The bookcase

 

Book of the week

The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan is published in hardback by Fourth Estate, priced £18.99 (ebook £9.49). Available now.

Chinese/American author Amy Tan is known for stories about characters caught between two cultures, most notably mothers and daughters.

In The Valley of Amazement, her sixth novel, she tackles themes that will be familiar to her fans; however with a vastly different proposition to her previous books.

For a start, on pretty much every other page, there is the sex, an exhausting amount of it, in all possible varieties, from tender and sad, to downright alarming. To be fair, her choice of setting pretty much makes this mandatory, given that we are in the secret milieu of Shanghai concubine houses in the 1920s.

The novel follows the life of Violet, the daughter of a successful madam. She later discovers that she is mixed race and her bi-racial heritage proves a tumultuous impact on her future.

As usual Tan displays a rare talent for exploring complex female bonds, not just through Violet's relationship with a mother but also with the delightfully named Magic Gourd, her confidante, maid and surrogate mother for much of the book.

The story takes an unexpected jolt back in time three-quarters of the way through when she tells us the story of Violet's mother and how she came to China as a white woman with a mixed race child, at a time when such events meant being ostracised from polite society.

This is an ambitious book based on fascinating research, but for all the sexual gymnastics, it lacks the intimacy of Tan's previous novels. Missing, too, is her wonderful, caustic humour, a commodity sorely needed at certain points of this 589-page journey.

8/10

(Review by Anita Chaudhuri)

New fiction

The Shadow of the Crescent Moon by Fatima Bhutto is published in hardback by Viking, priced £14.99 (ebook £8.99). Available November 28.

Set in a small town in Pakistan's tribal regions, close to the Afghan border, The Shadow of the Crescent Moon follows three brothers over the course of one morning.

After meeting for breakfast Aman Erum, who has recently returned from studying in the US, takes a taxi to a local mosque. Sikandar, a doctor struggling to cope with his grief-stricken wife's increasingly strange behaviour, heads to the hospital where he works. Hayat, the youngest and an idealist, meets up with Samarra, a fragile young woman whose life and thoughts are overwhelmed by the war that has enveloped them. Three hours later, their day will end in devastating circumstances.

This is a fast-paced story of love and loss, betrayal and conflict and hope and helplessness. Bhutto deftly explores how living against a backdrop or war forces people to make terrible choices.

This is a thought-provoking tale of ordinary people caught up in turbulent and extraordinary times.

7/10

(Review by Catherine Small)

Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich is published in hardback by Headline, priced £18.99 (ebook £9.73). Available now.

Stephanie Plum is probably the world's worst bounty hunter. Well, the worst in Trenton, New Jersey, anyway. But that doesn't seem to put off her gentleman admirers, and while she has to decide between her long-time boyfriend with the mob family and her guardian angel, Plum also agonises over a job which sends her to the emergency room with alarming regularity.

As Plum tries to capture a mob boss and a gang member she does her best to avoid injury with disarming humour, while at the same time trying to snap on the handcuffs. There are the murders of several pensioners for Miss Plum to solve along the way as well.

Janet Evanovich has already taken Plum to the top of the New York Times bestseller charts over the course of her last twenty novels, hence the title of this latest surefire winner.

8/10

(Review by Roddy Brooks)

The Gods of Guilt by Michael Connelly is published in hardback by Orion, priced £18.99 (ebook £7.49). Available now.

Straight-talking defence lawyer Mickey Haller has plenty in common with Raymond Chandler's cynical private eye Philip Marlowe. That's no surprise, as author Michael Connelly says reading Chandler when he was a boy sparked his desire to write crime fiction.

This is the fifth novel featuring Haller, who works out of the back of his chauffeur-driven car and has a soft spot for anyone down on their luck.

The style of writing is relaxed but that belies the attention to detail in portraying the seedier side of Los Angeles, something which clearly draws on the years Connelly spent as a crime reporter in the city.

The action kicks off when our hero's office messages him about a murder case. But when he learns the victim is a former client he rescued from prostitution, it becomes personal, particularly when he ends up representing the man accused of killing her.

Despite his cool exterior, a troubled relationship with his teenage daughter and conscience about the dubious tactics he employs creates an interesting conflict.

Fast-paced and sassy, Gods of Guilt has enough real-life detail and plot twists to make it a must for anyone who loves crime thrillers.

8/10

(Review by Gill Oliver)

Books by Charlie Hill is published in trade paperback by Tindal Street Press, priced £6.99 (ebook £3.39). Available now.

Sometimes a book can keep you entertained from cover to cover, and sometimes it can leave you struggling to turn a page. In Charlie Hill's new novel, Books, it's a clever bit of both.

