Non-Fiction Books

Lovers & Newcomers by Rosie Thomas is published by Harper Collins, priced £12.99.

Rosie Thomas, the best-selling author of Constance, returns with this novel, set in a rambling country estate.

In her student days Miranda Meadowe and her close friends made a promise that once they faced retirement, whatever their situations, they would live together in an attempt to return to the days of their youth.

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Years later Miranda finds herself widowed and decides to make the plan real, inviting the group to live with her at Mead. Surprisingly they all agree, with plans to build a house on the estate and renovate the barn.

Enticing and beautifully written, the characters and house quickly come to life. However, it soon becomes clear that appearances can be deceptive.

The comfy, cosy situation does not look set to last and when building work uncovers an Iron Age burial site, the group finds that their own history is also being brought to the surface.

8/10 Review by Laura Temple

The Noise Of Strangers by Robert Dickinson is published by Myriad Editions, priced 7.99.

Imagine a British seaside town in chaos. Communities are divided – socially, economically and physically.

The council is all-powerful, inconvenient people are "dealt with", children are controlled and tolls strangle the transport system.

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In the Noise Of Strangers, Robert Dickinson creates a world that only vaguely resembles our own.

The political machinations step up when a councillor is involved in an accident. Amid gossip and media comment, a group of friends meet for dinner parties. However, their mutual suspicions can barely be contained. And, as a faction plots to seize power, the friends feel the impact closer to home.

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This intriguing story brings the issues of political influence, red tape and corruption to the fore – if only by making us relieved that it seems improbable that it could come to this.

7/10 Review by Claire Ennis

Where The God Of Love Hangs Out by Amy Bloom is published by Granta, priced 10.99.

Love unfurls in the most surprising circumstances and flowers in the most unexpected places in Amy Bloom's latest offering.

The author weaves unpredictable patterns of love in her emotionally rich yet witty collection of short stories.

Bloom's characters are flawed, complex, bright and unusually rounded. A widow and her stepson tread into forbidden territory of lust and two middle-aged academics risk their married lives to indulge in a passionate affair.

One woman is haunted by her friend's murder while another finds hope and inspiration in a disabled teenager.

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Deeply sensuous, perceptive, and truly heartrending, Bloom's new tales capture the essence of love, life, passion, heartbreak, disappointment and death.

8/10 Review by Nilima Dey Sarker

In The Valley Of Mist by Justine Hardy is published by Rider, priced 7.99.

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Kashmir has long attracted admirers from around the world, but not always for the right reasons.

Justine Hardy – a journalist, writer and documentary maker – is one visitor with an affection for the area.

Charmed by the same beautiful valley which drew in the British when India was still part of the Empire, the hippies in the drug-taking 1960s and the modern day jihadists, she has made Kashmir her second home.

This lovingly-created tale tells how Kashmir has seen its peaceful serenity smashed by religious insurgency, the battle for supremacy between India and Pakistan and the natural disaster of an earthquake.

Hardy has skilfully trodden a careful path, showing how former friends – be they Hindu, Sikh or Muslim – have been forced to take sides in an often bloody struggle in the name of their religious beliefs.

8/10 Review by Roddy Brooks

Did You Really Shoot the Television: A Family Fable by Max Hastings is published by HarperCollins, priced 20.

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Sir Max Hastings has turned his own recollections of childhood into a fascinating and poignant family memoir.

As a military historian, journalist and editor, his record is formidable and so is his literary pedigree. His father Macdonald Hastings, and mother, Anne Scott-James, were also famous journalists.

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With honesty, humour and a lack of self-pity, Max focuses on his always-difficult relationship with his parents. He reveals that he was a destructive child, but something appeared to be lacking on the parental front.

He never hit it off with his glamorous but caustic mother, and craved her affection and approval until her death at the age of 96.

This illuminating book presents a vivid picture of upper middle-class life in the 1940s and 1950s, when Victorian values were common and sensitive treatment of children was in short supply.

8/10 Review by Anthony Looch

CHILDREN'S CHOICE

Prisoner Of The Inquisition by Theresa Breslin is published by Doubleday, priced 12.99.

Lenzie-based Breslin tackles the art of historical storytelling for children in this novel set in 13th century Spain.

Her themes of religion, sacrifice, betrayal and revenge might be tough for the average 12-year-old, but she presents them simply through her two young narrators.

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Zarita is the daughter of a magistrate, who cries assault against a beggar and sees him hanged by her father.

The beggar's son, Saulo, is our other narrator, who vows revenge on the magistrate's family, but not before he's sent away on a merchant ship.

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Meanwhile, Zarita's town is visited by The Inquisition, who show little mercy.

Saulo's return to the mainland and his thirst for vengeance links him to Zarita. It's a compelling tale, but at times fearfully violent and disturbing.

6/10 Review by Kate Whiting