books

Date

Title

Publisher

Author

Fiction/ Non-Fiction

Discussion

1. 02/2015

The Vanishi0ng Man

Chatto &Windus

Laura Cumming

Non-Fiction/Art

A captivating tale by The Observer’s art critic.

In 1845, a Reading bookseller, name John Snare came across the dirt-blackened portrait of a prince at a country house auction. Suspecting that it might be a long-lost Velazquez, he bought the picture and set out to discover its strange history. When Laura Cumming stumbled on a startling trial involving John Snare, it sent her on a search of her own. At first she was pursuing the picture and the life and work of the ellusive painter, but then she found herself following the bookseller’s fortunes too, from London to Edinburgh to New York, from fame to ruin and exile. An innovate fusion of detection and biographer this book shows how great works of art can affect us, even to the point of mania.

2. 02/2016

Always Hungry

Orion

David Ludwig

Non-Fiction/Health

The world’s expert on obesity on weight loss.

Conquer cravings, retrain your fat cells and lose weight permanently. Dr David Ludwig is Professor of Paediatrics at Harvard Medical School and a researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr Ludwig debunks the myth that loosing weight is simply a matter of eating less. He explains the science behind our epidemic of obesity and presents a detailed plan to help us conquer cravings.

3. 02/2016

But You Did Not Come Back

Faber & Faber

Marceline Loridan- Ivens

Non-Fiction/Jewish Interest

A runaway bestseller in France, this is the deeply moving and acclaimed memoir of a Holocaust survivor. Marceline was just 15 when she and her father were arrested and sent to concentration camps. He prepared her for the worst, telling her that he would not return. The three kilometres between her father in Auschwitz and herself in Birkenau were an insurmountable distance. Yet he managed to send her a small note via an electrician in the camp – a sign of life. In her memoir, Loridan-Ivens writes a letter to the father she never knew as an adult, whose death enveloped her whole life. Her testimony is a haunting and challenging reminder of one of the worst crimes humanity has ever seen and an affecting personal story of a woman whose life was shattered and never totally rebuilt.

4. 02/2016

Fever City

Faber & Faber

Tim Baker

Fiction/Thriller

Nick Alston, a LA private investigator, is hired to find the kidnapped son of America’s richest and most hated man. Hastings, a mob hitman in search of redemption is also on the trail. Both men soon become ensnared by a sinister cabal that spreads from the White House all the way to Dealey Plaza. Decades later in Dallas, Alston’s son stumbles across evidence from JFK conspiracy buffs that might just link his father to the shot heard around the world. A high-octane nightmare through a Mad Men era America full of corruption and conspiracy.

5. 02/2016

Palace of Treason

Michael Joseph

Jason Matthews

Fiction/Spy Thriller

CIA veteran Matthews confirms his position as the most exciting spy writer alive. Captain Dominika Egorova of the Russian Intelligence Service has returned to Moscow. She despises the men she serves, the oligarchs, crooks and thugs of Putin’s Russia. What no-one knows is that Dominika works for the CIA as Washington’s most sensitive penetration of the Kremlin. As she dodges exposure, Dominika faces a murderous psychotic boss, assassination attempts, counter-intelligence ambushes, and must rescue a compromised agent, When a mole in Moscow finds her name on a classified list of sources, it is a virtual death sentence. Writen by a CIA Operations Officer of 33 years, this book was vetted by the CIA. Spy thrillers don’t get any better.!

6. 02/2016

The Astonishing Return of Norah Wells

Sphere

Virginia Macgregor

Fiction

One ordinary morning Norah walked out of her house and never looked back. Six years later she returns home, only to find another woman in her place. Fay held Norah’s family together after she disappeared, shares a bed with Norah’s husband and Norah’s youngest dauhter calls Fay “Mummy”. With Norah’s return everyone has questions. As each family member tries to find answers, they must also face up to the most pressing question: what happens to the mother-who-stayed when the mother-who-left returns?

7. 02/2016

The Expatriates

Little Brown

Janice Y. K. Lee

Fiction

The Expatriates is a novel about overpowering grief set in an ex-pat community of Americans in Hong Kong. It is a novel about the transformative power of forgiveness and how finding oneself in a strange land can be the best way to find one’s true self. This is Little Brown’s lead launch of 2016. Perfect for bookclubs.

8. 02/2016

The Good Liar

Viking

Nicholas Searle

Fiction/Thriller

Roy is a conman living in a small English town about to pull his final con. He is going to meet and woo a beautiful woman and slip away with her life savings. But who is the man behind the con? A fiendishly clever plot with a cracker of a twist.

