The Girl In The Tree

Title: The Girl In The Park (original title: Ağaçtaki Kız) Writer: Şebnem İşigüzel (translated by Mark David Wyers) Publishing House:AmazonCrossing Date of Publication: April 16th 2020 (first published January 1st 2000) Rating: 5 stars ”Some of us die before the story ends, some of us die long after the story has ended, and some of us die right at…

Magical Folk: British and Irish Fairies – 500 AD to the Present

Title: Magical Folk: British and Irish Fairies – 500 AD to the Present Writer: Simon Young, Ceri Houlbrook Publishing House: Gibson Square Date of Publication: November 22nd 2017 Rating: 5 stars ”Why is it that so many fairy sightings occur while we are in bed? Why do so many children see fairies? Is it significant that several of…

The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts

Title: The Woman Warrior Writer: Maxine Hong Kingston Publishing House: Picador Date of Publication: 2015 (first published August 12th 1976) ”I inspired my army, and I fed them. At night I sang to them glorious songs that came out of the sky and into my head. When I opened my mouth, the songs poured out and were loud enough…

I Wish

Title: I Wish Writer: Toon Tellegen (translated by David Colmer), illustrated by Ingrid Godon Publishing House: Elsewhere Editions Date of Publication: March 31st 2020 Rating: 5 stars ”DESPAIRERS WILL BE PROSECUTED written underneath. If someone despaired anyway, they’d get arrested and thrown into jail. I don’t like despair. They’d have special police to take care of it ”Ah, I seem…

Midwinter Mysteries:A Christmas Crime Anthology

Title: Midwinter Mysteries: A Christmas Crime Anthology Writer:Various Publishing House:Sapere Books Date of Publication:October 30th 2019 Rating:4 stars ”I think you can let the baby Jesus go”, Slonsky said. ”He’s innocent, just like the real one.” Behind the shiny ornaments, the bright lights, the laughter, the flowing wine, and the presents, dark intentions may find a…

Pine

Title:Pine Writer:Francine Toon Publishing House: Doubleday Date of Publication: January 23rd 2020 Rating:5 stars ”With all the lights on, there is still a darkness in the house.” In a small community in the haunting Scottish Highlands, the strange disappearance of a mother has cast a shadow over the lives of the residents. Lauren, a 10-year-old girl, lives…

Astrid Lindgren (Little People, Big Dreams)

Title: Astrid Lindgren (Little People, Big Dreams) Writer: Mª Isabel Sánchez Vegara, illustrated by Linzie Hunter Publishing House: Frances Lincoln Children’s Books Date of Publication: March 3rd 2020 Rating: 5 stars ‘’Give the children love, more love and still more love – and the common sense will come by itself.’’                            Astrid Lindgren Many years ago, a very special child…

A Treasury Of British Folklore: Maypoles, Mandrakes and Mistletoe

Title: A Treasury of British Folklore: Maypoles, Mandrakes & Mistletoe Writer: Dee Dee Chainey Publishing House: National Trust Date of Publication:April 5th 2018 Ratings:5 stars ”As we get older, we still sense the wonder of those takes we know from childhood. They whisper to us with every fleeting glimpse of what might just be a fairy in…

The Snow Collectors

Title: The Snow Collectors Writer: Tina May Hall Publishing House: Dzanc Books Date of Publication: February 12th 2020 Rating: 5 stars ”I found the dead woman at the edge of my woods on the last day of January. King month. Thirty-one spikes on a crown of icicles.” A young woman lives in Alaska. Alone, her sole company a dog…

A Christmas Cornucopia

Title: A Christmas Cornucopia Writer: Mark Forsyth Publishing House: Viking Date of Publication:November 3rd 2016 Rating:5 stars ”There’s a lovely story about a Tokyo department store, back in the days when Christmas was unknown in Japan. The head of this store had heard rumours of a Western tradition that involved a massive shopping spree and he wanted to…

The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories

Title: The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories Writer: Various edited by Martin Edwards Publishing House: British Library Crime Classics Date of Publication: May 2nd 2018 Rating: 5 stars ”Although one snowflake had already sifted past the lights, the great doors of the house stood open. It seemed less a snowflake than a shadow; for a bitter wind…

Wrecker

Title: Wrecker Writer: Noel O’Reilly Publishing House: HarperCollins Date of Publication: June 14th 2018 Rating: 5 stars ”Time had stopped and God had turned His back on the world.” Cornwall, 20 years after the Napoleonic Wars. Life in the isolated village of Porthmorvoren is hard. Living in extreme poverty, battling with the formidable weather conditions and the sea, the villagers…

Star over Bethlehem: Poems and Holiday Stories

Title:Star over Bethlehem: Poems and Holiday Stories Writer: Agatha Christie Publishing House: William Morrow Date of Publication: October 25th 2011  (first published 1965) Rating: 5 stars ”She thought of the pictures that had been shown her – of the agony in the garden of the shameful death, of a man who, at the hour of death, was forsaken…

Christmas At Thompson Hall & Other Christmas Stories

Title:Christmas at Thompson Hall and Other Christmas Stories Writer: Anthony Trollope Publishing House:Penguin Classics Date of Publication:November 6th 2014 (first published 1882) Rating: 5 stars ”Yes, I want you to love me, and to be my wife. I don’t know how to tell you; but I love you better than anything and everything in the world-…