Bookseller Recommendations

Blog · Posted January 31, 2025

The first bookseller reviews of 2025!

There have been lots of new books to choose from this month and our booksellers have been spoilt for choice.  Read on to find out what they have recently read and are enjoying recommending at the moment…

NESTING BY ROISIN O’DONNELL

Hardback fiction | £16.99 | Reviewed by Vicky

Ciara is trapped, isolated and controlled in a marriage with a monster. Though never yet physical, the constant threat of unprovoked anger becomes too suffocating and Ciara takes her two young girls and leaves.

This is a story of coercive control. Its tension is sometimes unbearable as you turn each page, praying for Ciara to escape. It’s a novel that feels necessary, not only in highlighting quiet abuse but in showing us the beauty of small gestures and kindness. O’Donnell’s writing is raw and emotive, bringing an authenticity to her characters’ lives and experiences.

A soaring debut that manages both to haunt and heal.

Buy this book


THE ARTIST BY LUCY STEED

Hardback fiction | £16.99 | Reviewed by Rosamund

It’s 1920 and Joseph is a young journalist with ambitions to make his name in the art world.  He is astonished and thrilled to receive an invitation to interview the reclusive artist, Edouard Tartuffe, at his home in the south of France.  

On his arrival it becomes clear there has been a misunderstanding and an interview is out of the question.  All is not lost however, as Tartuffe allows Joseph to stay if he agrees to act as his model for an important new piece.  The artist’s niece, Ettie, is a quiet, intense constant in the house, ensuring the great man’s life is managed to his exacting standards.

But all is not as it seems in this richly described novel of tyranny, hidden truths and love.  The author luxuriates in the heat of the south, from lush descriptions of rotting food to the forcefield that is Tartuffe, as tensions boil inextricably to that rarest of things, a satisfying ending.

This book is just what we all need in the depths of winter. 

Buy this book


THE LAST TRUTHS WE TOLD BY HOLLY WATT

Hardback  fiction | £16.99 | Reviewed by Jen

This novel is a story of trust, friendship and the terrible unravelling of secrets. Twenty years on from a Oxbridge dinner party where futures were secretly predicted, written down and placed in an envelope, the group meets up in remote Cornwall to find the truth in the predictions. One of the group is recently dead – suicide, but perhaps not…

One prediction at a time, Watt skilfully keeps the reader guessing at the truth. With a cast of damaged, vulnerable but also relatable characters that are deftly written, the tension ramps up. As the weekend darkens in the remote grand house you will simultaneously want to keep turning the pages but dread doing so!

Buy this book


THE PLAYERS BY MINETTE WALTERS

Hardback | £20 | Reviewed by Vicky

Decades after the turmoil of the Civil War, Dorset finds itself at the centre of unrest and revolution. Hundreds are imprisoned for joining the rebellion of the Duke of Monmouth, the illegitimate but protestant son of Charles II. They face a brutal fate upon the scaffold and it’s up to one man to save them. An audacious plot is hatched and the clock is ticking.

Walters has expertly blended fact and fiction to create unlikely alliances. Her interpretation of real historical figures is original and thought-provoking. A thrilling page-turner and a sweeping epic. Sit back and be transported – you’re in the hands of a master.

Buy this book


THE ODD WOMAN AND THE CITY BY VIVIAN GORNICK

Paperback non-fiction | £10.99 | Reviewed by Jen

Born in the Bronx in 1935 Vivian Gornick, the daughter of Ukraininan socialist immigrants, has embraced life as an Odd Woman. Leaving politics behind for her true love of Literature she has written as an observer of life and critic since 1969.
The Odd Woman and the City is an immersive read that has three strands of concern: friendship – in general and in particular with her best friend Leonard; New York City with its diverse population of creeds, colours and genders; and an attempt to account for herself as a late 20th century feminist.

I was engrossed in Gornick’s writing. She deftly skips between now and then, life and literature, then and now. Her meditations on friendship and defining who one is are interspersed with vignettes of street life in a city vividly brought to life by this insightful and witty woman.

The slimness of this book belies the scope of Gornick’s writing and her ability to make you reflect!

Buy this book


THE EXTINCTION OF IRENA REY BY JENNIFER CROFT

Paperback fiction | £9.99 | Reviewed by Sarah

Eight translators gather at their Author’s remote house to work on what they hope will be her magnum opus. However, things instantly go awry when their Author mysteriously disappears. Cracks start to form in their supposedly tight-knit unit as reality intrudes on their rituals (which appear a little ludicrous to the reader and outside world). As they search for their missing Author, each is forced to reckon with obsessions, communication, and the complexity of art.

As we hear two sides of the story, (from the Spanish and English translators who were two of the eight involved), it makes us think about the art of language and the power of translation. Croft, herself an award-winning translator, has crafted a mysterious, comical and hard-to-define work of literature that, although dabbling with the absurd, draws you in and holds you there to the very last word.

Buy this book


With lots of fresh releases we have had to narrow it down to just a few of our favourite recent reads here. However, fear not, more will appear soon….