Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel by Lucy Foley

Reviewed by Rosamund

It’s a risky business taking on the legacy of a legend, but Lucy Foley has risen to the challenge of creating a new Miss Marple mystery with great brio.  She uses the setting of a luxury alpine hotel to create the perfect ‘locked room’ mountain murder with a thoroughly enjoyable cast of characters, from the self-satisfied, ambitious politician to the Hollywood starlet with her always slightly too tight dresses.

No spoilers here, but plenty of red herrings.  My best advice is to sink into the nearest armchair, grab a mug of silky rich hot chocolate and treat yourself to a few hours of perfect escapism.

ICARUS 17 by Charles Cumming

Reviewed by Rosamund

The next installment of the Box 88 series that has gained this excellent thriller writer a new audience.  In this, the fourth book, Cumming successfully switches up the dual narrative for the next generation.  Off-books spymaster, Lachlan Kite, finds himself on the trail of two young lovers on the run – one of whom holds a secret that could destabilise the Middle East, the other is the son of Kite’s former lover, Martha.

As always, it’s a breakneck ride of a novel, packed with satisfying spycraft drama. Yes, it’s better to read the series in order, but Cumming has ensured that Icarus 17 also works as a standalone novel.

Exit Party by Emily St John Mandel

Reviewed by Rosamund

Emily St John Mandel is a master of her craft, here juggling time and space to brilliant effect.  

We are in LA 2031 as the US is enjoying a brief moment of pause in their civil war.  Ari, freshly released from eighteen years in prison, agrees to attend a rare party with her friend Gloria.  There is a thrum to the evening, release, but also confusion, something is amiss – the following day, Gloria’s lover is missing, as is a beautiful painting. 

Is it possible that these vivid characters exist in seemingly parallel worlds, living other versions of themselves?

Readers of St John Mandel’s previous novels will recognise her big themes of freedom, loyalty, control and power, but those new to her work should jump in and read this as a mystery or thriller that is definitely going on my ‘must re-read’ pile.

The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout

Reviewed by Mary

Artie Dam is a nice man who has a nice life and is not looking for anything to rock the boat but he is bored with the lack of substance to his life. Why does no-one discuss important life changing matters. Keeping secrets from family, friends, students and work colleagues, who only learn to share when Artie courageously starts to share his own fears and personal history.Artie comes to realise each individual holds “within themselves a vast unknowable universe” and that people have ” to take and give to one another whatever they could.”  This book is a pleasure to read.

Taipei Story by Rebecca F. Kuang

Reviewed by Bryony

A fascinating and propelling story of a young Yale student’s journey to learn more about her family heritage and herself.  Lily travels to Taipei to take part in a summer course at The National Taiwan University to improve on her Chinese. But her summer doesn’t go to plan and when she receives some devastating news, Lily starts to ask questions about her family history.

Taipei Story is about  relationships, trying to fit in, language, grief and how your past can affect your present. It is thought provoking, beautifully written and slightly heartbreaking.

Overspill by Charlotte Paradise

Reviewed by Bryony

Overspill was not the easiest of reads but it is definitely worth it. In this novel, Paradise explores the issue of mental health and how this affects all aspects of life, especially relationships with those closest to you. Sara lives with anxiety, especially around physical touch and when she meets Miles she has to learn the limits of her body whilst also yearning to be close to him. 

A desperately painful and real story that follows Sara as she tries to understand how to love someone and look after herself. Is her body trying to tell her something that she has kept hidden in her subconscious? Tragic, tender and moving – this is an important read.

Switzy by Emma Cline

Reviewed by Vicky

Now this isn’t my usual kind of novel. But believe me when I say that this is not only an important read, but a thoroughly propulsive one. I have no idea how Cline has achieved the powerful, funny, disturbing and utterly heartbreaking narrative that is Switzy.

We enter the mind of David Hastings. He’s on his way to Dignitas with an unnamed disease that soon becomes apparent is Alzheimer’s. Here there are journeys into a vivid yet receding past, a disbelief that the years have been and gone, but it is the splintered present which contrasts most strongly with the certainty of an end that is coming in Switzerland.

This is a novel that demands every emotion from you. It is a compassionate addition to the ongoing debate on assisted suicide and makes every reader confront a sense of their own mortality.

Kitty & Mary by Julia Gray and Imogen Russell Williams

Reviewed by Vicky

To those who, like me, devoured the TV series The Other Bennet Sister, this one’s for you. Get ready for an alternative happy ending for Mary and a welcome new focus on perhaps the most overlooked Bennet sister, Kitty. Six months after Pride and Prejudice and life’s got a lot lonelier for the unwed Bennet girls. One sister seems doomed to look after their mother while the other can escape and we hear from them through their letters and journals.

You can open this knowing wholeheartedly that nothing bad is going to happen. Prepare to be swept up in social faux pas, sea journeys and, most importantly, romance. A book to make your heart happy.

The Stolen Crown by Tracy Borman

Reviewed by Vicky

Forensic scans of contemporary historian Camden’s Annales have recently revealed that many passages had been completely rewritten, suggesting that the peaceful transition from Tudor to Stuart might not have been entirely authorised.

Tracy Borman’s latest is an exploration of Elizabeth’s reign through the lens of the succession. You’ll meet Arbella Stuart, Katherine Grey and Henry Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon, (my heart went out to poor old, faithful Hastings!), all of whom were once odds on to inherit the crown and were handled by a Queen with impressive political acumen.

An interesting revisionist history of a pivotal moment that decided the futures of both England and Scotland, told with all the expertise and enthusiasm that is unique to Tracy Borman.

Hiroshima, 8:15 by Kiyoshi Tanimoto

Reviewed by Jen

Human memory is fragile, says Koko Tanimoto Kondo, daughter of Kiyoshi Tanimoto who wrote this extraordinary, of the moment, testimony of surviving the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima. Memories fade, even of such an appalling atrocity, and a book like this is vitally important to remind humanity of the destruction that human beings can bring upon each other.

Hiroshima is now a modern, bustling city looking forward but it is important to look back at the devastation this city was built on. I was so moved by this harrowing read and particularly the hope that Tanimoto lived with that the error will not be repeated because we will remember…

Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart

Reviewed by Jen

Amid the chaos of a near future America where democracy is faltering, you will be charmed by 10 year old Vera trying to make sense of the world she inhabits. Dysfunctional family dynamics and political turmoil seen through anxious Vera’s eyes are at once witty, foreboding and singular.

Although slim, this multi-layered novel is full of charm and depth despite the ominous background. Vera is inquisitive, sharp and a delight to get to know…