BookNookers Book Club

Little Red Death by Alexandra Benedict
ONCE UPON A TIME LIKE YOU'VE NEVER READ IT BEFORE…DI Lyla Rondell is on the case of a lifetime. Tasked with investigating a series of perplexing deaths, the only lead she has is that each appears to be based on a different classic fairy tale. Far from the stuff of bedtime stories, the press is having a field day with what they have named the Grimm Ripper Murders.

But as the bodies stack up, Lyla’s whole world is about to flip on its head. Because the killer’s bloody trail stretches deep into her own origin story, and when she discovers the truth, nothing will ever be the same again. Faced with the fact that everything she knows is fiction, Lyla will have to take a little creative license of her own if she’s going to turn the final page on the killings…'An exquisite puzzle of a crime thriller, it revels in the shadows, as reality is savagely entwined with the very roots of storytelling itself… Prepare to be spellbound

A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving

If you care about something you have to protect it. If you're lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it.'Summer, 1953. In the small town of Gravesend, New Hampshire, eleven-year-old John Wheelwright and his best friend Owen Meany are playing in a Little League baseball game.

When Owen hits a foul ball which kills John's mother, their lives are changed in an instant. It is dismissed as a tragic accident but Owen disagrees. He believes that he is God's instrument, put on Earth for a higher purpose.

And as the boys come into adulthood to the background of the Vietnam War, a series of remarkable events show that perhaps Owen's divine plan was not imagined after all. Discover the funny yet poignant classic by the bestselling author of The World According to Garp. 'So extraordinary, so original, and so enriching' Stephen King, The Washington Post'

This Bright Life by Karen Campbell

Margaret - an elderly widow who just wants to be left with her memories and her quiet, contained life. Claire - newly divorced, downsizing into the neighbourhood and way too busy to mend a broken heart. Gerard - a tearaway twelve-year-old who hates his name but loves his little brother and sister.

Gerard is a bright kid, but trouble always follows him. No one really knows what it's like at home; he's used to carrying a lot on his small shoulders. Gerard doesn't always make good decisions.

One morning, he makes a very bad one, upending not just his world, but the lives of Margaret and Claire too. Both heart-breaking and life-affirming, This Bright Life is a story of messy lives, second chances and the many hands it takes to build a boy.

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

A small independent bookstore in Minneapolis is haunted from November 2019 to November 2020 by the store's most annoying customer.

Flora dies on All Souls' Day, but she simply won't leave the store. Tookie, who has landed a job selling books after years of incarceration that she survived by reading 'with murderous attention,' must solve the mystery of this haunting while at the same time trying to understand all that occurs in Minneapolis during a year of grief, astonishment, isolation and furious reckoning. The Sentence begins on All Souls' Day 2019 and ends on All Souls' Day 2020.

If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor

On a street in a town in the North of England, ordinary people are going through the motions of their everyday existence – street cricket, barbecues, painting windows… A young man is in love with a neighbour who does not even know his name. An old couple make their way up to the nearby bus stop. But then a terrible event shatters the quiet of the early summer evening.

That this remarkable and horrific event is only poignant to those who saw it, not even meriting a mention on the local news, means that those who witness it will be altered for ever. Jon McGregor's first novel brilliantly evokes the histories and lives of the people in the street to build up an unforgettable human panorama. Breathtakingly original, humane and moving, If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things is an astonishing debut.

The Names by Florence Knapp

It is 1987, and in the wake of a great storm, Cora sets out with her young daughter to register the birth of her son. Her husband expects her to follow tradition and call the baby after him - but is it right for her child to inherit his name from generations of domineering men? Her choice will shape the course of their lives.

Seven years later, her son is Bear, a name chosen by his sister, hoping he will grow up to be brave and big-hearted. Or he is Julian, the name his mother set her heart on, keen for him to become his own person. Or he is Gordon, named after his father and raised in his cruel image - but is there still a chance to break the mould? Powerfully moving and full of hope, this is the story of three names, three versions of a life, and the infinite possibilities that a single decision can spark.

