The best books of the year

A totally charming, utterly compelling and wonderfully escapist story of a journey to live a life less ordinary.

When Flo Connelly discovers a mystery about her childhood, she decides it’s time to go on an adventure. With only a few dress patterns to serve as her clues, she embarks on a summer that threatens to re-write her past and future too.

LMR Review:

This book will sweep you away on a heady adventure across Europe. A superlatively lovely read and a refreshing escape.

PUBLISH DATE: 6th August 2020

Sizzling with the Grecian sun, this coming of age novel set in 1960 is glorious novel about innocence, jealousy and charisma.

It’s 1960 and teenage Erica is grieving her mother and anxious to escape into adventure. Arriving on Hydra, Greece, she and a group of friends are about to walk into paradise and watch it unravel through jealousy and the wars waged between men and women on the battlegrounds of genius.

LMR Review:

Stunningly written, richly evocative and totally transporting.

PUBLISH DATE: 2nd April 2020

When they are eight years old, best friends Lana, Judith and Catrin swear an oath on a Curly Wurly wrapper that they’ll always be there for each other. Us Three, come what may.

For years, they keep their promise – the invisible triangle connecting them remains balanced, equilateral, never two against one . . . until betrayal and tragedy strike, and the childhood bond that they once shared is broken.

But when a life-changing event brings the three women back together, they have the chance to rekindle their age-old friendship. The question is whether they want to . . . or even whether they can.

Told over four decades, Us Three is a moving, funny and compelling story of love, loss and the enduring power of female friendship.

LMR Review:

This is a joyous read indeed! The very premise – of a friendship sworn on a Curly Wurly wrapper – was always going to be a winner but Ruth has delivered above and beyond. It’s a gloriously funny, weepy, warm book. I zipped through it and came to love Judith, Lana and Catrin; to really care about their lives, loves and ups-and-downs. These are full characters bursting with life and their energy and vibrance is as gorgeous as you’d expect from the comedic genius that is Ruth Jones.

PUBLISH DATE: 3rd September 2020

The person you are with is just like you: same background, same age, same interests. The perfect match. And it is a disaster. Then, when and where you least expect it, you meet someone new. You seem to have nothing in common and yet, somehow, it feels totally right.

Nick Hornbys brilliantly observed, tender but also brutally funny new novel gets to the heart of what it means to fall surprisingly and headlong in love with the best possible person - someone who is not just like you at all.

LMR REVIEW:

This is a gorgeous novel about love that crosses boundaries. Lucy and Joseph aren’t meant for each other on paper but the love they share is tender and moving. Nick Hornby has managed to create a book that’s about Brexit, Trump and the state of the nation – but still infused with warmth and joy. A book that tackles big subjects but remains a wonderfully cosy read.

PUBLISH DATE: 17th September 2020

A decade ago, Caitlin Moran thought she had it all figured out. Her instant bestseller How to Be a Woman was a game-changing take on feminism, the patriarchy, and the general 'hoo-ha' of becoming a woman. Back then, she firmly believed 'the difficult bit' was over, and her forties were going to be a doddle.

If only she had known: when middle age arrives, a whole new bunch of tough questions need answering. Why isn't there such a thing as a 'Mum Bod'? How did sex get boring? What are men really thinking? Where did all that stuff in the kitchen drawers come from? Can feminists have Botox? Why has wine turned against you? How can you tell the difference between a Teenage Micro-Breakdown, and The Real Thing? Has feminism gone too far? And, as always, WHO'S LOOKING AFTER THE CHILDREN?

Now with ageing parents, teenage daughters, a bigger bum and a To-Do list without end, Caitlin Moran is back with More Than A Woman: a guide to growing older, a manifesto for change, and a celebration of all those middle-aged women who keep the world turning.

LMR Review

A total hoot. Caitlin Moran has a way of bringing up the unspoken in such a dazzlingly frank way that a cringe quickly becomes a full belly-laugh. It’s zingy, fresh and bouncing with life. A complete manifesto on how to be. Be prepared to wince, cross your legs, hide your eyes between your fingers, then roar with laughter; and repeat many times till the last page. Just genius.

PUBLISH DATE: 3rd September 2020

This compelling novel focuses on those enduring German rule in East Africa at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Following two East African boys snatched from their families and sold into a colonial war, Afterlives is the story of the timeless human longing to belong, and a lifelong search for peace. Shattering and captivating, full of sweeping adventure and unforgettable heartbreak, it burns with the heat and light of a country forged over decades of war, and the friendship, love and family that grow from the ashes.

LMR REVIEW

If you open your heart to it, this is one of those books that reaches into your soul and shakes it up for the better. It’s a complex, nuanced, at once luxurious and heart-wrenching story about life in colonial Africa. This is a history badly underrepresented but told here in a way that sees the story from many different eyes. The grace with which Abdulrazak writes is astounding. This is not a read to race through; rather one whose every word we should take to heart.

PUBLISH DATE: 17th September 2020