If you want to become totally immersed in an historical novel about female aviation interweaved with the story of a present day-ish Hollywood child star then Maggie Shipstead will fly you far flung horizons peopled with incredible characters and storylines. Brilliant vivid writing and heart breaking stories involving the misogyny women aviators faced in the 1950s and Hollywood actors still face in the 21st century. Great Circle will have you creeping off to bed early just for the pleasure of reading.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK • The unforgettable story of a daredevil female aviator determined to chart her own course in life, at any cost: an “epic trip—through Prohibition and World War II, from Montana to London to present-day Hollywood—and you’ll relish every minute” (People).
After being rescued as infants from a sinking ocean liner in 1914, Marian and Jamie Graves are raised by their dissolute uncle in Missoula, Montana. There--after encountering a pair of barnstorming pilots passing through town in beat-up biplanes--Marian commences her lifelong love affair with flight. At fourteen she…
If you love animals I recommend you read Henry Mance's non-fiction book about how we see animals as commodities for our exploitation. Henry, a journalist at the Financial Times, explores the dilemmas us human are great at avoiding and at our amazing capacity for wilful ignorance. He speaks to the reader in a very straightforward way without over-sentimentalising animals and without lecturing on the rights and wrongs. This insightful and surprising book really does make you think that we should and could be doing so much better in terms of how we treat and live with animals.
A far-reaching, urgent, and thoroughly engaging exploration of our relationship with animals - from the acclaimed Financial Times journalist.
This might be the worst time in history to be an animal. But is there a happier way?
Factory farms, climate change, deforestation and pandemics have made our relationship with the other species unsustainable. In response, Henry Mance sets out on a personal quest to see if there is a fairer way to live alongside the animals we love. He goes to work in an abattoir and on a farm to investigate the reality of eating meat and dairy. He explores…
What hasn't been said about this wonderful novel? It's a modern day David Copperfield with lots of great characters set in Appalachia during the opioid crisis. Your heart breaks for orphan Demon Copperhead and his friends as they navigate their way through life, hindered and abused by the so-called grown ups around them while they try to rise above both the poverty of their birth and expectations. It's made all the more special because the author stayed at Dickens' home Bleak House in Broadstairs, Kent, where he wrote David Copperfield and where 'she felt the presence of Dickens' outrage' 'urging her to let the child tell the story', according to an interview with The Guardian.
Demon's story begins with his traumatic birth to a single mother in a single-wide trailer, looking 'like a little blue prizefighter.' For the life ahead of him he would need all of that fighting spirit, along with buckets of charm, a quick wit, and some unexpected talents, legal and otherwise.
In the southern Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, poverty isn't an idea, it's as natural as the grass grows. For a generation growing up in this world, at the heart of the modern opioid crisis, addiction isn't an abstraction, it's neighbours, parents, and friends. 'Family' could mean love, or reluctant foster…
This heart-warming comedy mystery is set in England partially over Christmas, with flashbacks to the Amazon rainforest, and is centred on themes of friendship, loss and conservation. It is the first book in the Missing Fur Series and can be read independently of The Macaw of Doom, the second in the series and third book The Monkey Stones, set to be published November 2024. The Mystery of the Missing Fur follows Bernard's adventures after he saves three rare Amazonian monkeys and a zoo full of animals from the clutches of a TV talent show judge, a short-sighted trophy hunter and an endangered animal trafficker. Along the way, he makes friends with a giant anteater called Armando, an over-furred cat named Loki and a human child with an unfortunate name. Together, they solve the not-so-mysterious mystery of the missing fur and, most importantly, what happened to Bernard's parents, famous conservationists.