The Women by Kristin Hannah
A sweeping story of epic love, heartbreaking loss, extraordinary bravery and the unbreakable bond of female friendship about the women who answered the call of the Vietnam War and paid the price.
They answered the call. Then they fought to be remembered.
'Women can be heroes, too'. When twenty-year-old nursing student, Frances "Frankie" McGrath, hears these unexpected words, it is a revelation. Raised on California's idyllic Coronado Island and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing, being a good girl.
But in 1965 the world is changing, and she suddenly imagines a different path for her life. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she impulsively joins the Army Nurses Corps and follows his path. As green and inexperienced as the young men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is overwhelmed by the chaos and destruction of war, as well as the unexpected trauma of coming home to a changed America.
But Frankie will also discover the true value of female friendship and the heartbreak that love can cause. 'Thank God for girlfriends. In this crazy, chaotic, divided world that was run by men, you could count on the women'

Ward D by Frieda McFadden

Ward D: a gripping locked room thriller set in an eerie hospital ward. ***Medical student Amy Brenner is spending the night on a locked psychiatric ward. All she has to do is make it through the night shift...

Ward D is the hospital’s mental health unit and as a medical student, Amy is required to gain experience on the floor. But little do her colleagues know it may force her to confront a past she’s fought hard to forget. The night starts.

The countdown begins. As the hours tick by, Amy grows increasingly convinced something terrible is happening within the ward’s tightly secured walls. When patients and staff start to vanish without a trace, it becomes clear that everyone on the unit is in grave danger.

Amy never wanted to spend the night on Ward D. Now, she might not make it out alive. Ward D once again demonstrates why Freida McFadden is the most talked-about voice in contemporary crime fiction, delivering a taut psychological thriller that will have you gripped right to the thrilling final twist.

The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller

DECEMBER 1962, THE WEST COUNTRY. Local doctor Eric Parry, mulling secrets, sets out on his rounds, while his pregnant wife sleeps on in the warmth of their cottage.

Across the field, funny, troubled Rita Simmons is also asleep, her head full of images of a past life her husband prefers to ignore. He's been up for hours, tending to the needs of the small dairy farm where he hoped to create a new version of himself, a project that's already faltering. But when the ordinary cold of an English December gives way to violent blizzards, the two couples find their lives beginning to unravel.

WHERE DO YOU HIDE WHEN YOU CAN'T LEAVE HOME? AND WHERE, IN A FROZEN WORLD, CAN YOU RUN TO?

More praise for The Land in Winter? Winner of the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2025

My Friends by Fredrick Backman

You have to take life for granted, the artist thinks, the whole thing: sunrises and slow Sunday mornings andwater balloons and another person’s breath against your neck. That’s the only courageous thing a person can do.

In the corner of a world-famous painting, three tiny figures sit on the end of a pier, a secret hidden in plain sight. Twenty-five years ago, a group of teenagers found solace in each other during one unforgettable summer. Their friendship inspired a transcendent work of art, a painting that now mysteriously belongs to eighteen-year-old aspiring artist Louisa. Driven to learn the story behind its creation, Louisa embarks on a journey to the seaside town where it all began.

But as she gets closer to the painting’s birthplace, Louisa learns that happy endings do not always take the form we expect. Fredrik Backman returns with an unforgettably funny, deeply moving tale of four teenagers whose friendship creates a bond so powerful that it changes a complete stranger’s life years later. Readers can't get enough of My Friends .

You Are Here by David Nicholls

THE LOVE STORY OF THE YEAR'A triumph, a real gift of a novel'Sunday Times'Pure pleasure in a paperback'Guardian'It makes you want to tell someone - anyone - that you love or care about them'Independent

Sometimes you need to get lost to find your way... Marnie is stuck. Stuck working alone in her London flat, stuck battling the long afternoons and a life that often feels like it's passing her by.

Michael is coming undone. Reeling from his wife's departure, increasingly reclusive, taking himself on long, solitary walks across the moors and fells. When a persistent mutual friend and some very English weather conspire to bring them together, Marnie and Michael suddenly find themselves alone on the most epic of walks and on the precipice of a new friendship.
But can they survive the journey?

Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton

Dying isn’t any fun…but at least it’s a living. Mickey7 is an Expendable: a disposable employee on a human expedition sent to colonize the ice world Niflheim.

Whenever there’s a mission that’s too dangerous—even suicidal— the crew turns to Mickey. After one iteration dies, a new body is regenerated with most of his memories intact. Mickey signed on to escape from both bad debts and boredom on Midgard.