9. 02/2016

The Telomerase Revolution

Atlantic Books

Michael Fossel

Non-Fiction/Health

Read about cutting edge research to stop aging. This is the definitive work on the latest science of human aging, by the world’s foremost expert on the clinical use of telomerase, the enzyme that holds the key to human ageing.

02/2016

The Widow

Transworld

Fiona Barton

Fiction/Psychological Thriller

We have all seen him…the man, the monster, staring from the front page of every newspaper, accused of a terrible crime. But what about her, the woman who grips his arm on the courtroom stairs, the wife who stands by him. Jean Taylor’s life was blissfully ordinary. Glen, her husband, is all she ever wanted, her prince charming, until he became that man accused, the monster on the front page. Jean was married to a man everyone thought capable of unimaginable evil. But now Glen is dead and she is alone for the first time. Free to tell her story on her own terms.

This is The Gone Girl/ Girl in a Train of 2016. Has bestseller written all over.

10. 03/2016

13 Minutes

Goliancz

Sarah Pinborrough

Fiction/Fantasy

A stunning fresh story about life, friendship, bullying and death which will take your breath away.

Natasha is smart, attractive and surrounded by close friends. She seems happy. She is living a normal life right up until a dog walker finds her body in a river one morning and saves her life. Paramedics say she was dead for 13 minutes. Now the police would like to know why …. This is an exceptional thought provoking thriller from an award winning novelist. Brilliant characterisation and unflinching look at manipulation, relationships and death make this a compelling read.

11. 03/2016

Anatomy of a Soldier

Faber & Faber

Harry Parker

Fiction

Let’s imagine a man called Tom Barnes, who’s leading British troops in the war zone. And two boys growing up together, riding a prized bicycle and flying kite, before finding themselves estranged once Barnes and his soldiers appear in their countryside. Then include the family and friends who radiate out from their lives, people on all sides about to be caught up in the volence. Now imagine their stories are narrated by the objects around them. This is a stunning debut about patriotism, trauma and profound humanism that should become a classic about men at war and the repercussions at home.

12. 03/2016

Empire V

Goliancz

Victor Pelevine

Science Fiction

A controversial, smart and exceptional novel of politics and power by the leading Russian novelist of the new generation. Empire V is a postmodern, timely and satirical story about a young man who involuntarily joins a revolutionary cult. A stunning novel about the real world and about the hidden channels of power behind the scenes, Empire V explores the cults and corruption of politics banking and power.

13. 03/2016

Hunter Killer

Allen & Unwin

Lt. Col. T Mark NcCurly

Non-Fiction/Current Affairs

The first inside look at the US military’s remotely piloted aircraft programme, equal parts techno-thriller, historical account and war memoir. If you are interested in America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the superpowers ability to fight remote wars and the future of warfare, this is the book for you.

14. 03/2016

Raoul Wallenberg

MacLehose

Ingrid Carlberg

Biography/Jewish Interest

This is a book about a Righteous Gentile all Jews must read. The heroic life and mysterious diasppearance of the man who saved 1000’s of Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust. For this seminal biography Carlberg has carried out unprecedented research into all elements of Wallenberg’s life, narrating with vigour and insight the story of a hero, and navigating with wisdom and sensitivity the truth about his disappearance and death.

15. 03/2016

The Butcher’s Hook

Two Roads

Janet Ellis

Debut Fiction

In the mood for a dark tale? This is a dark and twisted debut set in 18^th century London. Georgian London, in the summer of 1763. At 19, Anne Jaccob is awakened to the possibilty of joy when she meets Fub, the butcher’s apprentice, and begins to imagine a life of passion with him. Unfortunately her parents have already chosen a more suitable husband for her than Fub. But Anne is a determined young woman, with an idiosyncratic moral compass In the matter of pursuing her happiness, she shows no fear or hesitation. Even if it means getting a little blood on her hands.

16. 03/2016

The Forgetting Time

Mantle

Sharon Guskin

Fiction

A dark, thought provoking book, perfect for bookclubs. Imagine your son keeps asking for his mother – but its not you he wants. Noah is four and wants to go home. The only trouble is he is already there. A novel that spans life, death and everything inbetween, The Forgetting Time tells an unforgetable story about Noah, about love and about the things we hang onto when we have nothing else.

17. 03/2016

The French Lesson

Transworld

Hallie Rubenhold

Historical Fiction

Who would not want to read this book of court intrigue set in revolutionary Paris?

