by Patrick Radden Keefe

The Sackler name adorns the walls of many storied institutions: Harvard, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oxford, the Louvre. They are one of the richest families in the world, known for their lavish donations to the arts and sciences. The source of the family fortune was vague, however, until it emerged that the Sacklers were responsible for making and marketing OxyContin, a blockbuster painkiller that was a catalyst for the opioid crisis.

Empire of Pain is a masterpiece of narrative reporting and writing, exhaustively documented and ferociously compelling​. It has won the Baillie Gifford prize for Non-ficiton 2021 . “We were completely bowled over as a group of judges by Empire of Pain. By its moral rigour, its controlled fury, its exhaustive research, the skilful writing, the bravery it took to write it. Above all, though, by its sheer propulsive narrative energy,” said chair of judges Andrew Holgate.

by Kim Potgieter

Joburg based financial planner, Kim Potgieter has helped hundreds of clients put money in its right place. In this book she illustrates how midlife is the perfect time to reconsider how you will finance your next chapter and how to become an empowered, modern elder. 

by Malcolm Gladwell

This is the story of how the dream of a small group of pilots – of making bombing so accurate that wars could be fought entirely from the air – became a terrifying reality, changing the face of war and the world forever. Vintage Gladwell! 

Gladwell is a rockstar of non-fiction – The Times

by Luke Adam Hawker

A beautiful book to connect us after such a challenging time. ‘Dark clouds were looming in the distance. We watched them gather, and we wondered… When will it come? How long will it last?’  A monumental storm brings huge and sudden change. We follow a man and his dog through the uncertainty that it brings to their lives. Through their eyes, we see the difficulties of being apart, the rollercoaster of emotions that we can all relate to, and the realisation that by pulling together we can move through difficult times with new perspective, hope and an appreciation of what matters most in life.

Luke has dedicated the book to his late grandfather, who was a key figure in his life. The main characters are based on his grandfather and his own dog, Robin, who offers a reassuring guide through the challenges of the storm. It’s a story with very personal emotion, but one that speaks to us all. ‘Though clouds may gather again, and we may see other storms, we have realised most of all that we are stronger facing them… Together.’ 

DO watch this lovely video of Adam working and explaining the meaning behind the book. Together by Luke Adam Hawker – YouTube

 by Maggie O’Farrell

A number 1 Bestseller and Winner of the 2020 Womens Prize for Fiction, Hamnet is an exquisite and remarkable must read.  Its such an unexpected, tender, moving and  beautifully written book – you will be hooked!

On a summer’s day in 1596, a young girl in Stratford-upon-Avon takes to her bed with a sudden fever. Her twin brother, Hamnet, searches everywhere for help. Why is nobody at home? Their mother, Agnes, is over a mile away, in the garden where she grows medicinal herbs. Their father is working in London. Neither parent knows that Hamnet will not survive the week.

Hamnet is a novel inspired by the son of the world’s most famous playwright: a boy whose life has been all but forgotten, but whose name was given to one of the most celebrated plays ever written.

by Rachel Joyce

My Book of the Year for 2020 is now out in paperback!!  Oh how I loved this book!  Such a joy!

It is 1950. In a devastating moment of clarity, Margery Benson abandons her dead-end job and advertises for an assistant to accompany her on an expedition. She is going to travel to the other side of the world to search for a beetle that may or may not exist. Enid Pretty, in her unlikely pink travel suit, is not the companion Margery had in mind. And yet together they will be drawn into an adventure that will exceed every expectation. They will risk everything, break all the rules, and at the top of a red mountain, discover their best selves.

This is a story that is less about what can be found than the belief it might be found; it is an intoxicating adventure story but it is also about what it means to be a woman and a tender exploration of a friendship that defies all boundaries.