After six deaths, Mickey7 understands the terms of his deal…and why it was the only colonial position unfilled when he took it. When he goes missing and is presumed dead at the hands of deadly indigenous creatures, Mickey8 reports for duty, and their troubles really begin.

The Hogfather by Terry Pratchett

A great Christmas tale that's as silly as it is deep in the way few authors cam achieve’ 5-star reader review'Humans need fantasy to be human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape.''Twas the night before Hogswatch and all through the house .

. . something was missing.

Superstition makes things work in the Discworld and undermining it can have consequences. When Death realizes that belief in the Hogfather is dangerously low, he decides to take on the job. But it's just not right to find a seven-foot skeleton creeping down your chimney and trying to say 'ho, ho, ho'.

It's the last night of the year, the time is turning, and if Susan, gothic governess and Death's granddaughter, doesn't sort everything out by morning, there won't be a morning. Ever again . .

Rizzio by Denise Mina

t's Saturday evening, 9 March 1566, and Mary, Queen of Scots, is six months pregnant. She's hosting a supper party, secure in her private chambers. She doesn't know that her Palace is surrounded – that, right now, an army of men is creeping upstairs to her chamber.

They're coming to murder David Rizzio, her friend and secretary, the handsome Italian man who is smiling across the table at her. Mary's husband, Lord Darnley, wants it done in front of her and he wants her to watch it done ... Denise Mina brilliantly portrays the sexual dynamics and politics of power – between men and women, monarch and subjects, master and servants.

The period is masterfully researched yet lightly drawn, the characterisation quick, subtle and utterly convincing. This breathtakingly tense work is a tale of sex, secrets and lies, one that explores the lengths that men – and women – will go to in the search for love and power

The Two Loves of Sophie Strom by Sam Taylor

One man, one choice, two lifetimes. In one unforgettable night, thirteen-year-old Max Spiegelman's life splits in two.

As Max sleeps, a house fire creeps through his parents' shop. Woken by smoke, Max manages to escape - orphaned, disfigured and adopted by an Aryan family who change his identity and his prospects. But when he awakes a second time to smoke, he finds he has the chance to save his parents and escape unharmed, facing life as a Jew in 1930s Austria.

In each parallel universe, he is haunted by visions of what could have been. But in both worlds, he and his alter ego share a love with an enchanting, grey-eyed girl. .

Gabriel's Moon by William Boyd 

An accidental spy. A web of betrayals.

A mystery that will take you around the world . . .

Gabriel Dax is a young man haunted by the memories of a tragedy: every night, when sleep finally comes, he dreams about his childhood home in flames. His days are spent on the move as an acclaimed travel writer, capturing changing landscapes in the grip of the Cold War. When he’s offered the chance to interview a political figure, his ambition leads him unwittingly into the shadows of espionage.

As Gabriel’s reluctant initiation takes hold, he is drawn deeper into duplicity. Falling under the spell of Faith Green, an enigmatic and ruthless MI6 handler, he becomes ‘her spy’, unable to resist her demands. But amid the peril, paranoia and passion consuming Gabriel’s new covert life, it will be the revelations closer to home that change the rest of his story .

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

Isolated on their private island in Cornwall, the Darker family have come together for the first time in over a decade.

When the tide comes in, they'll be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours. When the tide goes back out, nothing will ever be the same again. Nothing – because one of the family is a killer .

. . As the leaves of autumn fall, Daisy Darker arrives at her grandmother’s house for eightieth birthday celebrations.

Seaglass, the Darker’s ancestral home, is a crumbling Cornish house perched upon its own tiny private island. Every member of the family has their secrets. Nana, alone for so long.

Daisy's absent father, Frank. Her cold-hearted mother, Nancy. Her siblings, Rose and Lily, and her niece, Trixie, full of questions and without a father of her own.
Daisy has never had an easy relationship with her family, but some secrets are much darker than others. This will be a gathering that some of them won't remember.

The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown

ecause some doors should never be opened. New York bookseller Cassie Andrews is not sure what she’s doing with her life. She lives quietly, sharing an apartment with her best friend, Izzy.

Then a favourite customer gives her an old book. Full of strange writing and mysterious drawings, at the very front there is a handwritten message:This is the Book of Doors. Hold it in your hand, and any door is every door.