Paris 1792. Henrietta: An Englishwoman alone amidst the French Revolution. Grace: Former mistress to the highest rulers in France. Agnes: The current mistress, who will stop at nothing to keep her place in the Palace. A deadly triangle of rivalry and power play. Who will win, who will lose and who will keep their head?

18. 03/2016

The Maker of Swans

W&N

Paraic O’Donnell

Debut Fiction

When I read about this book, I was hooked. If you loved The Night Circus, then get your hands on this title.

Can a girl with no voice answer the question: who are you? Clara lives in an old rambling house with Mr Crowe, a man of prodigious and mysterious gifts. He was once the toast of society, famed and celebrated in salons across the world. But his talents have waned and he has sunk into a life of debauchery. She also lives with Eustace, who is apparently housekeeper but whose true role is shrouded in mystery. Untethered by rules and schooling, Clara roams freely through the house and the grounds of the estate. She does not speak but communicates with scribbled notes. Their life together is thrown into jeopardy when Mr Crowe commits a crime and attracts the attention of a secret society whose interest is soon diverted from Mr Crow to Clara, who may possess even greater gifts than her guardian. She must confront the question of who she is and what she may be capable of, if she is to save the people she loves.

19. 03/2016

The Supernotes Affair

Canongate

Agent Kasper

Non-Fiction/Espionage

Based on a true story, this is the international bestseller about the secret agent who had to die. Agent Kasper is kidnapped in Cambodia whilst on a mission for the CIA to investigate counterfeit money schemes. He is supposed to disappear forever, because he has uncovered something so explosive that the intelligence agency wants him dead. When Kasper finds himself in the appalling squalor of Cambodia’s most notorious prison camp, the corrupt guards sent to execute him spot an opportunity – is Kasper worth more alive? A page-turning read about an innocent man’s determinaton to survive.

20. 03/2016

West of Eden

Jonathan Cape

Jean Stein

Non-Fiction/Hollywood

The inside story of Hollywood: money and corruption, drink and drugs, fame and terrible secrets. Jean Stein’s father, Jules, founded MCA and she grew up in the golden years of 1950s Hollywood. Judy Garland sang at her coming- out party, she had an affair with Wilaim Faulkner and was close to Andy Warhol. This book based on firsthand accounts and interviews of the major players is the story movie-lovers have been waiting for.

21. 03/2016

When Breath Becomes Air

Bodley Head

Paul Kalanithi

Non-Fiction

When I read about this book, I felt both heartbroken and a sense of upliftment. The sense of tragedy is great, and to read Kalanithi’s written words will be a powerful experience.

You are a young neurosurgeon. You have completed 11 years of training. You are devoted to your work and on the brink of a wonderful career. Then you are diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. One day you are a doctor making a living treating the dying, the next a patient dying, struggling to live. This is an unforgettable reflection on the practice of medicine and the relationship between doctor and patient, from a gifted writer who became both. Kalanithi died on March 9 2015.

22. 03/2016

Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist

Little Brown

Sunil Yapa

Debut Fiction

Welcome Sunil Yapa, a distinct and exciting new literary voice and his debut novel, one of the highly anticipated first novels of the year.

. 1999. Victor, homeless after a family tragedy, finds himself pounding the streets of Seattle with little meaning or purpose. He is the estanged son of the police-chief of the city, and today his father is in charge of one of the largest protests in the history of Western democracy. But in a matter of hours reality will become a nightmare. Hordes of protesters will test the patience of the city’s police force, and lives will be altered forever: two armed police oficers will struggle to keep calm amid the threat of violence; a protester with a murderous past will make an unforgivable mistake; and a delegate from Sri Lanka will do whatever it takes it attend a meeting that could dramatically change the fate of his country. In amongst the fray, Victor and his father are heading for a collision too.

23. 04/2016

An Affair with my Mother

Penguin Ireland

Caitriona Palmer

Non-Fiction

This is a human interest story that I am sure will have a wide readership.

Caitriona had a happy childhood in Dublin, raised by loving adopted parents. When she was in her late 20’s she established contact with her birth mother, Sarah, and they developed a close attatchment. But Sarah set one painful condition to this joyous relationship: she wished to keep Caitriona secret from her family and friends. An Affair with my Mother tells the story of the intense “affair” between mother and daughter, by turns heartwarming and heartbreaking.

24. 04/2016

Cyberpsyched

John Murray

Mary Aiken

Non-Fiction/Technology

We are all grappling with technolongy in our lives. Here are some wise words from a world expert.

