A.S. Thomson
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The Witchburn
Earlier today, one of my Twitter chums mentioned how much she hated bonfires. I had to admit that I loved the smell of a good bonfire – although, I joked, it was always better with a witch thrown on top… And instantly I was taken back to my childhood holidays in Campbeltown, Argyleshire. Perhaps I…
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The Wisdom of Poodles
Just before Christmas, we got a new puppy, a little black girl we called Isla. My husband got her as a surprise gift for me – he knew I was broody and love to look after things/people, but mainly he bought her because she had been booked by a prospective owner who had then changed…
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At the Dying of the Year by Chris Nickson
Richard Nottingham, constable of 1730s Leeds, has his most distressing case to date: the bodies of some young children have been found and according to the coroner, they had been abused before death. Nottingham and his officers are motivated to find the culprit so that no other child has to suffer what these youngsters did.…
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#WhatWouldKevinBaconDo
This post starts with a dream, but it gets better so please say with me. Last night I dreamed that my mum needed a new kettle. We went to an electrical appliance shop where she fell in love with a stove-top kettle. Having an electric hob, I tried to explain to her that not only…
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The Night Rainbow by Claire King
Telling a story, especially an adult story, from the point of view of a child is a very difficult thing to get right. Among authors who have been successful in achieving this are Emma Donoghue in Room, John Boyne in The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas and John Harding in Florence & Giles. With the…
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I’ll pay for it.
Me: What’s that noise? Mum: It’s just the trough falling out the car. Me: The what now? Mum: The trough. Me: The trough? There’s no trough in the car. Mum: The…trow. Me: Trow? Do you mean trowel?
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The Green-Eyed Monster by Mike Robinson
I don’t pretend to totally understand chaos theory: butterflies flapping their wings on the other side of the world seem distant and, if I’m honest, rather insignificant to me. Jealousy and envy – that I get. Who hasn’t been a little envious when their friend got the boy, the job, the promotion…? Mike Robinson skillfully…
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Rook by Jane Rusbridge
Nora, a concert Cellist, returns home after an incident a year earlier which has left her broken and unable to play. She is haunted by the memory of a man, older than she, with whom she had an affair which, we believe, ended badly. Her mother, obsessed with the glamour of her past and making…
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Wild Children by Richard Roberts
Do you believe in sin? Do you believe that your sin can mark you? This is what happens in Richard Robert’s superb book Wild Children. Told in five ‘acts’ and from 5 different perspectives, we follow the story of six different children, each turned into a wild child by some unspecified sin. From the first…
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The Tale of Rawhead & Bloody Bones by Jack Wolf
The mid-18th century was a dark time. Life was often worth very little and the nascent age of science was yet to mature into the elder statesman we know it as today. Into this era was born Tristan Hart, a young man obsessed with pain, the purity of its expression and how to prevent it.…
Got any book recommendations?