How To Eat Out – Giles Coren

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How To Eat Out - Giles CorenHow to Eat Out
Giles Coren

It has taken Giles Coren a lifetime to master the art of eating out. From a lonely childhood spent in pub car parks, peering in at a magical world of chickens in baskets and butter in little foil squares, to belching his way through taste clouds of prawn gas and chocolate air at ‘the best restaurant in the world’, to mock dog in Shoreditch, sperm sushi in Tokyo and delicious fricasseed field mouse in ‘Ancient’ Rome, Coren has experienced pretty much everything a restaurant can throw at you, and thrown it right back. Or at least caught it, sniffed it, and bagged it up for later.

Bad waiters, bum tables, little rip-offs, big cons, old fish, cheap meat, yesterday’s soup and tomorrow’s gastroenteritis… Coren tells you how to avoid the lot, and even come out of it with free champagne and a dish named after you by way of apology. It doesn’t matter if it’s fish and chips, takeaway pizza, a medieval banquet with Sue Perkins or a slap-up nosh at the Hotel de Posh, there is always a right way and wrong way to do it. How To Eat Out is a bit of both.

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The Land of Decoration – Grace McCleen

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The Land of Decoration - Grace McCleenThe Land of Decoration
Grace McCleen

Judith and her father don’t have much – their house is full of dusty relics, reminders of the mother she’s never known. But Judith sees the world with the clear Eyes of Faith, and where others might see rubbish, Judith sees possibility. Bullied at school, she finds solace in making a model of the Promised Land – little people made from pipe cleaners, a sliver of moon, luminous stars and a mirror sea – a world of wonder that Judith calls The Land of Decoration. Perhaps, she thinks, if she makes it snow indoors (using shaving foam and cotton wool and cellophane) there will be no school on Monday…

Sure enough, when Judith opens her curtains the next day, the world beyond her window has turned white. She has performed her first miracle. And that’s when her troubles begin.

With its intensely taut storytelling and gorgeous prose, The Land of Decoration is a heartbreaking story of good and evil, belief and doubt. Its author, Grace McCleen, is a blazing new talent in contemporary literature.

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Tuesdays with Morrie – Mitch Albom

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Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch AlbomTuesdays With Morrie
Mitch Albom

Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, and gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it. For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly twenty years ago.

Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded. Wouldn’t you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you? Mitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man’s life. Knowing he was dying of ALS – or motor neurone disease – Mitch visited Morrie in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final ‘class’: lessons in how to live.

Tuesdays with Morrie is a magical chronicle of their time together, through which Mitch shares Morrie’s lasting gift with the world.

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Forgive Me – Lesley Pearse

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Forgive Me - Lesley PearseForgive Me
Lesley Pearse

Cheltenham, 1991.

When Eva Patterson returns home from work one day, a devastating scene awaits her. Her mother, Flora, lies dead in the bath. Beside her is a note saying only: ‘Forgive Me’.

Until then, Eva always believed her family’s life would be comfortable and secure – but Flora’s suicide changes everything. And when Eva discovers that in her will Flora left her an artist’s studio in London, she realises how little she knows about her mother’s past.

When Eva visits the now derelict studio, she is shocked to find out that her mother was once a successful artist back in the 1960s. A chance encounter leads her to Phil, who agrees to help her restore the studio, as well as offering her the advice and friendship Eva so badly needs.

In the studio attic she finds a collection of Flora’s paintings and old diaries, which Eva believes were purposely left for her to find. Searching for answers, Eva encounters a psychic who mysteriously warns her to beware of a ‘sleeping serpent’, which she soon discovers refers to a shocking crime in Flora’s past.

Will discovering the truth destroy Eva’s belief in everything she holds dear? And will Phil stand by Eva even when her journey leads her and those she loves into certain danger?

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The Real Lady Detective Agency – Rebecca Jane

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The Real Lady Detective Agency - Rebecca JaneThe Real Lady Detective Agency: A True Story
Rebecca Jane

‘It’s not me then?’ she says. A little bit of my heart breaks, and I struggle to swallow down the lump in my throat. ‘No Jane, it’s not you. You were right.’

Why won’t he ever let you use his phone? Why is he always going on about that girl from work?

Is he cheating on you?

There’s one way to find out – ask him. Then (when he lies) call Rebecca Jane, founder and owner of the Lady Detective Agency.

The Agency is one of the UK’s most successful female private detective services. It exists for one purpose: to find the truth.

Whether that means trailing a transsexual prostitute through the streets of London, following suspected cheats on stag parties, tracking down someone’s beloved pet ferret or uncovering famous people’s affairs, Rebecca and her elite team will help. Whatever it takes.

Their extraordinary dedication stems from first-hand experience of deception. Here Rebecca not only reveals her clients’ fascinating stories, but her own rollercoaster journey too – from early success to crushing failure, scandal, abuse and affairs, and ultimately to finding true love.

At times heartbreaking, hilarious and eye-opening, this vibrantly-written compilation of stories introduces us to a sparkling and witty new voice in Rebecca and her crack team of female detectives who are always ready to solve any case, no matter how big or small.

For the first time, the Agency is opening its doors and revealing its secrets.

Guilty consciences beware.

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Eating For England – Nigel Slater

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Eating for England - Nigel SlaterEating for England: The Delights and Eccentricities of the British at Table
Nigel Slater

Written in a style similar to that of Nigel Slater’s multi-award-winning food memoir ‘Toast’, this is a celebration of the glory, humour, eccentricities and embarrassments that are The British at Table.

The British have a relationship with their food that is unlike that of any other country. Once something that was never discussed in polite company, it is now something with which the nation is obsessed. But are we at last developing a food culture or are we just going through the motions? ‘Eating for England’ is an entertaining, detailed and somewhat tongue-in-cheek observation of the British and their food, their cooking, their eating and how they behave in restaurants, with chapters on — amongst other things — dinner parties, funeral teas, Indian restaurants, dieting and eating whilst under the influence.

Written in Nigel Slater’s trademark readable style, ‘Eating for England’ highlights our idiosyncratic attitude towards the fine art of dining.

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Ape House – Sara Gruen

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Ape House - Sara GruenApe House
Sara Gruen

Sam, Bonzi, Lola, Mbongo, Jelani, and Makena are no ordinary apes. These bonobos, like others of their species, are capable of reason and carrying on deep relationships—but unlike most bonobos, they also know American Sign Language.

Isabel Duncan, a scientist at the Great Ape Language Lab, doesn’t understand people, but animals she gets—especially the bonobos. Isabel feels more comfortable in their world than she’s ever felt among humans . . . until she meets John Thigpen, a very married reporter who braves the ever-present animal rights protesters outside the lab to see what’s really going on inside.

When an explosion rocks the lab, severely injuring Isabel and “liberating” the apes, John’s human interest piece turns into the story of a lifetime, one he’ll risk his career and his marriage to follow. Then a reality TV show featuring the missing apes debuts under mysterious circumstances, and it immediately becomes the biggest—and unlikeliest—phenomenon in the history of modern media. Millions of fans are glued to their screens watching the apes order greasy take-out, have generous amounts of sex, and sign for Isabel to come get them. Now, to save her family of apes from this parody of human life, Isabel must connect with her own kind, including John, a green-haired vegan, and a retired porn star with her own agenda.

Ape House delivers great entertainment, but it also opens the animal world to us in ways few novels have done, securing Sara Gruen’s place as a master storyteller who allows us to see ourselves as we never have before..

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