There’s a new Wild West and we all live there. It’s called the internet. Mary Aiken is a world expert on what our ever-increasing reliance on screens, machines and the internet is doing to us – and our children. From Minecraft to Facebook, from Tindr to internet trolling, our world is rapidly changing and we need to understand it. Full of fascinating stories and eye-opening insights Cyberpsyched maps out new territory and explains its opportunities – and pitfalls. Everyone should read this book.

25. 04/2016

Dear World, How Are You?

Michael Joseph

Toby Little

Non-Fiction

The charming true story of an inquisitive little boy who decided to write to someone in every country in the world. Two years ago Toby asked his mom, “Can I write a letter to the world?” The summer project that followed turned into a two year challenge. Toby has now written to 193 countries and all 50 of the US states. This book is the touching and fascinating result.

26. 04/2016

Little Warrior

Faber & Faber

Giuseppe Catozella

Fiction

We all look for inspirational stories, which is what I found so enticing about this book.

A heartbreaking novel, inspired by a true story, about a Somali girl who risks everything to fulfil her dream of becming a champion runner.

27. 04/2016

One Child

Oneworld

Mei Fong

Non-Fiction/Current Affairs

The future has already begun. Trends that will be with us in 50 years time can be projected from what is around us. That is why I found this book so fascinating, it’s the future but it has begun already.

This is the story of China’s most radical experiment. 36 Years ago the controversial one-child policy was the making of modern China. No it could be its downfall. Combining personal portraits of families affected by the policy and a nuanced account of China’s descent towards economic and societal turmoil, award winning journalist, Mei Fong, reveals the true cost of the one-child policy.

28. 04/2016

Rio de Janeiro

Allen Lane

Luiz Eduardo Soares

Non-Fiction/Travel

The Olympics are in Rio this year. I was therefore seduced by what looks to be a compelling portrayal of one of the world’s most seductive cities by one of Brazil’s great cultural figures.

29. 04/2016

Shtum

Orion

Jem Lester

Fiction

Did you love The Rosie Project? Did you read The Curious Incident of the Dog? If you did and you are looking for the next such book, look no further.

Ben Jewell has hit breaking point. His ten-year old son Jonah has autism and Ben and his wife Emma, are struggling to cope. When Ben and Emma fake a separation – a strategic decision to further Jonah’s case in an upcoming tribunal – Ben and Jonah move in with Georg, Ben’s elderly father. In a small north London house, three generations of men are thrown together and Ben learns some difficult home truths. Jonah’s blissful innocence becomes the prism through which all the complicated strands of personal identity are finaly untangled.

30. 04/2016

Smarter Faster Better

Random House

Charles Duhigg

Non-Fiction/Business

A ground breaking and fascinating exploration of productivity that will help transform your life, from a Pulitzer prize winner and the author of the international bestseller “The Power of Habit”. Duhigg draws on recent discoveries in psychology, neurology and economics to show readers how to change their lives and businesses and features examples from around the world.

31. 04/2016

Ten Days

Canongate

Gillian Slovo

Fiction

This is the new book from a South African writer who is being noticed by readers and reviewers all around the world.

It’s 4 am and dawn is about to break over the Lovelace estate. Cathy Mason drags herself out of bed as temperatures reach the 30s. Home Secretary Peter Whitely gulps tea before heading t Parliament, whilst his new Police Chief, Joshua Wares, begins his first day with a run. All three will have reasons to recollect this morning as their lives collide over ten days they will never forget.

32. 04/2016

The End of Alchemy

Little Brown

Mervyn King

Non-Fiction/Business

I put this book on the list because it will be an agenda setting book. Just look at who the author is.

The former head of the Bank of England argues for fundamental changes to the financial system to reduce the risk of a new crisis.

33. 04/2016

The Messenger

Faber & Faber

Shiv Malik

Non-Fiction/Current Affairs

The synposis for this book gripped me.

Every reporter knows the first rule of journalism: never betray your source. But what if your source turns out to be unworthy of your silence? What if it’s your source who betrays you? The Messenger is about the unlikey friendship between two men looking to change the world: a repentant jihadist and a journalist. This troubling real-life thriller takes us from their first meeting in a spartan flat in the rough suburbs of Manchester to his source’s dramatic arrest, Malik’s court apearance and a reporting career on the brink of ruin.Seven years later, Malik returns to this extraordinary story. He probes where we place our faith – in reams of evidence, in a government we believe is on our side, in a trusted source, in a terrorist who swears he’s changed, in a friend who has no one else but you. And he lays bare the deceipt pedalled to us by government and terrorists alike. This is investigative journalism of the highest order.

