father has a new girlfriend. The fact that Heather is half his age isn't even the most shocking part. Stephen is still married to their … Continue reading Quick Shots Book Review: The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth
Blog Tour Book Review: The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell
About the Book: Midsummer 2017: teenage mum Tallulah heads out on a date, leaving her baby son at home with her mother, Kim. At 11pm she sends her mum a text message. At 4.30am Kim awakens to discover that Tallulah has not come home Friends tell her that Tallulah was last seen heading to a … Continue reading Blog Tour Book Review: The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell
Book Review: Mrs England by Stacey Halls
Mrs England… About the Book: From the bestselling author of The Familiars and The Foundling comes Stacey Halls' most compelling and ambitious novel to date. West Yorkshire, 1904. When newly graduated nurse Ruby May takes a position looking after the children of Charles and Lilian England, a wealthy couple from a powerful dynasty of mill … Continue reading Book Review: Mrs England by Stacey Halls
Book Review: Punch & Judy – A Poetry Collection by Kelly Van Nelson
Punch & Judy… About the Book: Punch and Judy explores the tangled intensity of a toxic relationship. Bestselling author, Kelly Van Nelson, brings her trademark gritty style to this modern poetry collection. She takes readers on a rollercoaster journey from attraction and desire of a couple initially meeting, through the turbulence of abuse at the … Continue reading Book Review: Punch & Judy – A Poetry Collection by Kelly Van Nelson
Author Talks: Leah Swann on Inventive explorations of motherhood in fiction
The eagle-featured mother in Angela Carter’s Bluebeard story “The Bloody Chamber” was an electrifying discovery as a student and lives on in me to this day. Back then, I’d read about oppressive mothers, unreliable mothers, fearsome mothers and loving mothers but never a fierce, swashbuckling mother like this one. Early in the story we learn … Continue reading Author Talks: Leah Swann on Inventive explorations of motherhood in fiction
Book Review: The Secrets of Strangers by Charity Norman
The Secrets of Strangers... About the Book: A gunshot rings out in a London cafe and the lives of five strangers will never be the same again. The only thing that's certain is that nothing is as it seems. Five strangers, one cafe - and the day that everything changed. A regular weekday morning veers … Continue reading Book Review: The Secrets of Strangers by Charity Norman
Book Review: The Girl She Was by Rebecca Freeborn
The Girl She Was... About the Book: At the cafe in the small town of Glasswater Bay where she works after school, seventeen-year-old Layla enters into a volatile relationship with her married boss. Twenty years later, she receives a message from her former boss’s wife. As Layla relives the events from her youth that have … Continue reading Book Review: The Girl She Was by Rebecca Freeborn
Book Review: Sheerwater by Leah Swann
Sheerwater… About the Book: Emotional, powerful, unforgettable. From a stunning new literary talent, you won't be able to put down this novel about a mother's love for her children - it will break your heart. Ava and her two young sons, Max and Teddy, are driving to their new home in Sheerwater, hopeful of making … Continue reading Book Review: Sheerwater by Leah Swann
Theresa Smith Writes 