This week is packed with well-known names, from Ian Rankin and Sebastian Faulks to Cecelia Ahern and David Walliams.

 

Book of the week

Saints of the Shadow Bible by Ian Rankin is published in hardback by Orion Books, priced £18.99 (ebook £8.11). Available November 7.

John Rebus has always existed somewhere between the law and the shadowy backwaters of Edinburgh life. He hankers after the devil-may-care days when the police bent the rules and covered up things which should have been brought into the light. He has always done whatever it took to get a result, not caring how he put crooks behind bars and made the streets of the capital, in his mind, a better place.

In this twentieth edition of the trials of Rebus - a series now deeply ingrained in British crime literature - Rankin poses three questions long on the lips of Rebus fans the world over: Is Rebus good? Is he bad? Do we care?

Saints of the Shadow Bible sees Rebus back on the force, but he is fighting for his career - which is even more of an addiction for him than his drink and cigarettes - he has been demoted and he has something to prove. Pitted against old friends who once trusted him with their darkest secrets, Rebus must peel back the half-truths and lies of colleagues and criminals alike and must tread carefully for fear of exposing his own many misdemeanours.

Just as Rebus looks like he might be about to pay for his own 'crimes', Rankin throws him a lifeline which forces him into a difficult choice. Does Rebus stay faithful to the pledge he made to the Saints many years ago or does he sacrifice friendship in order to feed the only need he ever really loved?

Few alternative heroes have created the sort of passion from his faithful audience as Rebus, and Rankin has once again come up a winning formula to tap into this country's love of crime writing.

(Review by Roddy Brooks)


New fiction

How To Fall In Love by Cecelia Ahern is published in hardback by HarperCollins, priced £16.99 (ebook £6.65). Available November 7.

For the second time, Christine Rose is put in a life or death position. But this time it's not her own life that's on the line.

Obsessed with self-help books, one night she heads out looking for her 'happy place'. There, she comes across a man planning to kill himself. Try as she might to turn his decision around, he shoots himself in front of her. Although he survives, it affects her life tremendously - so much so, her marriage breaks down.

A few weeks later, walking down the Ha'penny Bridge in Dublin, she sees a man, Adam, stood on the railings, poised and ready to jump. Realising she can't let this happen again, she is determined for him to get down and achieves this by making him a promise. He has two weeks left before his 35th birthday. Before that day, she has to convince him that life is still worth living. The two embark on wild adventures, and Adam starts to fall back in love with life... or is he just falling in love with Christine?

This novel is acclaimed author Cecelia Ahern at her best. Like her past work, you fall in love with the characters, laugh, cry, appreciate what you have and are captivated by the world she portrays, leaving you craving more of the Ahern magic.

Another fantastic read- this could well be her most successful work to date, and also follow in the footsteps of PS I Love You to the big screen.

9/10

(Review by Emily Pawson)


Jeeves And The Wedding Bells by Sebastian Faulks is published in hardback by Hutchinson, priced £16.99 (ebook £9.20). Available November 7.

The first point to note about this uproarious novel is that Faulks stresses this is a 'homage' to P.G. Wodehouse.

Indeed, throughout, Wodehouse's much-loved Bertie Wooster takes new readers in hand, explaining the background behind mad aunts and old friends. The result is a novel that works both as an introduction to the farcical world of Wooster and his devoted Jeeves, and a welcome revisit for the hordes of faithful fans.

This particular romp opens with Jeeves ensconced in the guest rooms of Sir Henry Hackwood's estate, while Bertie sleeps in the uncomfortable servant's quarters. The reason is, of course, woman-related. Bertie met charming Georgiana (charge of Sir Henry) on the Cote d'Azur, who happens to be cousin to his old friend Woody Beeching's ex-fiance.

Jeeves and Woosters's mission is to reunite the unhappy couple: and despite cases of mistaken identity, disastrous cricket matches and chases over rooftops, this charming and witty plot unfolds into a hilarious story.

