1.
Hollow Pike – James Dawson
2.
After Tomorrow – Gillian Cross
3.
The Recruit – Robert Muchamore
4.
Zom-B – Darren Shan
5.
Angel Experiment – James Patterson
6.
Bodyguard – Chris Bradford
7.
The Drowning – Rachel Ward
8.
Girl Missing – Sophie McKenzie
9.
The Bunker Diary – Kevin Brooks
10.
The Rescue – Sophie McKenzie
Congratulations to the following students for achieving the highest points scored from Reading Practice quizzes in March. Please collect your prizes
Taylor Holter
187.1
Megan Richardson Matthew Clegg Harriet Dunn Alison Burcombe Matthew Votta Gathsara Seekkuge Gary Paine Jason Redman Alfie Nye
126.5 112.7 95.7 89.0 83.0 74.5 67.6 61.5 56.9
ÂŁ10 Amazon Voucher & Easter Egg
Easter Eggs
Displays All about the amazing book ‘Divergent’
If you liked The Hunger Games you will love this Soon to be a film!
Mrs Langley’s Book of the Month
Half Bad by Sally Green is a breathtaking debut novel about one boy's struggle for survival in a hidden society of witches. You can't read, can't write, but you heal fast, even for a witch. You get sick if you stay indoors after dark. You hate White Witches but love Annalise, who is one. You've been kept in a cage since you were fourteen. All you've got to do is escape and find Mercury, the Black Witch who eats boys. And do that before your seventeenth birthday. Easy.
Chris Bradford – Author Visit Chris Bradford visited the school this month to talk to our Year 8 students. We also welcomed many of our feeder schools and local secondary schools. Chris put on a fabulous action packed show and students all had an amazing time. We heard about how he trained in martial arts and personal protection to write his Young Samurai and Bodyguard books. He told us what it takes to be a good Bodyguard and he also showed us some basic techniques (kihon waza) with his Samurai Sword (Katana). Many students got the chance to participate in the presentation, Matthew Clegg being one. On hearing that Chris was coming to WHS Matthew read all of the Young Samurai series in just 4 weeks! Chris presented him with a signed copy of his Bodyguard book. Many students said it was one of the best author talks we have ever had and our feeder schools are looking forward to returning for any future events.
New Book Additions My Friend Walter is a charming and hilarious story of friendship between different eras from Britain’s best-loved children’s author, Michael Morpurgo. Living with a ghost can have its difficulties, I discovered, even if he is your friend. Remember Sir Walter Raleigh, who laid his cloak in a puddle so that Queen Elizabeth I could walk across? Well, Bess meets his ghost and finds out he’s an ancestor! How will Bess explain Sir Walter to her family? Especially when he breaks her brother’s fishing rod, steals a horse and smokes cigars in her room!
In this World War 2 story, Jo stumbles on a dangerous secret – Jewish children are being smuggled away from the Nazis, close to his mountain village in Spain. Now German soldiers have been stationed at the border. Jo must get word to his friends that the children are trapped. The slightest mistake could cost them their lives
Meet Jay. Summer. And Dylan. Jay plays guitar, writes songs and dreams of being a rock star. But his ambitions are stifled by seven siblings and a terrible drummer. Summer works hard at school, looks after her nan and has a one-in-a-million singing voice. But can her talent triumph over her nerves? Dylan is happiest lying on his bunk smoking, but his school rugby coach has other ideas, and Dylan reluctantly joins a band to avoid crunching tackles and icy mud. They're about to enter the biggest battle of their lives. And there's everything to play for. When Poppy Fields goes on an activity holiday to a remote Scottish island, she is looking forward to a week of climbing, hill-walking and horse riding. But things take a bad turn when their instructor has what appears to be a fatal abseiling accident. When Poppy discovers that his rope was cut, and more of the instructors start to have "accidents", she and best friend Graham suspect foul play and decide to investigate.
