The Wych Elm by Tana French
WOW, that’s the word I’d use to sum up this sensational novel from one of my favourite authors. Tana French is an author under many people’s radar, although not so many as…
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The Wych Elm by Tana French
Support and business advice for Independent Bookshops
There is a wonderful support programme for independent bookshops throughout the UK and Ireland run by the Booksellers Association and generously funded by the Unwin Charitable Trust. Launched in September 2017, the…
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Support and business advice for Independent Bookshops
Is there hope for physical bookshops against the increase in online retailing in Ireland?
The battle against the online retailers by independent bookshops has been going on for over 15 years. Many people wrote off the ability of indie bookshops to survive this competition, many did…
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Is there hope for physical bookshops against the increase in online retailing in Ireland?
If Only I Could Tell You by Hannah Beckerman
An adorable, beautiful and thoughtfully written novel that I read in two sittings. I would urge you to order your copy now for a book and be totally absorbed in this modern…
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If Only I Could Tell You by Hannah Beckerman
What Sheila Did Next… Exciting developments for 2019
2018 was a year of change for me. I left my role at Village Books, a role I thoroughly enjoyed, not least so because Hazel and the team at the bookshop was…
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What Sheila Did Next… Exciting developments for 2019
My Coney Island Baby by Billy O’Callaghan
A book that I’ve recently read and loved is My Coney Island Baby by Billy O'Callaghan. . What’s the book about On a bitterly cold winter’s afternoon, Michael and Caitlin escape their unhappy marriages to…
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My Coney Island Baby by Billy O’Callaghan
When All Is Said by Anne Griffin
When All Is Said is the story basically of one man, Maurice Hannigan, he is 84 years old and over the course of a Saturday night in June, orders five different drinks at the local hotel, the Rainford House. The hotel is one of…
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When All Is Said by Anne Griffin
January 2019 My Recommended Reads
Each month I'll pick out books that I've read and loved to tell you about. https://youtu.be/bYpZCx6ZUdw In this video I am recommending: Music, Love, Drugs and War by Geraldine Quigley Darkest Truth…
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January 2019 My Recommended Reads
Music, Drugs, Love and War by Geraldine Quigley
What’s the book about? The end of the school year is approaching, and siblings Paddy and Liz McLaughlin, Christy Meehan, Kevin Thompson and their friends will soon have to decide what they're…
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Music, Drugs, Love and War by Geraldine Quigley
Milkman by Anna Burns
Milkman is set in an unnamed town with unnamed characters and without chapters. It is an astonishing book in which issues such as stalking, power, community, religious divide and first love are…
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Milkman by Anna Burns
A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne
What’s the book about? A chance encounter in a Berlin hotel with celebrated novelist Erich Ackermann gives Maurice Swift and our lead character an opportunity to ingratiate himself with someone more powerful…
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A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne
Dirty Little Secrets by Jo Spain
Six neighbours, six secrets, six reasons to want Olive Collins dead. In the exclusive gated community of Withered Vale, people's lives appear as perfect as their beautifully manicured lawns. Money, success, privilege…
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Dirty Little Secrets by Jo Spain
Village Books of Dulwich Village – A New Chapter Begins.
In December 2016 I bumped in Hazel and Tracy from Village Books who asked me what I was working at. I said that I was footloose and fancy free and they replied,…
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Village Books of Dulwich Village – A New Chapter Begins.
A Double Life by Flynn Berry
Loosely based on the Lord Lucan case this is very clever read in which Flynn Berry vividly re-imagines one of the most notorious crimes of the 20th century. Claire is a hardworking…
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A Double Life by Flynn Berry
The White Devil by Domenic Stansberry
Addictively creepy and brilliantly atmospheric is how I would sum up The White Devil. I can’t say I liked any of the characters however as a reader I was grabbed and intrigued…
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The White Devil by Domenic Stansberry
The Librarian by Salley Vickers
A charmingly subversive novel about a library in 1950s England, by the acclaimed author of The Cleaner of Chartres. Sylvia Blackwell, a young woman in her twenties, moves to East Mole, a…
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The Librarian by Salley Vickers
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Effia and Esi: two sisters with two very different destinies. One sold into slavery; one a slave trader's wife. The consequences of their fate reverberate through the generations that follow. Taking us…
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Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
Based on a heart-breaking true story of love and survival, it tells of one man's determination to survive and live a full life with the woman he loved. Lale Sokolov survived the…
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The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell
She was fifteen, her mother's golden girl. She had her whole life ahead of her. And then, in the blink of an eye, Ellie was gone. Ten years on, Laurel has never…
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Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell
Educated by Tara Westover
If you asked me what was the best memoir I've read in the last year I would say Educated . This is a memoir about the author’s discovery of education, its transformative power and…
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Educated by Tara Westover