Some book titles whisper; others announce themselves with a kind of eerie authority. The Ghost Writer sits somewhere in between: quiet, unsettling, and suggestive of hidden hands shaping both the page and the lives upon it. From the outset, I knew this was not going to be an ordinary read.

Having already devoured The Three Wives of Charlie Mellon, this is the second novel I’ve read from Ian Siragher, and I was curious to see where his imagination would lead this time. This novel is sharper, more enigmatic, and comparatively a deeper shade of grey — a story that lingers like a shadow you can’t quite shake.

Carolyn J. Nicholson’s The Last Witch on Skye is a radiant tribute to oral tradition, Celtic folklore, and the quiet resilience of those who live between worlds—be they witches, fairies, or misunderstood humans. With her debut into middle-grade fantasy, Nicholson gifts readers a story rich with mischief, wit, cultural texture, and emotional depth, all wrapped in a narrative voice that is both timeless and tender.

In the sphere of historical inquiry, few works dare to intertwine documented fact with speculative reasoning as boldly, and with such baroque elegance, as The Story of Queen Mary II and the Mysterious Jean Tijou. Malcolm Adrian Fay does not merely present a book; he offers what he terms a “historical case file” - a genre-defying composition in which archival records, circumstantial evidence, artistic symbolism, and logical conjecture combine to illuminate one of the most tantalising enigmas of 17th-century Britain: the concealed life and alleged royal affiliation of the elusive artist-blacksmith Jean Tijou.

Few books manage to provoke such a blend of fascination, discomfort, and reflection as Geoff Tyler’s White Pigeon: A Man Who Stayed, with a Wife Who Strayed. What begins as a seemingly straightforward memoir about a late-life romance between an English scientist and a beautiful Rwandan woman unfolds into something much more confronting, tangled, and compulsively readable.

From the moment I opened "Dying to Stay Young," I knew I was in for something special. Glynis Drew's latest offering doesn't just tell a story—it grabs you by the throat and refuses to let go. This isn't your typical crime thriller—Drew has crafted something that transcends genre boundaries to become something far more profound.

Ultimately, The Burnout Ladder is a timely and valuable contribution to the burnout conversation. It’s especially useful for professionals working in high-pressure environments, as well as coaches and therapists who want a clear, empathetic resource to share with clients. Muskett’s experience across corporate leadership, hypnotherapy, and mindfulness gives him a rare interdisciplinary voice—and one that is sorely needed in our current moment.

North East of Eden is not an easy read. And it’s not a heavy read either. It’s a human one. Honest, unfiltered, sometimes chaotic — true to life. It doesn’t offer answers. It doesn’t tie anything up neatly. But it does something better: it stays with you. Like a voice calling out from somewhere just beyond reach.

And if you’ve ever loved someone you lost through silence, distance, or bureaucracy — if you’ve ever been a child waiting for a grown-up to come back and try again — this book will find you.

Reading The Second Coming: Judgement Day felt like being handed a mirror and asked, gently but firmly, to look longer than I usually do. It’s a novel that disguises its urgency in wit, its depth in levity, and its questions in character. And it’s written by someone who understands that the most radical thing we can do might not be to save the world—but to ask, honestly, why we keep destroying it.

Poetry plays a big part in this book, but I have never understood its appeal. Maybe that’s just me. It has always felt elusive, too abstract, as though it demands something from me that I was never willing or able to give. But by the end of Confetti and Ashes, I understood its power. Alshammari’s writing is littered with poetry. The beginning of every chapter starts as it means to go on, not used as decoration or a distraction, but as distilled reflections of memory or views.

Stephen D. Owen’s Iceni: The Year of Sacrifice does not retell history so much as exhume it, raw and steaming from the earth. What begins as a quiet reckoning—a widow mourning, a kingdom holding its breath—builds into a merciless unraveling. The empire doesn’t storm the gates with fire and swords, at least not at first. It arrives with paperwork. With polite contempt. With a rolled-up decree and a cold gaze from a man who represents Nero himself.

There are books you pick up for the story, and there are books you pick up for the company. The Three Wives of Charlie Mellon offers both — but it’s the company you’ll end up treasuring.

Charlie’s voice is so alive, so stubbornly his own, that slipping into his world feels less like reading and more like joining a friend who's one minor catastrophe away from greatness. If the name Nick Hornby or a certain early Bill Bryson comes to mind, you're not wrong — but Ian Siragher's Charlie is very much his own man, bruises, bacon sandwiches, and all.

A Parent’s Guide to Living With Adult Children by Catherine Jennings is not just a book about boundaries, communication, or the logistics of cohabitating with your grown offspring; it’s part roadmap, part therapy session, and part much-needed sigh of relief for parents who feel like they’re treading water in uncharted family dynamics. With a voice that feels equal parts Brené Brown, Bridget Jones, and a very patient family therapist, Jennings gives readers the ultimate survival guide to navigating life with the ‘boomerang generation.’

A memoir of grit, grace, and glorious unpredictability

Across England, Holland, Canada, Borneo, the United States, Malaysia, and Brunei — through incredulous highs and crushing lows — this is the life of a woman bravely discovering who she really is. This absorbing memoir at times reads stranger than fiction. It is one of those rare stories that envelops you so completely, you forget you're reading non-fiction. No, you’re not watching this from the sidelines — you’re in it with her, for the whole journey as it unfolds.

You know those rare books that make you sit in stunned silence after finishing the last page? The kind where you look up from the words and feel like you’ve just been somewhere else entirely — not just observed a story, but lived it? Beyond Boundaries is one of those books. I don’t say that lightly. George Carter doesn’t just write characters — he conjures them, with all their scars and wonder and tangled inner lives. This is fiction that feels truer than memory.

In the ever-evolving landscape of literary criticism, a work occasionally emerges that not only illuminates its subject but transforms how we perceive an entire genre. Mary Phelan's "Wicked Uncles & Haunted Cellars: What The Gothic Heroine Tells Us Today" (Greenwich Exchange, 2023) is precisely such a revelation—a work that breathes new life into our understanding of Gothic literature's most compelling figures.

Charlie Tyler's The Tangled Mane is a cleverly constructed tale of survival, loss, and resilience. At its heart are two young people, left to fend for themselves amidst a world of neglect and chaos, their mother—a drug-addicted cleaner with many bed partners —unable to provide the love and stability they need. Though the themes appear heavy, Tyler's deeply descriptive writing creates a vivid narrative of a sad but only too regularly reported life, along with the fleeting moments of happiness, balancing sadness with humour. It's storytelling that captivates, both beautiful and harrowing.

The loss of a loved one is a wound we all know we'll face someday, yet nothing prepares us for when that loss defies the natural order of life. When someone leaves us too soon—especially a child—the grief carves a path through our hearts that forever changes the landscape of our lives. It's this sacred, painful territory that Jennifer Fox navigates with extraordinary grace in her memoir "The Day Our Lives Changed."