Our September Author of the Month, is Anne Tyler - the quiet American who has published 20 novels over the last 50 years, that subtly chronicle the ‘stuff of family life’ – love, disappointments, estranged children, loss. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Breathing Lessons (1988), a portrait of a marriage ageing and warping, while… Continue reading Author of the Month – Anne Tyler
Are you missing the drama of the Tokyo 2020 games? Here are ten books about athletes and sport to get you inspired. After more than two weeks of action-packed events we bet you’ll be missing your daily dose of athletic heroism. But don’t worry, we have plenty of stories full of tears and cheers to… Continue reading Ten Titles inspired by Tokyo 2020
John Coughlan CBE, who retired as Hampshire County Council’s Chief Executive last month, talks about his reading loves and recommendations as well as his vision for Hampshire’s libraries.
The past year has been strange and difficult for most of us. It has been a time of loneliness, isolation and feeling unsure and we had to find new ways of being ‘normal’. Throughout this time the theme of kindness has been constant, with people volunteering to support their communities, donating food or cooking for… Continue reading The Power of Kindness
About the book Marie-Laure has been blind since the age of six. Her father builds a perfect miniature of their Paris neighbourhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. But when the Nazis invade, father and daughter flee with a dangerous secret. Werner is a German orphan, destined to labour… Continue reading All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
A True Story Based on Lies is a remarkable and original novel that addresses the universal issues of class discrimination, male oppression and female servitude through dual narratives of spellbinding power. Set in contemporary Mexico, the book charts the consequences of a sexual relationship between Leonora, a servant in the wealthy O'Connor home, and her master. When a child, Aura Olivia, is born from this union she is brought up as the daughter of the house. As the novel unfolds, the 'true' story gradually emerges.
Hard-up Russia expert Dr Sam Gaddis finally has a lead for the book that could solve all his career problems. But the story of a lifetime becomes an obsession that could kill him.
When his source is found dead, Gaddis is alone on the trail of the Cold War’s deadliest secret: the undiscovered sixth member of the infamous Cambridge spy ring.
Suddenly threatened at every step and caught between two beautiful women, both with access to crucial evidence, Sam cannot trust anyone.
To get his life back, he must chase shadows through Europe’s corridors of power. But the bigger the lie, the more ruthlessly the truth is kept buried…
‘To play the country-game, we have to choose a country. Everybody wants to be the USA and Britain and Canada and Australia and Switzerland and them. Nobody wants to be rags of countries like Congo, like Somalia, like Iraq, like Sudan, like Haiti and not even this one we live in – who wants to be a terrible place of hunger and things falling apart?’
A story of Darling and her friends, living in a shanty town, dreaming of moving to far away places. For Darling, the dream comes true, it brings with it a new set of challenges for her – and those she has left behind
Life After Life follows Ursula Todd as she lives through the turbulent events of the last century again and again. With wit and compassion, Kate Atkinson finds warmth even in life’s bleakest moments, and shows an extraordinary ability to evoke the past. Here she is at her most profound and inventive, in a novel that celebrates the best and worst of ourselves.
A tense, thrilling novel about a family divided by secrets, and the lengths a mother will go to protect her child.