Book 2 and 3
JACK FLETCHER IS ON THE RUN With no sensei to guide him, he has just his wits and his swords against many new and unknown enemies, as he journeys along the treacherous road to the port of Nagasaki and perhaps home... But the Shogun's samurai are hot on his trail. Barely escaping their clutches, Jack runs headlong into a trap. Kidnapped by ninja and led to their village deep in the mountains, Jack has no means of escape. The only question is who will kill him first - the ninja or samurai?
Jack Fletcher has been left for dead. Bruised and battered, Jack Fletcher wakes up in a roadside inn wrapped only in a dirty kimono. He has lost everything, including his memory of what happened. Determined to discover the truth, Jack goes on a quest to retrieve his belongings - his precious swords, his friend Akiko's black pearl and most important of all, his father's prize possession. Relying on his samurai and ninja training, Jack realises The Ring of Water is the key to his survival. But with only a washed up Ronin - a masterless samurai - for help, what will Jack manage to find? What will he lose? And what will he have to sacrifice?
JACK FLETCHER FACES HIS TOUGHEST CHALLENGE YET. After a snowstorm forces him to take shelter, Jack comes across a village in need of protection from raiding mountain bandits. Torn between moving on or helping, Jack is persuaded to stay and fight the villagers' cause. But Jack is the first and only samurai to do so. Now he must enlist other warriors to the villagers' aid before the bandits return to steal their harvest. No easy task when the reward is so little and he is a foreigner. If only he had his friends to call on... Using the Ring of Fire, can Jack overpower the bandits and win? JACK FLETCHER IS BATTLING THE HIGH SEAS Ambushed by the Shogun's samurai, Jack and his friends have only one hope of escape the Seto Sea. But with ferocious storms, man-eating sharks and ninja pirates at every turn, their chosen route is fraught with danger. A treacherous crew only adds to their problems as they flee south from a ruthless samurai sea lord. Unless Jack can harness the Ring of Wind, he and his friends are destined for a watery grave . . .
Packed with historical action-adventure, the eighth and final book in Chris Bradford's blockbuster Young Samurai series reaches a thrilling conclusion. The Shogun has deemed that any Christian or foreigner now discovered outside the bounds of an official trading port will be instantly put to death. For Jack, Nagasaki is within reach, but the Shogun's samurai are closing in with the help of Jack's old school rival, Kazuki, who has a score to settle. Will Jack make it to the city alive? Will he keep hold of the precious rutter? Can he find a ship bound for England, or will he be burned at the stake?
'Zoey, what is it?' Stark said softly. I didn't answer Stark. Instead I faced Neferet. Somewhere in the back of my mind I could hear the buzz and whispers of the kids around me, and I knew forcing a confrontation with Neferet here and now wasn't smart. But I couldn't stop myself. . . Zoey is finally home where she belongs, safe with her Guardian Warrior, Stark, by her side, and preparing to face off against Neferet - which would be a whole lot easier if the High Counsel saw the ex-High Priestess for what she really is. But there are new forces at work at the House of Night. An influx of humans threatens their precarious stability. And then there's the mysterious Aurox, a jaw-droppingly gorgeous boy who is actually more - or possibly less - than human. Only Zoey can sense the compassion that wars with his Dark calling. Will Neferet's true nature be revealed before she succeeds in silencing them all? And will Zoey be able to touch Aurox's humanity in time to protect him - and everyone - from his own fate? I'd known it before we saw the fire trucks and the smoke. I'd known all hell had broken loose at the House of Night the moment it had been proven beyond all doubt that Neferet was on the side of Darkness. Only now I had a terrible feeling that outing Neferet would serve more to free her than to force her to pay the consequences for her lies and betrayals. At last, Zoey has what she wanted: the truth is out. Neferet's evil has been exposed, and the High Council is no longer on her side - but she's far from done wreaking havoc in the vampyre world. With the seeds of distrust sown and Darkness breeding chaos at the House of Night, everyone must band together - but that's proving to be more difficult than ever before. The twins are barely speaking and the House of Night's former enemy, Kalona, has now become their warrior, pushing their trust to the limits. To top it all off, Zoey is pretty darn sure she might be losing her mind - she saw something when she looked at Neferet's minion, Aurox, through the Seer Stone that she can hardly explain to herself, let alone her friends. Zoey knows that following her instincts might be just what they need to defeat evil... but if she's wrong, it could cause the destruction of those closest to her. With the tension at a breaking point and friendships on the line, can the nerd herd come together to stop the spread of Darkness before it's too late?