9/10

(Review by Emma Herdman)


Butterflies In November by Audur Ava Olafsdottir is published in paperback by Pushkin Press, priced £12.99 (ebook £5.75). Available November 7.

A soon-to-be divorced woman taking a small boy, whose only parent is in hospital, on a road trip to the darkest part of the Icelandic winter - it is certainly a bleak premise for a book.

But there's nothing depressing about this uplifting, funny tale of a woman who, dumped by her husband and her lover on the same day, manages to balance her universe by also winning the lottery twice.

All set to head off into the sunset and start her life afresh, she has a drastic change of plan when her pregnant friend is admitted to hospital, leaving her deaf four-year-old son in the narrator's care.

Despite thinking she dislikes children, she ends up forming a close bond with the boy as they head off on a strange journey to the east of Iceland in search of permanent night, accosted by the woman's exes along the way.

As their journey continues, we learn more about the woman's past and what led up to the disastrous day the book opens on. There is also plenty of entertainment from the characters she meets, making Butterflies In November an addictive read.

8/10

(Review by Katie Archer)


Someone by Alice McDermott is published in hardback by Bloomsbury Circus, priced £16.99 (ebook £10.04). Available November 7.

Seven years since Alice McDermott wrote her last novel, After This, the writer returns with Someone.

It is testament to the author's talent that the novel, in which not all that much happens, is near impossible to put down.

The book, set in Brooklyn, follows the life of Marie, a short-sighted young girl. We first meet her in the 1920s when she is a youth sitting on the steps of her house, observing the assortment of characters that make up her neighbourhood, while waiting for her beloved father to come home. Marie's Irish-American mother is a devout Catholic and her brother, set to enter the clergy, is the apple of her eye. Meanwhile Marie has a special bond with her father.

From Marie's childhood we progress through her life, via lost love, death, jobs, child birth and mental illness.

Her life is interesting, but not beyond the realms of normality. In the same way, she is a bold and funny character, but not a hero.

It might not sound like the perfect ingredients for a book, but this beautiful, non-sensationalist portrait of someone's life is one that will stay with you for a long time.

8/10

(Review by Sophie Herdman)


The New Countess by Fay Weldon is published in hardback by Head Of Zeus, priced £14.99 (ebook £5.99). Available November 7.

The New Countess is the final instalment in Fay Weldon's 'Love & Inheritance' trilogy, which follows the trials and tribulations of the Edwardian aristocratic Dilbernes household.

Everyone, upstairs and downstairs, is preoccupied with the impending visit of King Edward VII and his mistress for a shooting weekend. While making extensive preparations, and even renovations, for the royal visit, the family also has to contend with a wayward daughter, the publication of a scandalous book and rumours of adultery.

The plot is engaging enough to make this lightweight novel easily readable, but because many of the characters aren't developed to the extent they could be, it's not a story you ever feel truly immersed in.

The incorporation of historical figures into the action is entertaining though - particularly an incident at the shooting party resembling a real-life scandal concerning the King.

6/10

(Review by Stephanie Murray)


As Serious As Death by Quintin Jardine is published in hardback by Headline, priced £19.99 (ebook £7.49). Available November 7.

Former media consultant, and now the hardest working Scottish crime thriller novelist, Quintin Jardine has published more than 30 books, and created unforgettable characters. His fifth book in his Primavera Blackstone series, As Serious As Death, doesn't fail to disappoint.

Primavera Blackstone is the widow of one of Quintin's creations, Oz Blackstone, and is just as feisty and determined as her late husband. Now a single mother, she's fought hard for her freedom and happiness, and lives with her son Tom on the Spanish coastline.

However, her happiness is short-lived as a blast from the past, former detective Ricky Ross, turns up on her doorstep asking for her help. He works for the millionaire, budget airline magnate, Jack Weighley, who is paying Ross to find out who's behind attacks on his planes. Blackstone begrudgingly accepts the offer of work, but soon regrets her decision.

