Contemporary Fiction Recent Picks

February 2011

The underlined titles will take you directly to our catalogue.
Some featured items are linked via a book cover to enable you to read more reviews.

Into Suez / Stevie Davies.
"Beginning in1949 at the start to the Suez Crisis, Joe Roberts, RAF sergeant, his wife Ailsa and daughter, Nia, leave Wales for Egypt. Joe is an ordinary working man of his generation: he's a lovely, humorous, emotional man in whom the common ration of racism and misogyny becomes a painful sickness. Ailsa, intelligent, curious and craving to explore the realities of the Egypt she enters, meets on the voyage out Mona, a Palestinian woman who excites in her yearning for a world beyond her horizons. Joe's closest friend is murdered by Egyptian terrorists, and this causes all their relationships to spiral into tragedy." (Amazon UK)

American assassin : a thriller / Vince Flynn.
"Tensions in the Middle East are simmering when a Central Intelligence Agency Director goes to Syracuse University, to recruit none other than Mitch Rapp, a student who has quickly climbed up the academic and athletic ranks. At first glance, he appears like any other smart, good-looking American college kid. Under the surface, however, a tempest rages. Tragedy entered Mitch's life a year before when 35 of his classmates, including his girlfriend, perished on Pan Am flight 103. Nine months later, after gruelling training, Mitch finds himself in Istanbul on his first assignment, which is to assassinate the Turkish arms dealer who sold the explosives used in the Pan Am attack." (Amazon UK)

Three sisters / Bi Feiyu ; translated from the Chinese by Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-chun Lin.
"Three sisters struggle to change the course of their destinies in a China that does not belong to them. Yumi uses her dignity, Yuxiu her seductive powers, and Yuyang her desire for success. Whether it's in the village of the Wang family, where life is attuned to the rhythm of working the fields and the slogans of the cultural revolution, or in the Peking of the 1980s, not one of these women is prepared to be just another wave in the 'infinite ocean of people'. It is an epic portrayal of life in modern China." (Amazon UK)

The Earth hums in B flat / Mari Strachan.
"Gwenni Morgan is not like any other girl in this small Welsh town. Inquisitive, bookish and full of spirit, she can fly in her sleep and loves playing detective. So when a neighbour mysteriously vanishes, and no one seems to be asking the right questions, Gwenni decides to conduct her own investigation. She records everything she sees and hears: but are her deductions correct? What is the real truth? And what will be the consequences of finding out, for Gwenni, her family and her community?" (Amazon UK)

Capitol betrayal : a novel / William Bernhardt.
"When a malevolent foreign dictator hacks into the U.S. nuclear defence system, the president comes under fire. With the clock winding down, lawyer Ben Kincaid has precious little time to defend the president. While Kincaid faces the trial of his life, legendary CIA agent Seamus McKay races through the clogged streets of Washington, searching for a hidden command centre, guarded by murderous fanatics that now control U.S. ballistic missiles." (Book cover)

Dead or alive / Tom Clancy with Grant Blackwood.
"For years, Jack Ryan, Jr. and his colleagues at the Campus have waged an unofficial and highly effective campaign against the terrorists who threaten western civilization. The most dangerous of these is the Emir. This sadistic killer has masterminded the most vicious attacks on the west and has eluded capture by the world's law enforcement agencies." (Book cover)

I still dream about you : a novel / Fannie Flagg.
"Birmingham real estate agent and former Miss Alabama Maggie Fortenberry learns valuable lessons about the nature of friendship, the challenges of modern life, and the dangers of impossible dreams as she struggles to keep Red Mountain Realty afloat and bury the heartbreaking secrets of her past." (Amazon UK)

A kind man / Susan Hill.
"Tommy Carr was a kind man; Eve had been able to tell that after half an hour of knowing him. There had never been a day when he had not shown her some small kindness. The birth of a daughter, Jeannie Eliza, crowns the young couple's happiness, just as her shockingly early death casts them low. But they do not need to talk about Jeannie because she remains with them, and their love does not change. In some ways it is no wonder that one of them falls ill, for grief takes its toll, and one Christmas even Eve's sister Miriam is remarking that Tommy looks unwell. But what happens next is entirely unexpected, not least for the kind man." (Amazon UK)

The old spring / Richard Francis.
"Dawn and Frank wake up one wet November morning in the flat above their pub, the Old Spring. Today they have to meet the brewery representative, Tim Green, and track down an error in their books, or face the consequences. This novel is full of sadness and laughter, celebrating the capacity of the English pub to weave together a community of seemingly random encounters." (Amazon UK)

Mr Chartwell / Rebecca Hunt.
"July, 1964. In bed at home in Kent, Winston Churchill is waking up. There’s a visitor in the room, someone he hasn’t seen for a while, a dark, mute bulk, watching him with tortured concentration. It’s Mr Chartwell. In her terraced house in Battersea, Esther Hammerhans, young, vulnerable and alone, goes to answer the door to her new lodger. Through the glass she sees a vast silhouette the size of a mattress. It's Mr Chartwell. He is charismatic and dangerously seductive, and Esther and Winston Churchill are drawn together by his dark influence. But can they withstand Mr Chartwell’s strange, powerful charms and strong hold? Can they even explain to anyone who or what he is? Or why he has come to visit?" (Amazon UK)

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