Assassins are hunting the daughter of the Prime Minister… How long will she hide before it’s time to fight back? The thrilling sequel to Number 10, which was named a YA Book of the Year by the Independent and FT.
Gray Langtry is on the run. As the only child of the British Prime Minister, Gray’s life has been in turmoil ever since her mother was chosen to lead the country. Both she and her mother are targets of a Russian assassination plot. And what’s worse, members of her mother’s own cabinet are involved. A team of bodyguards never leaves her side. The press attention is relentless. And then there are the death threats.
Now, after an attempt on Gray’s life, she has been moved to an elite boarding school in the British countryside. Shielded by high walls and locked gates, Gray finally feels safe, but the plotters are still hunting, and soon they will find her. Gray’s personal bodyguard, Julia, and the school’s young headmistress are determined to protect her. They both know how dangerous things are. The assassins searching for Gray are highly trained. And when they arrive they will aim to kill. Dylan, a mysterious American student, seems to know more than he should – but he’s always there when Gray needs him. Can she trust him? Can she trust anyone?
As winter closes in and darkness falls, Gray will have to think fast.
The hunters are coming.

Author CJ Daugherty, also known as Christi Daugherty, is a novelist best known for a series of bestselling young adult romantic thrillers set in a fictional boarding school called Cimmeria Academy. She began her career as a journalist, writing for publications such as the Dallas Morning News, Reuters and Time Out.

Codename Firefly is the sequel to Number 10 - which was released in 2020

A YA novel that combines a thrilling spy/action plot with political intrigue - sign me up! 'Codename Firefly' promises a lot, but, in what turned out to be a rapid, page turning read, truly delivers. 
I often find (and maybe this is me as a grumpy mid 30's man), find leads in YA books quite annoying - their eternal optimism and pep contrasting wildly with my own cynicism and general air of wearyness. Here though, Daugherty has created a protagonist who feels real and relatable, and whilst the ordeals she goes through in this series are obviously hugely heightened, it does feel like Daugherty captures the pain of what it must be like to grow up in the public eye. 

Codename Firefly also ties this series closely into the "Night School" series that CJ Daugherty wrote to huge acclaim - and it's made me want to read them too, as they, from my initial research, seem to combine the twist driven plots with intrigue and social commentary. 

Many thanks to Midas PR for the copy - definitely one to recommend!

Ben Field was good looking and charming, and as a passionate English literature student, knew the power of words to seduce. In the village of Maids Moreton in Buckinghamshire, 69-year-old Peter Farquhar, an eminent teacher and author, found Ben’s presence irresistible. They set up home together, underwent a ‘betrothal’ ceremony at a church, but all along Ben was gaslighting his partner and secretly poisoning him. A year later Peter was dead. 
Ben moved on to a neighbour in the same street, Ann Moore-Martin, who also fell helplessly in love with him. All the time Ben was setting her up to redraft her will so that Ben would benefit on her death. 
Remarkably, Ben described in intimate detail his manipulations and scheming, his perverse fantasies and desires in numerous journals and diaries, providing a unique insight into the mind of a psychopathic personality.

I never liked True Crime - I think I always thought life was awful enough without reading in depth about awful crimes! However, lockdown seemed to change that. The lovely thing about true crime is that there is often a clear resolution - something which I felt was very lacking in life overall. So I embarked on reading everything I could find - and In Cold Blood by Truman Capote was a particular favourite. 
Let Us Prey takes a cue from that - and is a truly gripping account of the crimes of Ben Field - a seemingly innocent and friendly church warden, whose manipulative actions led to the death of one man, and the duping of one woman. 
Through examining Field's diaries, author Smith truly communicates to the listener the inner thoughts of this psychopath - and the cold, clinical disconnection of Field serves as a stark contrast to the rather more provincial goings on of the small home counties village of Maids Moreton where the crimes took place. 
​Gripping, insightful, and mercifully not exploitative, "Let Us Prey" explores the truth behind these crimes and takes a hard look at the man who comitted them - well worth a listen!

Kirsten Calloway's life seems complete: with a happy marriage, talented teenage daughter and a fulfilling job in the NHS, she really does appear to have it all. But, while she loves her teacher husband, Mark, and has no desire to leave him, there is a problem: very little excitement, and a completely barren sex life. 
Things come to a head when Kirsten attends an ill-advised school reunion. Memories of her first love are rekindled and bring into focus her current loneliness and frustration. When an old school friend reveals she uses an upmarket agency to arrange casual sex - and what’s more, it has done wonders for her marriage - it’s not long before Kirsten signs up.
Enter Zac, seemingly the answer to Kirsten's prayers: young, handsome and a thrilling lover, like her he has no desire to end his marriage. Kirsten revels in her new-found sexuality and for a while life has never felt so good. As the affair snowballs, juggling marriage, work and family with this sexual freedom becomes increasingly tricky, but still she is reluctant to give it up. Until Zac starts to want more. A lot more. Rapidly things start to spiral out of control, with fatal consequences ... 