When Ross nearly loses his life in a car-bomb attack, Blackstone begins to wonder if the attacks on the planes are more than just the actions of an immature prankster.

The more she digs, the more she uncovers links to Catalan extremists, and her hope of a normal life for her son, and herself, quickly begin to diminish.

This is a great thriller. If you love the gritty novels by fellow Scot Ian Rankin, you'll really enjoy these. It's fast-paced, and straight to the point. There's no messing around with Jardine. A must-read for thrill-seekers over Christmas.

8/10

(Review by Emma Wilson)


Non fiction

Love, Nina: Despatches From Family Life by Nina Stibbe is published in hardback by Viking, priced £12.99 (ebook £7.99). Available November 7.

Love, Nina is an achingly-charming memoir written by Nina Stibbe when she left Leicester 30 years ago, to start life as a nanny in London.

Finding herself in a bizarre world working for Mary-Kay Wilmers, the editor of the London Review of Books, 20-year-old Nina writes to her sister Vic about day-to-day domestic life in a series of candid and extremely funny letters.

Largely written in the form of a play script, the letters feature revealing round-the-table conversations from this unlikely family unit: there's German swear words, dodgy pavements and neighbours' bottoms, as well as dinnertime appearances from the likes of playwright Alan Bennett and Wilmers's other 'brainbox' friends - whose reputations are totally lost on Nina.

But the highlight of the book is Will and Sam, Wilmers's 10 and 8-year-old sons, whose script-perfect conversations are relayed by Stibbe with a sharpness and wit you couldn't make up.

A brilliant, refreshing first novel, which will leave you craving for a return to the lost age of letter-writing. A must-read.

10/10

(Review by Stephanie Cockroft)


Kill or Cure: An Illustrated History of Medicine by Steve Parker is published in hardback by Dorling Kindersley, priced £19.99 (ebook £6.99). Available now.

This book, packed full of fascinating information, illustrations and photographs, begins right back in pre-historic times, examining early techniques for dealing with illness, and looking at beliefs and traditions from across the world.

Parker then goes on to examine the rise of scientific medicine as the subject moved away from religion and a more empirical methodology was adopted. Modern approaches are then considered, including the rise of antibiotics and immunisation, modern-day diseases such as cancer and HIV/AIDS, and the success of techniques including IVF, before the question is raised about what the future might hold for medicine.

Set out in small, easy to digest sections, this is a fascinating insight into a subject relevant to all of us, and an excellent introduction for anyone who wants to take their first steps into this fascinating area of history. Covering a multitude of historical figures, ground-breaking discoveries and techniques for combating disease this is a fascinating and, at times, gruesome read.

8/10

(Review by Rachael Dunn)


Leningrad - Siege and Symphony by Brian Moynahan is published by Quercus Books, priced £25 (ebook £11.15). Available November 7.

The terrible 900-day siege of Leningrad - now St Petersburg - during the Second World War, and the famous symphony that came to represent its suffering, are the theme of this gripping book.

Award-winning journalist and historical author Brian Moynahan describes in grim detail the horrors inflicted on Russia's second-largest city by Nazi forces.

It was subjected to periodic bombing and shelling and hardly any food could be brought in. Hunger became so acute that anything edible - even glue from the bindings of books - was consumed and some people resorted to cannibalism. At least 600,000 died.

Leading Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich and his family experienced part of the siege but were later evacuated. His Seventh Symphony, which he dedicated to Leningrad, was performed there during the siege and in capital cities around the world in 1942. It became a symbol of the city's crucifixion.

Moynahan also describes the senseless persecution and murder of many innocent Russians by their paranoid dictator Joseph Stalin and his underlings, even in St Petersburg, during the war.

Few cities at that time had so much misery and terror to cope with.

