I’ve
loved Bridget Collins as an author since I read her debut YA book, The
Traitor Game. Then came the great success of her first adult novel, The
Binding, which made her a household name.
All her books show the same
unbeatable knack for writing complicated, intense, and fully immersive
relationships, and this book is no different.
It’s part dark
academia, part twisted love story/rivalry, part exploration of the rise of
fascism – all written with the author’s usual spellbinding prose and ability to
conjure atmosphere, set in a world that’s a distorted mirror of our own.
As
with all her books, it lingered in my mind long after I’d read the final page.
'BEAUTIFUL' JOANNA CANNON
'MESMERISING' ERIN KELLY
'TOTALLY ADDICTIVE' JOANNA GLEN
'SUMPTUOUS' OBSERVER
'DIZZYINGLY WONDERFUL' THE TIMES
WINNING WAS EVERYTHING...
UNTIL IT DESTROYED THEM
Two young men, Leo and Carfax, close friends and fierce rivals. A family ripped apart by madness and tragedy. One woman, her life built upon a lie, with a mysterious connection to them all...
'INGENIOUS' GUARDIAN
'A STORYTELLER OF RARE IMAGINATION' MAIL ON SUNDAY
'BRILLIANT' WOMAN & HOME
'A RICH DELIGHT' SANDRA NEWMAN
'CAPTIVATING' DAILY MIRROR
'AN IMMERSIVE, IMAGINATIVE SLICE OF STORYTELLING' DAILY EXPRESS
'MAGICAL' IRISH INDEPENDENT
Like
all three of my favorites for 2023, Babel belongs loosely in the category of
dark academia, given that it’s largely set in an alternative historical version
of Oxford University. Yet it’s much more than that.
It’s a fascinating
exploration of language, a study of the art of translation and what may be lost
or gained by carrying it out, and – above all else – a passionate
deconstruction of, and defense against, colonialism and racism.
If you’re
interested in words and ideas and the limits of both in effecting real change
in the world, you’ll enjoy this book. Although all that may sound daunting,
it’s also a smooth, gripping, and fast read.
The It Girl is set
at Oxford University. The
story alternates between two timelines: the past, showing Hannah’s studies at
Oxford, culminating in the murder of her best friend and roommate; and the present,
in which Hannah starts to wonder if the wrong person was convicted of the
crime.
Each timeline has its own unique feel – hedonistic and edged with
darkness, versus anxious and full of doubt – making it easy to keep the two
strands distinct in your mind as you race towards the clever final denouement.
I’d recommend any of Ruth Ware’s beautifully written page-turners, but this one
would be a great place to start.
*** PRE-ORDER RUTH WARE'S THRILLING NEW NOVEL, ZERO DAYS, COMING IN PAPERBACK SPRING 2024 ***
THE RICHARD & JUDY PICK
'Deliciously dark and utterly addictive - my favourite Ruth Ware yet' LUCY FOLEY
Everyone wanted her life Someone wanted her dead
It was Hannah who found April's body ten years ago. It was Hannah who didn't question what she saw that day. Did her testimony put an innocent man in prison?
She needs to know the truth.
Even if it means questioning her own friends. Even if it means putting her own life at risk.
Ever since she can remember, Alyssia has
experienced unsettling visions: flashes of four other people’s dark and
difficult lives in a world that’s not her own.
She’s always believed them to be
her brain’s way of filling the void left by the accident that killed her
parents and took her memories. That’s why she tries very hard not to think of
these imaginary people as friends.
Yet when she wakes up inside one of her own
visions, it becomes clear that she was seeing the truth all along. Now, she’s
no longer just an observer. Now, she has the chance to change things.
My daughter
loves the Scarlet and Ivy books and has been reading her way
through them all year. They are mysteries set in a sinister boarding
school. She says she likes them because the story is exciting, and it makes
you want to keep reading it.
She even dressed up as Ivy for World Book Day
this year!
The first unputdownable mystery in the thrilling and bestselling SCARLET AND IVY series, perfect for fans of MURDER MOST UNLADYLIKE, SINCLAIR'S MYSTERIES and THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL.
This is the story of how I became my sister...
When troublesome Scarlet mysteriously disappears from Rookwood School, terrifying Miss Fox invites her quiet twin sister Ivy to 'take her place'.
Ivy reluctantly agrees in the hope of finding out what happened to her missing sister. Only at Rookwood will Ivy be able to unlock the secrets of Scarlet's disappearance, through a scattered trail of diary pages carefully hidden all over…
My son
bought the first three Morrigan Crow books as a set this year and
read them in quick succession. He loves the characters, especially
Jupiter North and Fenestra, and the overarching plot that continues across
the series. He’s really looking forward to the fourth book.
I can also
add my own recommendation – he was so enthusiastic that I read them, too,
and thoroughly enjoyed them. It's an exciting story and very funny in places.
A breathtaking, enchanting new series by debut author Jessica Townsend, about a cursed girl who escapes death and finds herself in a magical world--but is then tested beyond her wildest imagination.
Morrigan Crow is cursed. Having been born on Eventide, the unluckiest day for any child to be born, she's blamed for all local misfortunes, from hailstorms to heart attacks--and, worst of all, the curse means that Morrigan is doomed to die at midnight on her eleventh birthday.
But as Morrigan awaits her fate, a strange and remarkable man named Jupiter North appears. Chased by black-smoke hounds and shadowy hunters…
