A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge

Rating: 4/5 stars Blurb: When a creature dies, its spirit can go looking for somewhere to hide. Some people have space inside them, perfect for hiding. Makepeace, a courageous girl with a mysterious past, defends herself nightly from the ghosts which try to possess her. Then a dreadful event causes her to drop her guard […]

Half Done

You insist on doing the button of your polo shirt yourself. It takes long seconds and I am impatient. Come on, I have to get to work. Wait, Mummy, wait. I bundle you out the door, the button half done. A quick kiss at the school gates. Mummy loves you. The train station is heaving […]

Preppers

‘People are gonna want what we have. It’s inevitable. Look at this here water, no one else will have a supply of clean water like this.’ The water looks dirty to me, but Grandpa keeps digging, huffing and puffing. ‘But Johnny Peters whispered the word “prepper” to Maggie Griggs and I didn’t like that. I […]

Seance

There are twelve of us sat around table which dominates the small wood-panelled room. It is covered in a thick red velvet cloth. Heavy curtains block the watery twilight. At the centre, a huge crystal bowl holds our belongings – a watch, a wedding band, a pendant … Why is it always jewellery? ‘Hold hands.’ […]

The Songs of Us by Emma Cooper

Rating 5/5 Release date: Ebook: 31st May 2018 Paperback: 20th September 2018 Blurb: If Melody hadn’t run out of de-icer that day, she would never have slipped and banged her head. She wouldn’t be left with a condition that makes her sing when she’s nervous. And she definitely wouldn’t have belted out the Arctic Monkeys’ […]

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Rating: 5/5 Blurb: Eleanor Oliphant has learned how to survive – but not how to live Eleanor Oliphant leads a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal deal for lunch every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend. Eleanor Oliphant is […]

Hindsight is a Wonderful Thing

The eyes are windows to the soul – that’s what Mum always said. I should have listened. Your violet irises flashed, beckoned me closer, swept me up in endless nights. But in time those come-to-bed eyes proved what they really were – a distraction – a decorative facade fronting nothing but empty rooms. I should […]

First Date

‘What does it mean?’ ‘It means that if you go round that corner you’re gonna die.’ ‘Don’t be crazy.’ ‘It’s called Witches Lane. See that mountain? See the pointy top? That’s Witch Hat Mountain. The legend goes that if you turn the corner your flesh melts from your bones and you’re thrown into a bottomless […]

The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell

Rating: 5/5 Blurb: Newly married, newly widowed Elsie is sent to see out her pregnancy at her late husband’s crumbling country estate, The Bridge. With her new servants resentful and the local villagers actively hostile, Elsie only has her husband’s awkward cousin for company. Or so she thinks. For inside her new home lies a […]

Serendipity

There was just enough room for them both at the end of the jetty. The boy had popped into existence, occupying the space beside her. She hadn’t realised how empty it was until he was there, filling it all up. It was almost enough to make her forget that her feet were submerged in the […]