Finally setting off on his annual holiday to Corfu, bookstore owner, wannabe author and borderline alcoholic Richard Anger is looking forward to escaping his everyday life and relaxing. But he is surprised to arrive there and be drawn into a mystery with neurologist Lauren Furrows, a mystery involving an increasing body count with links to books all by the same author, Gary Sayles. Because Sayles has a gift for writing, but those who have read his books haven't lived to tell the tale. The problem is, they literally bore you to death, so Richard and Lauren join forces to break peoples reading habits and save lives.

An entertaining read with a unique plot twist helping keep this tale a page turner - in a non-deadly way.

7/10

(Review by Phillip Robinson)

The Harper Connelly Omnibus by Charlaine Harris is published in hardback by Gollancz, priced £20. Available now.

The bestseller's four witty Harper Connelly mysteries are brought together in this special edition.

Harper Connelly has a unique talent. Ever since she was struck by lightning at 15, she can locate the dead - even experience their final moments before death. Now, at 24, Harper helps families and authorities across America look for missing loved ones.

In Grave Sight, Harper helps a wealthy woman prove her deceased son did not kill his girlfriend - but discovers that the small-town inhabitants are not what they seem. In Harper's next case, in Grave Surprise, she becomes embroiled in a family intrigue when she is reacquainted with a couple she helped two years previously.

The success rate of finding the dead sees Harper, in An Ice Cold Grave, become entangled in a disturbing case of missing teenage boys. Finally, in Grave Secret, Harper heads back to her hometown - but is soon the target of those wishing to keep their secrets secret.

The stories are engaging puzzles that keep you constantly guessing whodunit.

8/10

(Review by Julie Cheng)

Dust by Patricia Cornwell is published in hardback by Little, Brown, priced £18.99 (ebook £7.69). Available now.

Queen of crime Patricia Cornwell returns with her 21st novel, featuring Massachusetts-based Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta.

After working on the real-life shooting tragedy of Newtown, Connecticut, and recovering from flu, Scarpetta is drawn back to work when her former colleague Pete Marino, now an officer with the Cambridge police force, calls her for assistance after a dead body is discovered on the campus grounds of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The body, which has been posed, draped with a cloth and covered in a fine fluorescent dust, is identified as Gail Shipton, who has disturbing links with Scarpetta's computer genius niece Lucy Farinelli.

As Scarpetta - with the help of her FBI husband Benton Wesley, Marino and Farinelli - gets deeper into the investigation, she uncovers a dark world of designer drugs, drone technology, organised crime and high-level corruption.

Like other Scarpetta books, Dust is mostly told through her thoughts and internal monologues rather than letting the action and the plot reveal itself, which can be somewhat frustrating for the reader.

While Cornwell's attention to forensic detail and the crime scenes cannot be faulted, those who prefer crime writers such as Jeffrey Deaver, Tess Gerritsen and Lisa Gardner may prefer to seek their thrills elsewhere.

Rating: 7/10

(Review by Shereen Low)

Non fiction

The Seasons: An Elegy for the Passing of the Year by Nick Groom is published in hardback by Atlantic Books, priced £22 (ebook £11.76). Available now.

The changing seasons and their rhythms and rituals have traditionally marked the passing year. But do they still have any meaning or relevance in our increasingly urbanised and computerised lives?

Nick Groom believes they do. In this treasure trove of ancient folklore, he explains how the years and months have come to be measured and laments our changing relationship with the land and agriculture.

Each season is described month by month and celebrations such as Easter, May Day and Christmas are chronicled, as well as ancient festivals and fayres that have long since disappeared from our calendar.

Groom's book is an affectionate and erudite portrait of the seasons and the England of yesteryear. It's a fascinating and informative discourse, but in places reads more like a catalogue of literary references than a celebration of the passing year.

Only time will tell whether it proves to be the elegy it claims.

6/10

(Review by Catherine Small)

The Little Book Of Mindfulness: Focus, Slow Down, De-stress by Tiddy Rowan is published in hardback by Quadrille, priced £4.99. Available now.

Mindfulness is one of those concepts that seems to pop up everywhere. From magazine features to books, classes and even NHS therapy (Mindfulness Based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is often prescribed for those diagnosed with clinical depression), it is omnipresent.

The meditation-like practice is said to help people deal with stress, anxiety and depression, boost creativity and attention, and even improve your relationships. In fact, this simple technique is so powerful that big businesses like Google have started to use it.