Half Bad by Sally Green is a breathtaking debut novel about one boy's struggle for survival in a hidden society of witches. You can't read, can't write, but you heal fast, even for a witch. You get sick if you stay indoors after dark. You hate White Witches but love Annalise, who is one. You've been kept in a cage since you were fourteen. All you've got to do is escape and find Mercury, the Black Witch who eats boys. And do that before your seventeenth birthday. Easy.
Secret agent Zac Darke is back for his third mission - and the stakes have never been higher. An unknown bomber is conducting a terror campaign in London. After an explosion on the tube leaves someone dead, Zac and his team are brought in to try and work out how this terror cell operates - but clues are scarce and they have no idea where, or when, the bomber will strike next. A teenage boy, currently detained in a young offender's institute, claims he has the answer - but before Zac can question him, the boy is shot and falls into a coma. Will Zac be able to break the cipher before the bomber strikes again?
Top student. Beauty queen. Girlfriend of the hottest football jock. Felicity's got everything. And it's all down to her red, red hair. Felicity lives in Scarletville, the world's only redhead sanctuary, where red hair is celebrated, protected - and the key to success. But Felicity has a secret. A red hot secret. And if anyone finds out, she's finished. Because Felicity's actually a natural blonde. And in Scarletville, blondes need not apply.
‘Let’s give ‘em something to think about!’Another day, another mission. Now a fully-fledged member of covert military squad Delta Unit, Mitch is thrust straight back into the battle zone. And there’s more at stake than ever before. The mission: smuggle an undercover peace negotiator through war-torn Afghanistan to the secret hideout of a powerful Taliban warlord. The squad: elite, Black-Ops soldiers – Mitch, Two Moons, Gaz, Tug, Benny and Nelson – codename, Delta Unit. Six men start out on the mission. How many will come back?High-octane, adrenalin-fuelled combat adventure.
When tragedy strikes close to home, teenager Mickey Bolitar and his loyal new friends sharp-witted Ema and the ever-charming Spoon - find themselves at the centre of a murder investigation involving their friend Rachel. Now, not only does Mickey have to continue his quest to uncover the truth about the mysterious death of his father, he also needs to figure out what happened to Rachel - no matter what it takes. Mickey has always been ready to sacrifice everything to help the people he loves. But how can he protect them when he's not even sure who - or what - he's protecting them from?
What has happened to the world since the dead took over? Where have the humans gone to hide? Who do the living most have to fear? B Smith is heading for unknown territory...Leading a group of humans through London and out into zombie-infested suburbs sounds like suicide - but not for the undead! Even so, the horrors of the journey will be beyond anything B has yet seen ...'Do not underestimate the dangers of this mission. Other zombies will not ignore you when they catch the scent of fresh brains. You will almost surely be called upon to fight. The city and countryside are full of angry, bitter people who are trying to execute as many of the undead as they can. They will not distinguish between a revitalised and a revived. Most do not know there is a difference. And most would not care.'