34. 04/2016

The Travelers

Faber & Faber

Chris Pavone

Fiction/Thriller

This is one of a small group of thriller writes I look out for

Will Rhodes is an award-winning correspondent for The Travelers, on assignment at a luxury Argentinian resort. But Will’s life is about to be turned upside-down when a new flirtation turns into something far more dangerous and he only realizes too late. He has been targeted, he just does not know why. He doesn’t know what these people truly want and how far into his life they will reach.He doesn’t know that they will stop at nothing in their pursuit, and he does not know about the secrets he has already been keeping.

35. 04/2016

Untangled

Atlantic Books

Lisa Damour

Non-Fiction/Parenting

As an educationalist, I always look for books on the issue of parenting and for advice to help navigate the rocky teenage years. This looks like a godsend.

Clinical psychologist Lisa Damour identifies the seven key phases marking the journey to womanhood, offering practical advice for raising teenage girls.

36. 04/2016

Vino Business

Grove Press

Isabelle Saporta

Non-Fiction/Business

This book looks like the perfect read to shock us about a luxury good, and then we can pour another glas of wine and turn the page as we read on.

A shocking exposé of France’s wine industry by an acclaimed French journalist; revealing shady practices, speculation and big money deals.

37. 05/2016

Chronicles

Viking

Thomas Piketty

Non-Fiction/Business

The author sells this title. Piketty needs no introduction. Loved by the left villified by the right. Always telling us uncomfortable truths or opinions depending on your view.

With the same powerful evidence and range of reference as his global bestseller Capital in the Twenty-First Century and in columns of 700 words, rather than 700 pages, Piketty sets out his analysis of the financial crisis, what has happened since and where we should go from here. Tackling a wide range of topics, Chronicles comprises the very best of Piketty’s writing for Liberation from the past ten years.

38. 05/2016

Fever at Dawn

Transworld

Peter Gardos

Fiction

Based on the real letters from the author’s father to his mother, this is a remarkable post-war love story of how a young man given six months to live decides to find a wife. It is 1945 and Miklos is looking for love. He whistles up a list of 117 Hungarian women from his village and in his beautiful handwriting, he writes to each of them. But what’s the catch? Miklos has just emerged from Belsen and is recovering in a refugee camp in Sweden. He is so weak he only has six months to live. But Miklos is not going to allow a small thing like that stand in his way.

39. 05/2016

My Crazy Jewish Mom

Macmillan

Kate Siegel

Non-Fiction/Jewish Interest

Every reader of The Jewish Report is either a crazy Jewish mom or has one. So this is basicaly autobiographical for about half our community. Read it and weep from laughter and self recognition.

“Happy Birthday, spawn. Welcome to the wrong side of 25. The expiration date o your eggs is officially in sight Tick tock. Love Mom”. This was the message Kate Siegel woke up to on her 26^th birthday, but her mother’s maternal adoration and helicopter parenting began while Kate was still in utero. Never shy about pushing her only daughter to study harder, to dump her loser boyfriends, to move to less ”rapey” neighbourhods, Kate’s mom has given some truly hilarious but often sage advice over the years. It was

40. 05/2016

Orchestra of Exiles

Berkley

Josh Aronson & Denise George

Non-Fiction/Jewish Interest

I believe this book will be a bestseler in our community and will raise our spirits and make us proud. Read on, you will agree.

At 14 Bronislaw Huberman played the Brahms Violin Concerto in Vienna – winning praise from the composer himself. Instantly famous Huberman toured the world. After witnessing the tragedy of World War One, he committed his phenomenal talent and celebrity to aid humanity.Huberman joined the ranks of Freud and Einstein in calling for peace through the Pan- European Movement. But when hope for their noble caise was destroyed by the rise of Nazism, Huberman began a crusade that would become his greatest legacy – the creation in 1936 of the Palestine Symphony, which 12 years later would become the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

41. 05/2016

Orphan X

Michael Joseph

Greg Hurwitz

Fiction/Spy Thriller

I know hat this is one of the two or three best thrillers of the year.

“Do you need my help?” It was always the first question he asked. They called him when they had nowhere else to run. As a boy he was taken from an orphanage, then raised and trained. As part of a top secret programme he was sent out to do the things his government denied any knowledge of. Then he broke with the programme, using everything he’d learned to disappear. He wanted to help the desparate and deserving. But now someone’s on his tail. Someone who has issues with his past. Someone who knows he was once known simply as Orphan X. I am Pilgrim meets Jack Reacher.