Jo Lennan is the author of In The Time of Foxes, a collection of short stories published by Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. 
Jo was born in coastal New South Wales, Australia, and studied in Sydney and Oxford.
She has worked as a lawyer, university lecturer and writer, contributing features on law, the environment, theatre and the arts to Time Magazine, The Economist, 1843 and Australia’s The Monthly.
Her fiction and reportage have featured in the Best Australian Stories and Best Australian Essays anthologies, as well as literary journals The Junket and Meanjin. She has attended writers’ residencies at the Normal Mailer Centre in Provincetown, Massachusetts, Varuna in the Blue Mountains, NSW, and the Residencia Internacional de Arte, CanSerrat, Barcelona.
In The Time of Foxes is her first book.

I do not have the words to describe to you how much I love foxes - I've got fox shirts, fox jumpers, and a large fox tattoo on my right arm. As a country boy living in London, I'm forever delighted by bumping into urban foxes - beautiful, clever creatures that cleverly survive no matter the environment they are thrown into.
So when I received this collection of short stories that are weaved together by the mercurial and mischievous fox, I was delighted - and this debut collection suggests that Jo Lennan is a seriously talented voice to look out for in the future. 
I love a short story collection - but often find myself disappointed by a strong first tale and poor subsequent ones, or by bad pacing that results in me wishing that a short story could be expanded into a longer form novel. 
Lennan has great skill in crafting tales that sparkle and glow for their short duration, but do not outstay their welcome - and whilst the tales may have similar themes in terms of their focus on survival and power, they have disparate settings and uniquely individual characters who Lennan brings to life in a few short paragraphs - ensuring a constant sense of delight throughout. The stories do work wonderfully well on their own, but also this is a beautifully put together collection - they function brilliantly as a whole, with the fox the reader's guide through these fascinating snapshots of lives. 

I'd love to see a novel from Lennan - and immerse myself in her words for longer - but ultimately she's a hugely skilled crafter of the short form story, and I'd be very glad of the chance to visit more of her tales - hopefully guided by her vulpine companion

Many thanks to Midas PR for the copy​

I like to think I'm very knowledgeable about history - I read a lot of history books, and insist on traipsing around every available museum when on holiday - and yet I'm more than happy to accept that there are substantial gaps in my knowledge - in part because of my general interests, and in part because of what we were taught at school and University etc. 
I had heard the name of Toussaint Louverture before, but knew little of the man - which is a huge shame. I hope that, with the renewed interest in Alexander Hamilton we've seen over the last few years, we may see the same of Toussaint Louverture - a man with just as fascinating a tale, and whose life should be remembered as a brave, bold and publically minded fight for justice and equality. 
Author Sudhir Hazareesingh has written a number of history books relating to French figures (or figures associated with France), and as such has clearly found the recipe for a hugely enjoyable history book - blending clear fact with precise prose and a narrative that, due to the true tales many twist, turns, double crosses and betrayals, allows the reader to be fully swept up in this brilliantly recreatd journey. 
Whilst Louverture's demise is, ultimately, rather a sad one, his life is such a blazingly brilliant one, it's impossible not to leave this book feeling awe inspired by a man who fought to bring around change almost 250 years ago. From Slave to Statesman - 'Black Spartacus' is a title that suits the brilliant Louverture very well indeed. 
I highly recommend this book, and I hope it does very well in the Wolfson History Prize indeed - it's a fascinating portrayal of a hero, a statesman, and a true inspiration. 

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My spirituality and my understanding of it has always been something I've been interested in. Going from a religious childhood to a very atheist adulthood, I've always looked for spirituality where I can find it, and 'Inner Alchemy' provided me with fascinating insight into a school of thought, combined with genuinely helpful exercises and meditations that, if nothing else, certainly provided clearly guided focus. 
 The illustrations, which, in any other context I would probably scoff at for being too 'new age', are also hugely helpful - providing visual cues to guide me through the meditations and to gain a heightened awareness of my body and my mind. 
Now, I must be honest and say that, despite clear instructions, there were certainly various aspects of the book I did not understand - but I'm well aware that this is a world I'm very much new to. However, those aspects of the book I did understand, certainly provided me with guidance and food for thought - and I'll be continuing to practices some of the visualisations and meditations taught here. 
You can learn more about Zulma Reyo and Inner Alchemy here: www.zrsoc.com

Michal is a princess, Abigail a wealthy widow, and Bathsheba a soldier's bride, but as women in Ancient Israel their destiny is the same: to obey their fathers, serve their husbands and raise their children.