Cassie is about to discover that the Book of Doors is a special book – a magic book. A book that bestows extraordinary abilities on whoever possesses it. And she is about to learn that there are other magic books out there that can also do wondrous – or dreadful and terrifying – things.

Because where there is magic there is power and there are those who will stop at nothing to possess it. Suddenly Cassie and Izzy are confronted by violence and danger, and the only person who can help them is Drummond Fox who has a secret library of magical books hidden in the shadows for safekeeping, a man fleeing his own demons. Because there is a nameless evil out there that is hunting them all .

. . Because this book is worth killing for.

The Black Loch by Peter May

THE RETURN OF FIN MACLEOD, PETER MAY'S MUCH-LOVED HERO OF THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING LEWIS TRILOGY. A MURDER The body of eighteen-year-old TV personality Caitlin is found abandoned on a remote beach at the head of An Loch Dubh - the Black Loch - on the west coast of the Isle of Lewis. A swimmer and canoeist, it is inconceivable that she could have drowned.
A SECRET Fin Macleod left the island ten years earlier to escape its memories. When he learns that his married son Fionnlagh had been having a clandestine affair with the dead girl and is suspected of her murder, he and Marsaili return to try and clear his name.
A RECKONING But nothing is as it seems, and the truth of the murder lies in a past that Fin would rather forget, and a tragedy at the cages of a salmon farm on East Loch Roag, where the tense climax of the story finds its resolution.
The Black Loch takes us on a journey through family ties, hidden relationships and unforgiving landscapes, where suspense, violent revenge and revelation converge in the shadow of the Black Loch.

What a Way to Go by Bella Mackie

Thoroughly enjoyable, like Succession rewritten by Agatha Christie’ MAIL ON SUNDAY ‘Mackie has assembled a gloriously repugnant cast… A dark, funny story of a very dysfunctional family’ OBSERVER Meet the Wisterns. Rich. Powerful.
Morally bankrupt. Anthony is dead. His wife and four children each have a motive.
And there’s a true crime-obsessed outsider ready to expose the killer… With a family like this, who needs enemies? ‘Ferociously entertaining’ GOOD HOUSEKEEPING ‘Gripping, sharp and funny, this window on the mega-wealthy is perfect for fans of Succession’ WOMAN & HOME ‘Another caustic satire from the million-copy bestseller of How to Kill Your Family’ i NEWS 'Still not over Succession? A dysfunctional family with four inheritance-obsessed children gives the Roy clan a run for its money, with a murderous twist'

Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent

Sally Diamond cannot understand why what she did was so strange. She was only doing what her father told her to do, to put him out with the rubbish when he died. Now Sally is the centre of attention, not only from the hungry media and police detectives, but also a sinister voice from a past she cannot remember.

As she begins to discover the horrors of her childhood, Sally steps into the world for the first time, making new friends and big decisions, and learning that people don't always mean what they say. But who is the man observing Sally from the other side of the world? And why does her neighbour seem to be obsessed with her? Sally's trust issues are about to be severely challenged . .

. *****'In Sally Diamond, Nugent has given us an astounding creation with a singular voice . .

. an absorbing, twisty, compulsive psychological thriller with surprising humour and pathos' Sunday Independent'Strikingly well-observed and consistently surprising' The Times'Incredible' Sara Cox'Strange indeed . .

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet existence with his loving father, a former linguist who now shelves books in a university library. His mother Margaret, a Chinese American poet, left without a trace when he was nine years old. He doesn't know what happened to her-only that her books have been banned-and he resents that she cared more about her work than about him.
Then one day, Bird receives a mysterious letter containing only a cryptic drawing, and soon he is pulled into a quest to find her. . Our Missing Hearts is an old story made new, of the ways supposedly civilized communities can ignore the most searing injustice.
It's about the lessons and legacies we pass on to our children, and the power of art to create change.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Everything, somehow, fit together; some sly and benevolent Providence was revealing itself by degrees and I felt myself trembling on the brink of a fabulous discovery, as though any morning it was all going to come together---my future, my past, the whole of my life---and I was going to sit up in bed like a thunderbolt and say oh! oh! oh!'

Under the influence of a charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at a New England college discover a way of thought and life a world away from their banal contemporaries. But their search for the transcendent leads them down a dangerous path, beyond human constructs of morality...