8/10

(Review by Anthony Looch)


Note to editors: Embargoed to 00:01 Thursday November 7

Sculptor's Daughter: A Childhood Memoir by Tove Jansson is published in hardback by Sort of Books, priced £9.99 (ebook £4.91). Available November 7.

Do not be fooled by the title, marking this out as a kind of autobiography of Jansson, the creator of the magical Moomin tales. Because while on one level, it does indeed tell tales about growing up in Helsinki within an artistic home, it is almost something stranger than fiction.

Jansson's first book for adults, reprinted here for the first time in four decades, weaves reality with fiction, creating short stories from the buds of her memory. The language may be childlike but it is masterful, and speaks of the world of imagination Jansson inhabited.

We are given small vignettes of the household of an artist mother and sculptor father, all from a child's eye view. There are tales of parties, pets, and dressing up. Nature is also brought to the fore, with the landscape of snow and ice an integral part of Jansson's stories as she makes her way through childhood. However, there is also a certain darkness within, with war lurking in the background of many of the stories.

She may have died in 2001, but Jansson's work surely lives on here in this astounding collection.

8/10

(Review by Lauren Turner)


Children's book of the week

The Slightly Annoying Elephant by David Walliams and illustrated by Tony Ross is published in hardback by HarperCollins Children's Books, priced £12.99 (ebook £3.99). Available November 7

Many celebs, from Madonna to Ringo Starr, have tried their hand at writing books for kids.

But David Walliams, actor and comedian of Little Britain fame, has more than had a go. With his six novels, he has become a highly successful writer for children, selling over 2.4 millions books in the UK.

His latest, The Slightly Annoying Elephant, is his first picture book and sees him teaming up once again with illustrator Tony Ross.

It tells the story of a young boy, Sam, who agrees to adopt an elephant while on a trip to the zoo. But what Sam doesn't realise when he signs on the dotted line is that this is not your average animal adoption - he has in fact agreed to let the slightly annoying elephant live with him.

The huge beast eats vast amounts, snores loudly, breaks brand new bicycles and even invites his friends around to stay, while a frantic Sam runs around trying to care for his visitor.

This hilarious and beautifully illustrated book is bound to have you and your little ones in stitches.

9/10

(Review by Sophie Herdman)


Best-sellers for the week ending November 3

Hardbacks

1 Alex Ferguson: My Autobiography, Alex Ferguson

2 Demon Dentist, David Walliams

3 Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, Helen Fielding

4 David Jason: My Life, David Jason

5 Guinness World Records 2014

6 Revenge, Martina ColeAllegiant: Divergent Trilogy, Veronica Roth

7 Always Managing, Harry Redknapp

8 Extra Special Treats ( ... Not) (Tom Gates), Liz Pichon

9 The House of Hades: Heroes of Olympus, Rick Riordan

10 The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

(Compiled by Waterstones)


Paperbacks

1 Autobiography, Morrissey

2 And the Mountains Echoed, Khaled Hosseini

3 The Fault In Our Stars, John Green

4 The Little Coffee Book of Kabul, Deborah Rodriguez

5 Dear Life, Alice Munroe

6 A Possible Life, Sebastian Faulks

7 Gangsta Granny, David Walliams

8 The Casual Vacancy, J.K Rowling

9 Grimm Tales: For Young and Old, Philip Pullman

10 Wreck This Journal:To Create is to Destroy, Now with Even More Ways To Wreck, Keri Smith

(Compiled by Waterstones)


Ebooks

1. Tangled Lives, Hilary Boyd

2. Broken Angels, Graham Masterton

3. If You Were Here, Alafair Burke

4. Take A Look At Me Now, Miranda Dickinson

5. Killing Hope, Keith Houghton

6. The Husband's Secret, Liane Moriarty

7. Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn

8. Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, Helen Fielding

9. The Last Letter from Your Lover, Jojo Moyes

10. My Sister's Keeper, Bill Benners

(Compiled by the Kindle store at Amazon.co.uk)