Not a very happy life, but a normal, boring, suburban life in a busy part of London. Imagine she’d lived a normal life: a house, a son, a husband, a job in an indie bookshop. Imagine Carrie White had suppressed her paranormal abilities. I read this novel at a much faster pace than I read most books for the sheer pleasure of the idiosyncratic characters and the desire to know how their intriguing story would play out. The tightly plotted drama of “Different Class” plays out in a way which is exciting and surprising, but the novel also says something meaningful about our shifting sense of values. Blueeyedboy is not a St Oswald’s book, but does fit into the series, somewhere between Different Class and A Narrow Door. All the books stand alone, but if you’d like to experience the full evolution of the world and the characters, they are best read in this order. The St Oswald’s books are part of a trilogy. “…unexpectedly sweet and powerful, a reward for the patient reader.” (New York Times) Psychological thrillers Is this the best book ever written? Harris’s achievement is not only in her story, in her insight and humour and the wonderful picture of small-town life in rural France, but also in her writing.

Trying to decide if ‘Chocolat’ series is whimsy dressed in steel-toecapped boots, or an iron sword barefoot in a floral dress. These books are part of an ongoing series, and for the most part stand alone, but work best in this order: 1: Chocolat. Magical, poignant, and wholly transporting. We may damage our world but it will not be tamed.(Jackie Law) It offers a reminder that however much man tries to insulate himself with his beliefs and inventions, he remains reliant on and at the mercy of the forces of nature. I loved this story for the imagery, for the idea that such magic could exist. Loved Runemarks…a core fantasy much like the stories of David Eddings or Terry Brooks, with a cool twist on Norse mythology. Loki is a relentlessly wonderful character an amoral and capricious, but also completely psychologically plausible anti-hero, whose antics range from mischief to genocide, across 300 endlessly entertaining pages. People keep asking me what order to read the books of this series in: I think they work in any order, but officially it’s:ġ: Runemarks. “Bold, brave and timely.” (Sarah Pinborough) Fantasy/mythpunk RUNE/Loki books: Now imagine if her powers emerged, not with puberty, but with – MENOPAUSE… Imagine if she’d lived a normal life: a house, a son, a husband, a job in an indie bookshop. Imagine if Carrie White had suppressed her paranormal abilities.

Joanne chocolat