The Radleys
by Matt Haig
The Radleys are seemingly a normal family in an affluent area of England. Father is a doctor, mother also an ex-medical student, children Clara and Rowan both teenage schoolchildren. However, there are things about them that are rather odd - the children are very pale, always sitting in the shade and always tired during the day, and the parents only socialise during the night. The parents have a secret which they have kept from their children - until the day Clara is attacked on her way home from a party and she ends up killing him - by sucking his blood. The Radleys are vampires, and the few days after the incident are filled with getting over the shock of the revelation, being chased by the police, angry parents, and a brother-in-law infatuated with the wife, determined to have her as his own.
It truly makes you think there could be vampires living in your street....
Matt Haig's new book for adults, The Humans, is out 9th May 2013. He is also the author of brilliant books for 9-12yrs - To Be a Cat and the Shadow Forest series.
Tom-All-Alone's
by Lynn Shepherd
The name of the book is the name given to a graveyard where people can have their loved ones buried cheaply, or in the case of those dead who have no family or friends, chucked in one on top of the other. One of the first scenes in the book takes place here, but it is bodies of babies that are unearthed. The place is London 1850, and here begins a brilliantly written murder mystery, led by ex-detective Charles Maddox. He is led into a world of bribery, corruption, prostitution and murder. Will he himself come out of this unscathed? The murders are gruesome but the storytelling gripping.
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared
by Jonas Jonasson
Wow, what a tome of a book! Very detailed, very political, quite long (387 pages!), but quite enjoyable. I got quite irritated at times with his form of conversations - indirect rather than direct speech. A fascinating alternative history lesson too!
Allan Karlsson is in an old people's home approaching his 100th birthday. The home plan to throw him a party, but Allan doesn't plan to be part of it, so he climbs out of his ground floor flat window and starts on quite an adventure - unwittingly a life of crime - and finds himself wanted for murder (but completely innocent). The chapters alternate between his centenarian self, and his colourful and eventful life from birth to the present day - how he managed to meet the most powerful people in the world and be part of the most important world changing events (sometimes being the cause of them). You grow fond of Allan's character as he seems both politically innocent, naive and ignorant, but astute and aware at the same time.
The Borrower
by Rebecca Makkai
Lucy is a librarian in Missouri, and 10-yr old Ian Drake is a regular visitor and borrower. His parents start to disagree with his (and Lucy's) choice of reading material. Lucy then discovers that they have enrolled Ian in anti-gay classes (not that he is, just to make sure he won't be). Ian wants to run away, and he starts out on his plan by spending the night (unnoticed) in the library. Lucy finds herself part of his plan when she discovers him there the next morning, and drives him out of town, not knowing where they're going. So begins a journey of lies but also of finding oneself, and discovering an awareness of other people's feelings. At what point, if at all, should Lucy convince Ian that he must return home to his overbearing parents?
Very americanised, I must admit I only enjoyed about the last half.
The Absolutist
by John Boyne
Written by the author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, this is another war story, but this time the First World War. Tristan Sadler feels he has something wrong with him because he has different feelings from other men. He commits an act which finds him cut off from his family and best friend. He lies about his age and enters the Army at age 17, with the last words his father uttered to him ringing in his ears - "I hope you get shot by the Germans". He befriends Will and they form a very close bond, but Will's feelings towards Tristan and the war itself change, with devastating results. We discover the events as Tristan tells them to Will's sister after the war has ended.
Another emotional story from John Boyne about the dramatic and life-changing events of the time, both for the servicemen and civilians.
Mr Briggs' Hat
by Kate Colquhoun
Having loved Kate Summerscale's The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, I was looking forward to reading this one and it didn't disappoint. Mixing facts of the case with photographs, historical facts about the railways, Victorian society, the judicial system, capital punishment and much more, this book about Britain's first railway murder is trully engrossing. Beware - do not look at the photos and captions in the middle of the book before finishing the story!
The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year
by Sue Townsend
Eva Beaver - mother of super intelligent teenage twins Brian Jnr and Brianny and wife of astronomer Professor Brian Beaver (also philanderer) - has had enough of everyday life and organising everyone else's life. She wants peace, quiet, rest and avoidance of people's emotional problems. One day she gets into bed fully clothed and doesn't leave for a year. Food is brought to her by her exasperated family and friends, her children disown her, her husband's lover moves in, she gains notoriety, and members of the public start camping out on the pavement outside her house. It all starts to get Eva down and she slowly starts to break down and refuses contact with everybody. It's only the close friendship of a local artist and DIY man which finally saves her in the end.
Humorous, sad, upsetting, truthful - everything you'd expect from a Townsend novel.