42. 05/2016

Selection Day

Picador

Aravind Adiga

Fiction

From one of my favourite authors. An an Indian writer who makes India real.

A touching and moving new novel of adolescence and self-realisation, and of fathers and sons, set in Mumbai, by the Booker Prize winning author of White Tiger. Manju is 14. He knows he is good at cricket – if not as good as his older brother Radha. He knows that he hates his domineering and cricket obsessed father, admires his brilliantly talented brother and is fascinated by CSI and curious and interesting scientific facts. But here are many things about himself and the world that he does not know. Everyone around him, it seems, has a clear idea of who Manju should be, except Manju himself. But when Manju gets to know Radha’s great rival, a boy as privileged and confident as Manju is not, everything in Manju’s world begins to change and he is faced by decisions that will challenge both his sense of self and the world around him. As sensitively observed as White Tiger was furious, Selection Day shows another side of Adiga’s remarkable talent.

43. 05/2016

Sleeping Giants

Michael Joseph

Sylvain Neuvel

Science Fiction

Friends in publishing have warned me to read this book and not be left out of a HUGE phenomenon.

Sleeping Giants is a deeply human story about a world-changing alien discovery. The biggest Michael Joseph Science Fiction title ever.

44. 05/2016

The Crow Girl

Random House

Erik Axel Sund

Fiction/Thriller

The Crow Girl is an international sensation and an unputdownable and terrifying thriller with two striking women at its centre and a series of plot twists that will leave you open mouthed. Dare you read the latest Scandinavian thriller.

45. 05/2016

The Strawberry Girl

Chatto & Windus

Lisa Stromme

Fiction

I love art and the stories behind iconic artworks.

The story of the love affair that inspired Edvard Munch to paint “The Scream”.

46. 05/2016

The Trap

Mantle

Melanie Raabe

Fiction/Thriller

Just read this synopsis and try not to be intrigued.

Twelve years ago Linda’s sister Anna was murdered. Her killer was never caught but Linda saw him. Now all these years later she has just seen him again. On TV. He has since become a well-known reporter, and Linda – a famous novelist and infamous recluse – knows no-one will believe her if she accuses him. So she does the only thing she can think of: she writes a thriller about a woman who is murdered, her killer never caught. When the book is published she agrees to give just one media interview. At home. To the one person who knows more about the case than she does. He knows what happened that night and she wrote a book about it. When the bell rings, neither of them can be sure how the story will end.

47. 05/2016

The Wealth of Humans

Allen Lane

Ryan Avent

Non-Fiction/Business

I have read many articles by Avent in The Economist and find his predictions scary. His is a voice that needs to be heard.

When the world of work defines us as individuals and societies, what happens when the world changes forever? To work is human. It has always been one of the defining characteristics of life. Yet today 47% of American employment is at risk of automation within the next two to three decades. Even professional work in Law, Medicine and Accounting will soon be at risk. Drawing on research from around the world, Economist correspondent Ryan Avent investigates what this revolution in the world of work means not only for our economies but also for our societies.

48. 05/2016

Wish Lanterns

Picador

Alec Ash

Non-Fiction/Current Affairs

An agenda-changing account of what it means to be young in China today. There are approximately 322 million Chinese aged between 16 and 30 – a group larger than the population ot the USA and destined to have an unprecedented influence on global affairs in the coming years. The one-child policy has led to a generation of only children; there is intense competition for education and jobs, and a tug-of-war between cultural change and tradition, nationalism and the lures of the WestWe know the headlines of their lives, but what about the details? Following the lives of six young Chinese Alic Ash has created an immersive narrative account of how it feels to be young in today’s China: what it means to be an artist, to face academic failure to remain single, to be addicted to the internet, to be wealthy and privileged, to choose not to join the Party.

49. 06/2016

A Dying Breed

Two Road

Peter Hanington

Fiction/Thriller

A brilliant story of news reporting, intrigue and cover-up set between London and Kabul. When a bomb goes off in Kabul kiling a local official, William Carver, a veteran but unpredictable BBC hack, is warned off the story. But his instincts tell him something isn’t right and he won’t give up until he finds the truth. Patrick a junior producer, is sent out t control the wayward Carver, but as the story unravels it looks like powerful forces in both Afgahanistan and London are colluding t ensure the real story never sees the light of day.