Marriage to King David seems to offer them an escape, but behind the trappings of power they discover a deeply conflicted man. The legendary hero who slew Goliath, founded Jerusalem and saved Israel is also a vicious despot who murders his rivals, massacres his captives and menaces his harem.

Michael Arditti is a novelist, short story writer, and critic, and has written a number of brilliant novels - my personal favourite being 'Easter', but "Of Men and Angels" and "Jubilate" I found particularly brilliant too. 
Arditti always involves religion in some for or another - "Easter" revolves around clergy, "Jubilee" around a trip to Lourdes, and "Of Men and Angels" uses the tale of 'Sodom and Gomorrah' as a focal point around which its various tales are weaved. 
That biblical theme continues in "The Anointed" as Arditti retells the story of King David with dazzling effect

I think part of my love for Arditti's work comes from my own relationship with religion - as a chorister in the Church of England for the majority of my childhood and teenage years, I grew up with biblical tales - listening to them during the readings and occasionally reading them myself when a sermon was boring me (which, to be honest, was often), but as I grew older my sexuality and my religion clashed to the extent that I left the church, and now spend a lot of my spare time working for an atheist charity. Regardless of that though - I was brought up with these fascinating, complex tales, and to see Arditti explore them in detail is a real thrill. 

King David is an interesting figure. We know that he probably existed, but that's about all we know in terms of facts - and so the tales of him in the bible form the bulk of what we claim to know about him. Most remember him as the handsome young harpist who defeated the giant Goliath with a slingshot - and whilst "David and Goliath" is a phrase that has entered modern parlance, and the young David's triumph is celebrated on stained glass windows across the world, his later life isn't talked about as much. Maybe, just maybe - because he wasn't all that nice?

David had multiple wives - and Arditti focuses his tale on three of them - young Michal, widowed Abigail, and, perhaps the most famous one, soldier's bride Bathsheba. Arditti brings them to life in detail, and explores how they would have been treated in ancient Israel. This is no biblical epic that praises David, and instead is a dark and complex piece that combines the political intrigue of book series like Game of Thrones, with the historical retelling through women's voices that we have seen in recent years from authors like Pat Barker and Natalie Haynes. It's impossible not to be moved by this tale - it's one that has stayed with me, and bought new dimensions to stories I haven't thought about for 20 odd years. Well recommended

Ireland, the 1990s. Eight missing women. Did a serial killer prowl the vanishing triangle? And if so, were they ever caught? 
Between 1993 and 1998, eight women went missing from an area around Dublin that became known as the ‘Vanishing Triangle’. Was there a link? Speculation abounded. There were whispers of a serial killer, responsible for some, if not all, of these cases. But nobody was ever brought to justice.
Twenty years later, the brutal murder of Jastine Valdez disturbs crime Novelist Claire McGowan into action. Reminded, like many in Ireland, of those previous missing women, McGowan brings her skills as a novelist to the real world, setting out to uncover the truth of the vanishing triangle. As she digs deeper, she finds something terrible lurking behind the idyllic image of rural Ireland and the 21st century success story of the ‘Celtic Tiger’. An incompetent police force, a traumatised nation and, a rank, murderous misogyny. 
But are the disappearances linked? Are they linked with other murders? Was there, is there, a serial killer on the loose?

Claire McGowan is a writer and lecturer - perhaps best known for her crime/thriller books published under her own name, but also known for her other books published under the name of Eva Woods. McGowan has also had several radio dramas broadcast on Radio 4, has a number of scripts currently under development, and has written articles for a number of leading publications. 

Claire McGowan's skill as a novelist translates hugely well to this step into non-fiction - and it's that skill which elevates this from just being a fascinating listen about some horrific crimes, to a state of the nation piece which explores the wider socio and economic factors that would affected the deaths, coverage, and investigations into these 8 missing women. 

