Review: The Rabbits, by A.A. Milne

Publication date November 2023
Price £9.99
ISBN-13 978178842459

Description
The adventures of a group of friends, pre-war, with far too much time on their hands. The Rabbits, as they call themselves, are Archie Mannering, his
sister Myra, Samuel Simpson, Thomas of the Admiralty, Dahlia Blair and the narrator, with occasional guests. Their conversation is almost entirely frivolous, their activity vacillates between immensely energetic and happily lazy, and their social mores are surprisingly progressive.

Originally published as sketches in Punch, the Rabbits’ escapades are a charming portrait of middle-class antics on the brink of being shattered by World War I, and fail entirely to take themselves seriously.

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Review: Girl Unmasked, by Emily Katy

Publication date Thursday, March
28, 2024
Price £18.99
EAN\ISBN-13 9781800961395
Hardback
288 pages

Description

To the outside world, Emily looks like a typical girl, with a normal family, living an ordinary life. But inside, Emily does not feel typical, and the older she gets, the more she realises that she is different.
As she finally discovers when she is 16, Emily is autistic. Girl Unmasked is the extraordinary story of how she got there – and how she very nearly didn’t.

Still only 21, Emily writes with startling candour about the years leading up to her diagnosis. How books and imagination became her refuge as she sought to escape the increasing anxiety and unbearable stresses of school life; how her OCD almost destroyed her; how a system which did not understand autism let her down; and how she came so close to the edge that she and her family thought she would never survive.

In this simple but powerful memoir, we see how family and friends became her lifeline and how, post-diagnosis, Emily came to understand her authentic self and begin to turn her life around, eventually becoming a mental health nurse with a desire to help others where she herself had once been failed.

Ultimately uplifting, Girl Unmasked is a remarkable insight into what it can be like to be autistic – and shows us that through understanding and embracing difference we can all find ways to thrive.

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Review: Captain Vlad and the Mary Rose, by Kate and Sam Cunningham

Formats available: Paperback
First published: 01/04/24
Series: A Flea in History
ISBN: 9780993338237

Description

King Henry VIII’s favourite ship, the Mary Rose, is sailing to Portsmouth to stop a French invasion. This should be the easy part of the journey, but for Captain Vlad flea and his crew of rats, the humans and their pets create dangers on every deck.

Join Vlad and Roxton rat as they work out how to avoid Hatch the dog and the Captain Carew’s hawk.

This book has been written and illustrated using the artefacts, research and knowledge of the experts of the Mary Rose Trust. It is a fun way to find out about Tudor ships and what it was like to live on board one of Henry’s fleet.

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Review: Kitchen Sanctuary Quick & Easy, by Nicky Corbishley

Publication date Thursday,
February 29, 2024
Price £22.00
EAN\ISBN-13 9781804191002

Description

Making dinner from scratch can feel like a chore – often half the battle is trying to find something that’s quick, nutritious and, most importantly, delicious. But delicious doesn’t have to mean demanding.

After their debut book, Sunday Times bestseller It’s All About Dinner, Kitchen Sanctuary is back – this time focusing on quick and easy meals, all made in 30 minutes or less!

With chapters such as Champion Chicken; Moreish Meat; Fantastic Fish; Vitally Veggie; Perfect Pasta; Rice, Noodles, Grains and Bread; Snack Suppers; Super Sauces – as well as a section dedicated to Smart Shortcuts containing Nicky’s top tips for speeding up dinner – you’ll be able to whip up a range of fabulous meals for the whole family, every day of the week, no matter how little time you have.

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Review: Slum Boy – A Portrait, by Juano Diaz

Publication date Thursday,
February 29, 2024
Price £20.00
EAN\ISBN-13 9781914240829

Description
“This is a heart-breaking story, beautifully told. I hope it finds a million
readers”. – Andrew O’Hagan

John MacDonald must find his mother.

Born into the slums of Glasgow in the late ’70s, a 4-year-old John’s life is filled with the debris of alcoholism and poverty. Soon after witnessing a drowning, his mother’s addictions take over their lives, leaving him starving in their flat, awaiting her return.

A concerned neighbour reports her, and he is forcibly taken away from his mother and placed into the care system. There, he dreams of being reunited with her. His mind is consumed with images and memories he can’t process or understand, which his eventual adoptive parents silence out of fear as he grows into a young man within a strict Catholic and Romany Gypsy community.

This memoir is about how John found his way to his true identity, Juano Diaz, and how, against all odds, his unstoppable love for his mother sets him free.

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Review: Gaia’s Revenge, by J.A. Browne

Description

The epic environmental coming of age fantasy continues. An ideal series for YA and MG readers who love fantasy, the magic of nature and want a stellar female cast of characters.

After one of the bloodline Elementals is snatched, Hannah and her guardian – a magical silverback fox called Alpha – must journey into the unknown to save a future still under threat.

But is it a trap?

As old enemies emerge and darkness spreads across the worlds, Hannah discovers that her own mother has mysteriously gone missing. With Gaia, the Mother of all Nature, hellbent on seeking revenge against those that are trying to destroy her, Hannah realises she’s running out of time and that to save the future, might just mean the mother of all sacrifices.

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