50. 06/2016

A Very Special Year

Oneworld

Thomas Montasser

Fiction

For fans of 84 Charring Cross Road comes this magical tale of a small bookshop and a mysterious customer who changes everything. A Very Special Year is a declaration of love for literature, for beautiful books, the power and magic of stories as well as proof that the world of the imagination is still alive within us.

51. 06/2016

Bluff

Oneworld

Anjum Hoda

Non-Fiction/Business

The 2008 financial crises left the global banking system on the brink of collapse. Conventional wisdom credits central banks with saving our skin by lowering interest rates to unprecedented levels. Our comfortable consensus glosses over and inconvenient truth – it was the fire-fighters who started the fire. Experienced asset manager Anjum Hoda contends that the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve have been playing a deceitful game of bluff for decades, using ever lower interest rates to stimulate the economy. But this supply of cheap money creates instability not growth. This ground breaking book revolutionises the debate surrounding some of the world’s most powerful but unelected public bodies.

52. 06/2016

Dancing with the Tiger

Random House

Lili Wright

Fiction/Thriller

I chose this title for its escapist appeal.

A priceless artefact …. The death mask of Montezuma. Lost. Looted. Sold. Stolen. Traded. Hunted. Wanted. Needed. Anna’s life is spiralling out of control, her charming fiancé has been cheating on her, her father’s credibility as renowned art collector is in ruins and her own reputation as a fact checker is in tatters. But she has a chance to redeem herself, to restore both her and her father. She needs to go to Mexico, find the mask and bring it to America where it will form the focal point of a new exhibition. But other people want that mask and they will stop at nothing to get it.

53. 06/2016

Enough Said: Politics, Media and the Crisis in Public Language

Bodley Head

Mark Thompson

Non-Fiction/Current Affairs

Mark Thompson is CEO of the New York Times Company and was the Director General of the BBC. In this book he asks how we discuss serious ideas in the age of 24-hour rolling news, what rhetoric was historically and what it should be now.

54. 06/2016

Martini Henri

Transworld

Sara Crowe

Fiction

The hilarious, quirky and utterly charming 2^nd novel from the author of Campari before breakfast.

18 Year old Sue Bowl is no stranger to life’s wobbles. When she rushes home from her creative writing course in Greece to meet her new born baby half-brother, she wonders if she will ever get the chance to make it big in the world of literature. Still she has lovely boyfriend Joe and new sibling Pierre – and who else will help Aunt Coral keep the damp at bay at their crumbling home, Green Place. But when the bright lights of the big city start sparkling and Sue Bowl capture the eye of a literary wunderkind life begins to take an unexpected turn………

55. 06/2016

Paradime

Faber & Faber

Alan Glynn

Fiction/Thriller

This is one of my favourite authors.

After a stint as a private contractor in Afghanistan, Danny Lynch is back in New York. But nothing’s easy. Work is hard to find and his girlfriend owes $30000in student loans. Danny is also haunted by something he witnessed at the base – a fact that could ultimately destroy him. Then he spots Teddy Trager, tech visionary and billionaire. These two men couldn’t be more different – except for one thing: in appearance they are identical. Danny becomes obsessed with Trager and before long this member of the 99% is passing, undetected into the gilded realm of the 1%. What does Danny find there? Who does he become? Is there a route home?

56. 06/2016

Patient HM, memory madness and family secrets

Chatto& Windus

Luke Dittrich

Non-Fiction

I find these narrative non-fiction titles fascinating and this one has a lot of advance praise.

In the summer of 1953 neurosurgeon William Beecher Scobille performed a ground-breaking operation on a 27 year old epileptic patient named Henry Molaison. The operation helped control Molaison intractable seizures. But it also left him with a short-term memory of just 30 seconds. The story patient HM is the story of how we came to understand memory and one of the most significant in the history of modern medicine. Dittrich, Scobille’s grandson, is an award winning journalist. His rich investigation delves into the grim secrets of his own family and reveals how the bright future of modern neuroscience has dark roots in the forgotten history of psychosurgery, raising ethical questions that echo into the presence day.

57. 06/2016

Sweetbitter

Oneworld

Stephanie Danler

Debut fiction

Everyone I New York is talking this book up as the debut of the year.