Rachel Joyce has specialised in stories about overlooked people jolted out of their routines into unexpected situations that allow them to face the buried griefs that have kept them trapped in small lives…. it would be a mistake to think of her novels as merely “heartwarming”…. Joyce has a clear-eyed, unsparing view of regret, failure and loss, and the cost that life exacts from so many, even while she counters it with a belief in the resilience of the human spirit and the possibility of second chances. – The Guardian

A beautiful portrayal of female friendship in all its frailties, contradictions and strengths. – Raynor Winn author of The Salt Path

by Catriona Ward

I haven’t read anything this exciting since Gone Girl – Stephen King

The new face of literary dark fiction – Sarah Pinborough author of Behind Her Eyes

Did any of you read We are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler?  I read it without knowing the big reveal and it was wonderful being taken totally by surprise!  I feel the same way about this book which is completely different but the reveal reminded me of the thrill of being totally blind-sided.  I’ve never read a Stephen King or anything bordering on horror but this book blew me away!   You need to read it without any spoilers so here’s the blurb to get you started.  Do try it and give me a call when you’ve finished it.

This is the story of a murderer. A stolen child. Revenge. This is the story of Ted, who lives with his daughter Lauren and his cat Olivia in an ordinary house at the end of an ordinary street. All these things are true. And yet some of them are lies. You think you know what’s inside the last house on Needless Street. You think you’ve read this story before.  That’s where you’re wrong…

This is the most gloriously complex, shifting story, deeply disturbing yet also, somehow, heartwarming. – The Guardian

I’ve never been more blindsided in my entire life and I am shook. – Shit Reviews of Books

by Lucinda Riley

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by Eleanor Ray

If you feel like a gentle, sweet read reminiscent of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine with an unpredictably clever mystery then this one’s for you!

When aspiring artist, Amy Ashton’s world fell apart eleven years ago, she was advised to start a memory box of things that were special to her. Just a few keepsakes of happier times: some honeysuckle to remind herself of the boy she loved, a chipped china bird, an old terracotta pot . . . Things that others might throw away, but to Amy, represent a life that could have been.

Her collection has turned into an obsession and now her house is absolutely overflowing with the objects she loves, to the point of being dangerous. When a family move in next door, a chance discovery unearths a mystery, and Amy’s carefully constructed life begins to unravel.  Each item she collects – key rings, ashtrays, mugs, lighters – reveal the associated memory and as she gets braver, each memory she confronts leads her closer to uncovering what really happened 11 years ago…

Intricate, beautifully written and thought-provoking. Packed with psychological realism, Eleanor Ray has perfectly captured how it feels to not quite fit in, to live with emotional baggage, to not know how to let go of the past.  It’s heart-breaking in parts but ultimately delivers one of the most poignant and heart-warming stories in recent years.  – MW Craven, CWA Gold Dagger winning author of The Puppet Show

A mystery with a difference. Beautifully constructed around the everyday items its central character hoards, as she slowly uncovers the secrets of her past. – Andrea Mara, author of The Other Side of the Wall.

(The American title is The Missing Treasures of Amy Ashton)

by Kate Quinn

1940. As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything—beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses—but she’s determined to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets. Ambitious self-made Mab, product of east-end London poverty, works the legendary codebreaking machines as she conceals old wounds and looks for a socially advantageous husband. Both Osla and Mab are quick to see the potential in local village spinster Beth, whose shyness conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles, and soon Beth spreads her wings as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts. But war, loss, and the impossible pressure of secrecy will tear the three apart.

 1947.  As the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip whips post-war Britain into a fever, the three friends-turned-enemies are reunited by a mysterious encrypted letter – the key to which lies buried in the long-ago betrayal that destroyed their friendship and left one of them confined to an asylum. A mysterious traitor has emerged from the shadows of their Bletchley Park past, and now Osla, Mab, and Beth must resurrect their old alliance and crack one last code together. But each petal they remove from the rose code brings danger – and their true enemy – closer…

I absolutely loved it!  It’s based on loads of research into real characters (Prince Philip really did date a Canadian heiress during the war!) and the fascinating back story of Bletchley Park’s secrets which, in most cases, were taken to the grave.  It’s a fabulous read!  If you’re in the mood for a really good, atmospheric WWII story full of mystery, danger and romance – The Rose Code is for you!