by Gudrun Bowers | 5, Aug 2016
We’re very excited about this one… Britain’s best-selling picture book author and local resident, the wonderful Julia Donaldson has chosen to collaborate with one of our favourite illustrators, Sara Ogilvie, to create a fantastic, fast-paced romp, The Detective Dog.
‘There once was a dog with a keen sense of smell. She was known far and wide as Detective Dog Nell.’
Nell can sniff out the solution to any mystery with her amazing nose, she solves any crime and also looks after her messy boy owner Peter, retrieving his belongings from the most unlikely places. That’s what she does Tuesday to Sunday, but on Mondays Nell has another very important job – she follows the smell of books and goes to school with Peter and listens to the children read.
When all the school’s books disappear, who better to sniff them out than Detective Dog Nell?
This an absolutely lovely story in praise of books and libraries and children and dogs, illuminated by Ogilvy’s fabulously expressive drawings.
by Gudrun Bowers | 5, Aug 2016
Winner of the 2015 Desmond Elliott Prize for Fiction this is a striking and absorbing first novel inspired by the true life story of Robin van Helsum, a Dutch boy who walked out of a German forest in 2011 claiming to have survived there with his father
The novel opens with the young narrator Peggy, aged 17, finding herself back in London trying to resume a normal life with her mother and the younger brother she never knew she had, after living for nine years in remote German mountains with her increasingly unhinged survivalist father who abducted her when her mother, a distant and self-absorbed concert pianist, was away on tour.
Told in flashback the novel transports us from Peggy’s seemingly idyllic and comfortable childhood to the often gruesome realities of surviving in the wild, creating in the wilderness an atmosphere that is claustrophobic but also strangely liberating. The carefully crafted unsettling novel builds a tension that would be unbearable were it not for the fact that we know that the vulnerable child survives, albeit having lost her childhood.
A most impressive debut that lingers in the mind for some time.
The bookshop book group’s pick for August.
by Gudrun Bowers | 5, Aug 2016
From the author of In Darkling Wood and The Girl Who Walked on Air comes an enjoyably creepy story inspired by the summer when Mary Shelley created Frankenstein. There is a growing body of young readers who are great fans of this writer, a former secondary school teacher who creates deftly plotted involving stories with believable characters and enough complexity to challenge without baffling.
Suitable for ages 9-12
by Gudrun Bowers | 5, Aug 2016
Another book to contain a squirrel recipe, surely a first for the Bookshop reviews! This is renowned food writer Elisabeth Luard’s collection of stories of food from around the world. From bush-tucker in Australia, to snails in Crete, squirrel pot-pie from the grey squirrel’s native habitat of the forests of North America, to Ethiopian injeera, Elisabeth’s travels and encounters with food provide a collection of fascinating anecdotes, recipes and drawings. Charming and entertaining.
by Gudrun Bowers | 5, Aug 2016
Following the purchase of a run-down Herefordshire farm, and encouraged by dreams of roast duck with wild mushroom sauce, as well as a combination of being utterly broke, with natural bounty around him, farmer John Lewis-Stempel, whose previous book Meadowland was a runaway success, decides to eat only wild food for a year. It must be hunted or foraged by himself from his own forty acres, and may not include food produced by agriculture. His wife bans him from using the freezer, so he also has to rely on traditional preservation techniques. This book is the story of his year, his (often monotonous) meals, and the methods he uses to procure them. A lot of rabbit, also squirrel, snails, pigeon and trout are consumed (but mainly rabbit), as well as what many people this of as weeds – chickweed, silverweed and dandelions. The long hours spent hunting for food, and even longer ones preparing it, ultimately hone his perceptions, his tastebuds, and draw him closer to the land and to himself. Fascinating.
Alice
by Gudrun Bowers | 5, Aug 2016
This is the story of four ambitious, talented friends who meet at college, and then move to New York to make their way in the world. Malcolm is a diffident aspiring architect, JB paints acclaimed pictures of his friend, Willem waits tables and auditions for parts and brilliant, enigmatic Jude is working at the district attorney’s office. As their careers and relationships develop, Jude becomes the centre of the narrative, his past slowly and devastatingly revealed, the dark centre of the circle of friendship. This is outstanding book built in layers of quiet, subtle and heart-breaking detail.
by Gudrun Bowers | 5, Aug 2016
We are very excited about our next author supper, to be held on Tuesday 20th September, 7 for 7.30 pm, – a talk by best-selling author and actress Carol Drinkwater!
Carol will join us at The Sussex Produce Cafe to talk about her new novel ‘The Forgotten Summer’, just out in paperback. Tickets are priced £25 and include a delicious two course meal, and a copy of ‘The Forgotten Summer’.
Carol Drinkwater is an actress, writer and film-maker, perhaps best known for her award-winning portrayal of Helen Herriot in the TV adaptation of James Herriot’s ‘All Creatures Great and Small’. She was a member of the National Theatre Company under the leadership of Laurence Olivier and has acted in numerous television series and films including the highly successful ‘Chocky’, ‘Bouquet of Barbed Wire’, and ‘Golden Pennies’. Amongst many other film and television credits, she has appeared in Stanley Kubrick’s ‘A Clockwork Orange’, ‘Queen Kong’, ‘Father’, and the film adaptation of Beryl Bainbridge’s novel ‘An Awfully Big Adventure’.
In recent years Carol has become better known for her best-selling memoirs about her life on an olive farm in Provence, in particular for ‘The Olive Tree’ and ‘The Olive Route’, which she also turned into a short series of documentary films. She has also written novels for children and young adults.
Carol Drinkwater
by Gudrun Bowers | 5, Aug 2016
Saturday 3rd September 11 am
‘Zog’ is one of our favourite picture books, and we are delighted to announce that Julia Donaldson will be coming to the bookshop to sign copies of her fantastic follow-up, ‘Zog and the Flying Doctors’!
‘Zog and the Flying Doctors’ is officially released on the 8th September, so we are very fortunate to have this special pre-publication appearance by Julia.
This is not a ticketed event, just a book-signing, but we hope Malcolm Donaldson will be on hand with his trusty guitar to entertain the queues with some of Julia’s jolly songs.
If you are unable to attend but would like to get a copy signed and dedicated by Julia, we can take pre-orders so give us a ring.
Julia Donaldson
by Gudrun Bowers | 5, Aug 2016
On Wednesday 24th August at 2.30 pm we are delighted to welcome back talented Brighton-based picture-book author and illustrator, Sam Lloyd.
Sam will share her latest book ‘First Day at Bug School’, and hopefully some of her other colourful picture-books – Dino-Baby is one of our favourites – as well as helping children with some bug-based-crafts!
Tickets are only £2, please book ahead so we have an idea of how many craft materials Sam needs to bring! Ticket entitles bearer to £2 off one of Sam’s fab books.
Sam Lloyd
by Gudrun Bowers | 30, Jun 2016
To celebrate the publication of his book ‘Death Comes Knocking; Policing Roy Grace’s Brighton’, co-written with Peter James, we are delighted to welcome Graham Bartlett to the bookshop, on Thursday 28th July at 7.30 pm.
Fans of Peter James will know that Graham Bartlett is an advisor for Peter’s most well-loved character, Inspector Roy Grace. Graham was a long-serving detective in the city once described as Britain’s ‘crime capital’, and will be sharing stories from his years on the force, looking behind the scenes at some of the city’s most gripping and challenging cases.
Tickets are £10 to include the book, wine/soft drinks and nibbles.
Ticket are available from the bookshop on 01903 812062.
Graham Bartlett
