Straw Hat

Straw Hat is the second novel from the pen of Sussex-based author John David Harris. You may have already read his novel Beyond the Castle Arch.

The novel tells the story of John and Susan Grant, a married couple who are comfortable in their middle years. Having had to leave their ill daughter at the children's war of St Richard's Hospital, Chichester, they make a decision to visit a local auction room, where they both fall in love with a painting and successfully bid on it.

The painting depicts a young boy who is fishing on the River Arun which is local to the city.

But there was something that they couldn't have known. A link with a dreadful event that occurred many, many decades previously.

When they take the picture back to their farmhouse it becomes increasingly obvious to them that something is dreadfully, horribly wrong.

That their apparently beautiful picture is serving as a portal to past problems and misfortunes that are somehow dragging their .lives into a hellish nightmare.

The story also deals with the concept of a strong and burning unrequited love and how people deal with this type of situation.

It's a moving and poignant story which is very well told and gripping in its own way.

It's published by Matador at £9.99.

The Island of Animaux

Why don't you come down to the Island of Animaux? Because it's a very interesting and weird place.

Milo McGivern shows us an island that is populated by animals who can talk. Most of the animals there have no idea about the world outside their magical island.

Why has t never been found? Because it has the ability to move its location on the Earth on a daily6 basis.

Milo explores the island by way of a series of connected tales set on the island, concerning its amazing inhabitants.

There's Aubrey (who is a turkey) who has the idea to open a zoo. Does that take off? You'll find out when you read the charming stories and enjoy the illustrations by Yulia Somina.

What happens when they meet a vampire? What does Clifford the Platypus get up to?

It's a great book for children and the adults in their lives will enjoy sharing this book.

It's published by Matador at £6.99.

Ordinary Miracles

In Ordinary Miracles, a novel from Martyn Carey, we learn that even wizards need training.

Trainee Wizard Mike Frost has his magical powers suddenly and unexpectedly increased whilst he is at London's Paddington Station where a train has mysteriously crashed fatally, apparently caused by Mike's powers.

As a result he is dispatched to a special training centre in York so that he will be able to control them.

But who or what had used Mike to cause the train to crash? And was Mike correct in his belief that whoever or whatever had been responsible for causing the crash had trailed him to the training centre?

Following another fatal accident, Mike and his friends must work out what is really happening and find out who is behind the deadly incidents and to put a stop to them before they have the opportunity to kill again.

Can they succeed? Will the killings be brought to a stop? Can Mike control the powers behind the killing?

It's a stunning and powerful story very well told by an undoubted master of his craft. It grabs the read from the first paragraph right to the last. I will look out for the name of Martyn Carey in the future.

It's published by Matador at £9.99.

Fatal Revenge

The latest James L. Williams novel, Fatal Revenge, begins with the delivery of a package by a fake delivery man, with a limp.

Sergeant Vic Holland and Natalie, his wife and their two young children are now living a wonderful family life in Canada. And more children are on the way.

Now Vic works for the RCMP and becomes concerned and surprised when his father-in-law, Frank Jardine, a retired RCMP inspector, is able to shred light on a series of as yet unsolved crimes that are linked to England.

Vic goes back to his former beat to obtain the evidence required to solve the cases. But he also uncovers something far more shocking and potentially deadly. For there is a plot to mete revenge out on a number of people, including his own family back home in Canada's Pine Creek Falls.

But who is behind these attacks? And what is the apparent link between the attacks and Vic himself?

Vic must hurry back to Canada to save the lives of his beloved family and his own life, too.

Why was Frank attacked by a bear? And why was Vic's own father killed years previously?

And why was Vic shadowed by a mysterious limping woman on the flight back to Canada?

Would Vic even make it back alive?

It's an exciting and vibrant read of a crime thriller.

It's published by The Book Guild at £8.99

The White Phoenix

The White Phoenix is a debut historical novel from the pen of Catherine Randall.

It's 1666 in London. Lizzie Hopper is 13 and after the unexpected death of her father, Lizzie, along with her mother, must take over the management of the family's bookshop, The eponymous White Phoenix.

The bookshop is overshadowed by the imposing medieval St Paul's Cathedral.

But England is living through troubled and troubling times. The country is at war with France, threatening prophecies are being uttered and spread around and there is talk of an invasion by the French and there are reports of plague.

Against this backdrop and riots and the threat of blackmail, Lizzie must try to fight to keep the family bookshop open.

But then came the catastrophic Great Fire of London. Can she help save the bookshop and its stock of books? But there's a secret that Lizzie was keeping, a friendship she should not have had. Can she save the shop and her friend?

The story brings the London of 166 alive, with the prejudices and problems of the people of London.

It's a great historical novel ans hopefully the first of many novels from Catherine Randall.

It's published by The Book Guild at £7.99.

A World of Trouble - Fateful Decisions

A World of Trouble - Fateful Decisions is a debut from a new novelist, Jacky Renouf.

It tells the story of three women, Marion, Stella and Rachel and what happens when Marion and Rachel find themselves trapped behind enemy lines when the Germans invade the Chanel Isles.

The occupying German military forces are a ruthless invader who force the islanders who could not or would not participate in the evacuation by the British military.

Along with the other civilians on the islands Marion and Rachel lack basic supplies as the German occupiers become more and more draconian and more ruthless.

But what can they do, what will they do in order to survive? Stella is in England but she is separated from her friends and family and has to struggle on alone trying to work her way through a life that is very different to what she was expecting.

But can romance blossom in even the most unlikely places?

It's an interesting novel told through the stories of the three friends and letters sent between them.

It's published by Matador at £9.99

The Journals of a Victorian Traveller

In 1942 a house in Canterbury, Kent, fell victim to one of the infamous Baedeker Raids, during which the Luftwaffe used the travel guidebooks of Karl Baedeker to target historic British towns such as Bath, Exeter, Norwich, York and Canterbury.

This house, however, was different from the other houses bombed during these raids. For in the ruins of the house were discovered the  travel journals of Julia Errington Biddulph which were removed to a place of safety.

The travel journals in The Journals of a Victorian Traveller tell the stories of the travels of Julia during the latter decades of the 19th century.

Prepared and retold by Martin Laurie this book is a stirring and romantic story of the world of the latter part of the 19th century.

Her first journey to India took seven weeks. But by the latter part of the period covered (30 years later) the same journey took just under 14 days.

She met royalty, generals and other notable person and they suffer the vicissitudes of weather by turns monstrously hot or monstrously cold.

She married Colonel John Bidulph in April 1882. He was, we learn, the author of a number of books some on military matters, although he also wrote on other topics. He was also a naturalist and sent specimens to the British Museum.

Laurie points out that, over time, Julia's journals show that she matured from a rather timid girl at the time of her fist visit to India into a mature and confident woman.

The book is well-illustrated with photographs from the family album and I feel it is a must read book for those interested in history and/or 19th century travelogues. 

It is published by The Book Guild at £9.99 in paperback.