But what exactly is it, how do you do it, and can it actually benefit you? This pocket-sized book attempts to answer those questions, and while it is in no way a comprehensive look at mindfulness, it is a great way to start. It begins with a quick synopsis of the practice, then goes on to describe many quick and simple mindful exercises, interspersed throughout with mindful tips and quotations from famous faces.

This beautiful book would make the perfect stocking-filler present.

8/10

(Review by Sophie Herdman)

The Mystery of Princess Louise: Queen Victoria's Rebellious Daughter by Lucinda Hawksley is published in hardback by Chatto and Windus, priced £25 (ebook £12.34). Available November 28.

This biography of Princess Louise - Queen Victoria's sixth child - explores in detail the sensational gossip that dogged her throughout her life, but fails to actually come up with conclusive evidence.

Author Lucinda Hawkesley, biographer and art historian, hit a brick wall in trying to uncover the truth, because the Royal Archives and the Princess's husband's family collection repeatedly refused to grant her access to their files on the princess. This certainly suggests a conspiracy of silence about a family skeleton in a locked cupboard somewhere.

Nevertheless, Hawkesley's entertaining and lengthy book gives a vivid insight into Victorian royal life and the repressions and sexual hypocrisies of those days.

Among other amatory misdemeanours, Louise (1848-1939) is alleged to have produced an illegitimate son who was put out for adoption, and to have had an affair with the sculptor Joseph Boehm, who died in the act of making love to her. In 1871 she married the Marquess of Lorne who was reputed to be gay. Although their childless union lasted until his death in 1914, the couple went their separate ways for much of the time.

Louise was a charming, artistic, unsnobbish and enlightened woman, who was tireless in helping the underprivileged and pressing for women's rights. Despite the gossip about her, she enjoyed great public affection throughout her life - and with this book, hopefully after her life too.

8/10

(Review by Anthony Looch)

Childrens' book of the week

The Lost Journals of Benjamin Tooth by Mackenzie Crook is published in hardback by Faber and Faber, priced £9.99 (ebook £5.69). Available now.

In this author's other children's book, The Windvale Sprites, schoolboy Asa Brown finds the journals of 18th century scientist Benjamin Tooth and follows directions in them to the home of the sprites, mysterious fairy-like creatures. Now, with The Lost Journals, you can read the scientist's words themselves!

They tell of Benjamin's sometimes funny journey to near immortality. With all his family dead - including, at last, his ancient great grandfather - and after making a fool of himself throughout his home town, he moves to the desolate Windvale Moor. There he makes the discovery of a lifetime... but will anyone believe him?

It is annoying that the book leaves several loose ends. What is the full story behind the creepy stranger Farley Cupstart who claims to be an acquaintance of Benjamin's great grandfather and who pesters Benjamin for an object linked to the sprites? Perhaps a future book will reveal all!

I like the way the author interlocks this book with his previous one. Besides being a successful actor, Mackenzie Crook is a clever and quick-witted author.

8/10

(Review by Ralph Ballard, aged 9)

Bestsellers for the week ending November 23

Hardbacks

1 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck, Jeff Kinney

2 Alex Ferguson: My Autobiography, Alex Ferguson

3 Raising Steam, Terry Pratchett

4 Guinness World Records 2014

5 Demon Dentist, David Walliams

6 Eat - The Little Book of Fast Food, Nigel Slater

7 Saints of the Shadow Bible, Ian Rankin

8 David Jason: My Life, David Jason

9 Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, Helen Fielding

10 Private Eye Annual 2013, Ian Hislop

(Compiled by Waterstones)

Paperbacks

1 And the Mountains Echoed, Khaled Hosseini

2 Autobiography, Morrissey

3 Philomena: The True Story of a Mother and the Son She Had to Give Away, Martin Sixsmith

4 The Little Coffee Book of Kabul, Deborah Rodriguez

5 A Possible Life, Sebastian Faulks

6 Gangsta Granny, David Walliams

7 Dear Life, Alice Munroe

8 The Snowman and the Snowdog

9 The Fault In Our Stars, John Green

10 A Week in Winter, Maeve Binchy

(Compiled by Waterstones)

Ebooks

1. Tangled Lives, Hilary Boyd

2. Broken Angels, Graham Masterton

3. The Husband's Secret, Liane Moriarty

4. Sleigh Bells in the Snow, Sarah Morgan

5. Take A Look At Me Now, Miranda Dickinson

6. Meet Me Under the Mistletoe, Abby Clements

7. Love & Inheritance, Fay Weldon

8. And the Mountains Echoed, Khaled Hosseini

9. What Doesn't Kill Her, Max Allan Collins

10. Christmas at the Beach Cafe, Lucy Diamond

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