Tess, the unforgettable 22 year old at the heart of this stunning debut, has come to New York to escape the provincial, to take on her destiny. After she stumbles into a coveted job at a landmark restaurant that doubles as a de facto clubhouse for the city’s cultural movers and shakers, we spend the year with her as she learns the chaotic, punishing, privileged life of a back waiter, on and off duty. As her appetites are awakened, for food, wine and a few substances of lesser legal provenance, Tess finds herself pulled in by the darker elements of the glamorous, cut-throat and sometimes seedy world of elite Manhattan restaurants. Sweetbitter is a story about discovery, enchantment and the power of what remains after disillusionment.

58. 06/2016

The Fireman

Gollancz

Joe Hill

Fiction/Sci-Fi/Horror

This book looks very exciting and Joe is Stephen Hing’s son to boot.

Harper is pregnant. Only the day she finds out is also the day she learns she has a terminal disease. Known as dragonscale, it’s sweeping the country in an epidemic which leaves people and infrastructure alike destroyed in its wake. And those people who contract it have an average life expectancy of 4 months. Harper needs longer. She is determined to live for long enough to give birth to her child even if the pass to her survival means tracking down one of this new burnt world’s most elusive men … the fireman.

59. 06/2016

The gene – an intimate history

Bodley Head

Siddhartha Mukherjee

Non-Fiction

Whatever Mukherjee writes is a classic.

Spanning the globe and covering more than 150 years the story of the gene begins in an obscure Augustinian Abbey in Moravia in 1856, in intersects with Darwin, collides with the grim horrors of Nazi Eugenics, then dives into turbulent contemporary debates about race, gender and identity. This is a magisterial, moving book by an internationally bestselling prize-winning writer, cancer physician which draws on his extensive knowledge and also interweaves the personal history of his family’s struggle with mental illness.

60. 06/2016

The Girl Who Beat ISIS

Square peg

Farida Khalaf

Non-Fiction/Current Affairs

The astonishing true story of a heroic young woman’s capture and eventual escape from ISIS. This is the story of what happened to Farida, a normal yazida girl living in the mountains of northern Iraq, after she was captured… the beatings, the rapes, the markets where ISIS sold the female prisoners like cattle, and Farida’s realisation that the more difficult and resistant she became, the harder it was for her captors to continue their atrocities against her. One day the door to her room was left unlocked. She took her chance, along with 5 other women and set out across the Syrian desert… This is a story of incredible courage in the face of unthinkable atrocity and provides an astonishing perspective on this very terrifying global threat.

61. 06/2016

The Last Painting of Sara de Vos

Allen & Unwin

Dominic Smith

Fiction

The gripping story set between 17^th century Holland, 1950’s Manhattan and 2000’s Sydney, following a trail of art, forgery and deception. In the 1600’s Sara de Vos, a grieving mother and painter, begins painting a dark landscape of a girl watching ice skaters from the edge of a wood. In 1950’s New York, Martin de Groot’s beloved painting, “at the end of a wood” is stolen from above his bed, leaving him bereft. Struggling art student Ellie Shipley’s decision to paint a forgery of de Vos’ sole surviving work will come to haunt her half a century later when she curates an exhibition of female Dutch painter and both versions threaten to arrive.

62. 06/2016

The Lost Time Accidents

Canongate

John Wray

Fiction

The Lost Time Accidents akes us from turn-of-the-century Viennese salons buzzing with rumours about Einstein’s radical new theory t the death camps of World War Two, from the golden age of post-war pulp science fiction t a startling discovery in a Manhattan apartment packed t the ceiling with artefact of modern life. This s a novel about time travel, family secrets and the madness of the twentieth century.

63. 06/2016

The Man who Wanted to Know

Quercus

D A Mishani

Fiction/Israeli

Time to support Israeli writers and here is one making waves around the world.

Mishani is a highly recognised Israeli author, he lives in Tel Aviv. Called on a stormy day to his first murder scene, inspector Avraham Avraham is astounded to discover he knows the victim, a middle aged woman who had been assaulted in the past. His only lead is an eye witness claiming he saw a policeman going down the building staircase a few minutes after the murder. This is the thrid police procedural featuring Avraham Avraham by a rising Israeli author.

64. 07/2016

Crises

Random House

Frank Gardener

Fiction/Thriller

Crises introduces us to Luke Carlton, ex-Special Boat Service Commando, a fluent Spanish speaker and now under contract to M16 for some of its most dangerous missions. Sent into this Colombian jungle to investigate the murder of a British intelligence officer, Luke finds himself caught up in the coils of a plot that has terrifying international dimensions. London is the target, the weapon is diabolical and the means of delivery is ingenious. Luke is soon fighting against the clock to stave off disaster while being hunted by a sadistic cartel. Written by the BBC’s full time security correspondent.