There can often be a rather seedy theme that runs through 'True-Crime' books - and they can often glamorise the violence and the killings rather than investigating what truly happened. McGowan is careful to ensure that this isn't a line that ever gets crossed her - and in examining in great detail the background that led to these crimes happening and the way that they were responded to, she is able to give life and voice to the missing women, whilst also providing a social history for Ireland at the time of the disappearances, and ensuring that the listener feels, much like the author (and narrator) justifiable anger for those affected by these crimes, and the lack of justice that still haunts the families to this day, over 20 years later. 

Chilling and gripping, but never gratuitous or sordid - The Vanishing Triangle is a fascinating listen that shines light on an unsolved series of crimes and the wider circumstances surrounding them. 
​Many thanks to MidasPR for my copy!
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Almost everything we do generates data.
Digital technology is now so pervasive that it's very hard to escape its influence, and with that growth comes fear. But whatever the news has told you about data and technology, think again.
Data expert and tech insider Sam Gilbert shows that, actually, this data revolution could be the best thing that ever happened to us.
Good Data examines the incredible new ways this information explosion is already helping us - whether that's combating inequality, creating jobs, advancing the frontiers of knowledge or protecting us from coronavirus - and explains why the best is yet to come.
Data touches everything, from our biggest hates (online advertising) to our greatest loves (our pets), and in this fascinating new book, Gilbert explores how, if we can embrace the revolution (even the ads), we could all live vastly improved lives.
We are standing on the edge of greatness, we just need to know how to get there.
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Sam Gilbert is an affiliated researcher at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge. An expert in data-driven marketing, he was employee number one and chief marketing officer at Bought By Many, an award-winning fintech start-up named as one of Wired's hottest start-ups in Europe and ranked 13th in the Sunday Times TechTrack100 list of the UK's fastest-growing companies in 2018. Previously, he was head of strategy and development at the data company Experian and head of consumer finance at Santander. Sam also advises early-stage tech businesses on growth strategy and digital marketing. He lives in London and Copenhagen. Good Data is his first book. 

In the uncertain times we're living in today (hello pandemic!), it's fascinating to see how people have found that unexpected things have given them great joy, even when they haven't known they've needed them. For me, an unexpected lockdown discovery was that I really, really love spending my evenings doing embroidery (I'm as surpised as you are!), but another completely unexpected, absolute joy of my lockdown, can now absolutely be said to be 'On Hampstead Heath', the latest by Marika Cobbold, who has taken up her pen after a decade long break. 

I've read plenty by the author in the past, (Drowning Rose and Aphrodite's Workshop are two that stick in my mind), and have always hugely enjoyed them, but 'On Hampstead Heath' is the first that has had me unable to tear myself away from the pages - so eager was I to find out just how much mess Thorn would find herself in, and how exactly she would wrangle her way out of it. 

Cobbold's heroine, Thorn, is, as her assumed name suggest, sharp, prickly, and tricky to get close to - but she's a remarkably fun narrator for the reader - at once relatable and funny as she is moving and open. 
There are many, many plot threads here - work related dramas, a relationship with an ex-husbnad, one best friend who is an elderly Jewish evacuee, and another who is dead. A burgeoning love interest, a family secret and an adorable dog too, make this a collection of threads that I imagine a lesser author would have been told to potentially edit down when telling their tales in what is a relatively short book. 
Not Marika Cobbold though - her time off from writing has allowed her to come back as a master spinner of stories, and she carefully takes all of those threads and weaves them into an utterly beautiful tapestry. There's also a healthy dose of social commentary here too, as Cobbold takes on the current state of print journalism in Britain. It is (rather unsurprisingly) quite a depressing thing to read about, as experienced, dedicated journalists are put out to pasture in order to fill the ever growing need for bite-size, quick pieces of news about celebrities and gossip. A bleak state of affairs, yes - but one that lends itself ever so well to the dark comedy of Cobbold's plot - and Thorn's despair at the state of things in her industry is one I'm sure that many readers (including myself) will share. 

A beautiful story by an author who is clearly on top of her game - with a skill for bringing vibrant characters to life in just a few words, and for weaving social commentary in with warm humour and a page turning plot. In short, like a bizarre but wonderful lovechild of Penelope Fitzgerald and Anita Brookner - and if you know how much I love those two authors, then you'll know that this is about as high as my praise can get!
On Hampstead Heath is a perfectly balanced novel - and whilst I was sad to leave the characters after only 250 or so pages, barely anything was left unfinished - with the ending leaving me warm and hopefuly and eager for more, more, more from this author. 
Huge thanks to Midaspr for my copy of this book - I heartily encourage you all to add it to your lists in order to brighten up your gloomy spring immeasurably.