Six months have passed since the terrifying battle with Charlie Pink-eye and the Motor City Hammer in the zombie-infested mountains of the Rot & Ruin. It's also six months since Benny Imura and Nix Riley saw something in the air that changed their lives. Now, after months of rigorous training with Benny's zombie-hunter brother Tom, Benny and Nix are ready to leave their home forever and search for a better future. Lilah the Lost Girl and Benny's best friend Lou Chong are going with them. Sounds easy; sounds wonderful. Except that everything that can go wrong does. Before they can even leave there is a shocking zombie attack in town. And as soon as they step into the Rot & Ruin they are pursued by the living dead, wild animals, insane murderers and the horrors of Gameland. Because in the great Rot & Ruin everything wants to kill you. Everything. And not everyone in Benny's small band of travellers will make it out alive. Reeling from the devastation of Dust & Decay, Benny Imura and his friends plunge deep into the zombie-infested wastelands of the great Rot & Ruin. Benny, Nix, Lilah and Chong journey through a fierce wilderness that was once America, searching for the jet they saw in the skies months ago. If that jet exists then humanity itself must have survived ...somewhere. Finding it is their best hope for having a future and a life worth living. But the Ruin is far more dangerous than any of them can imagine. Fierce animals hunt them. They come face to face with a death cult. And then there's the zombies-swarms of them coming from the east, devouring everything in their paths. And these zoms are different. Faster, smarter, and infinitely more dangerous. Has the zombie plague mutated, or is there something far more sinister behind this new invasion of the living dead? One thing Benny and his companions can't afford to forget: In the great Rot & Ruin, everything wants to kill you. Destroyer of Evil. Champion of Good. Full-Time Librarian. Meet the mysterious Librarian. Keeper of the world's most dangerous books, sworn enemy of monsters made of paper and ink, crusader of young people threatened by ancient curses.
Othello is considered to be one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies. Beginning with an argument in a street in Venice, the grudges and passionate jealousies that fuel Othello's misfortunate plot are quickly revealed in this fantastical manga version of the classic story. Part of a series of graphic novel adaptations of Shakespeare's best-known plays, this is a cutting-edge book that will intrigue and grip readers. Drawing inspiration from trend-setting Japan, this series is illustrated by leading UK manga artists.
Samurai warriors have reclaimed a future post-nuclear world of mutants in the original manga version of Shakespeare's tale of skulduggery. The series keeps true to Shakespeare's original text, but is specially abridged for use in the manga, which makes it ideal for students to use as a primer and a way of getting to grips with the themes in Shakespeare's plays. A fusion of classic Shakespeare with manga visuals, these are cutting-edge books that will intrigue and grip readers.
Destroyer of Evil. Champion of Good. Full-Time Librarian. Meet the mysterious Librarian. Keeper of the world's most dangerous books, sworn enemy of monsters made of paper and ink, crusader of young people threatened by ancient curses.
It’s The Matrix meets Inner Space in a futuristic battle for survival. The breathtaking ride continues in BZRK: Reloaded. The second instalment of the incredible new action thriller series from Michael Grant, author of GONE. The first battle is over, but the war rages on. Sanity or madness? Truth or happiness? Love or survival? In the nano, you don’t get to decide. Noah and Sadie are now trained twitchers. They know how to wire a person’s brain from the inside, and how to get out alive. But they’re still reeling from their first encounter with the Armstrong Twins, and there’s no time for grief. As long as Bug Man has control of the US President’s mind, the future is on a knife edge. Destroyer of Evil. Champion of Good. Full-Time Librarian. Meet the mysterious Librarian. Keeper of the world's most dangerous books, sworn enemy of monsters made of paper and ink, crusader of young people threatened by ancient curses.
Reissue of the author’s most famous and well-loved work, the Starbridge series, six selfcontained yet interconnected novels that explore the history of the Church of England through the 20th century. Jon Darrow, a man with psychic powers, is a man who has played many parts: a shady faith-healer; a naval chaplain, a passionate husband, an awkward father, an AngloCatholic monk. In 1940 Darrow returns to the world he once renounced, but faced with many unforeseen temptations he fails to control his psychic, most glamorous powers. Corruption lies in wait for him, and threatens not only his future as a priest but his happiness with Anne, the young woman he has come to love. Staff Library HEART-STOPPING FORENSIC ACTION WITH A LETHAL TWIST The Virals' home on Loggerhead Island is under threat, and only one thing can save it: a lot of money. A 300-year-old legend Rumour has it that notorious pirate Anne Bonny hid her treasure somewhere in Charleston in 1720. No-one knows where, but Tory Brennan - great-niece of famous forensic anthropologist Dr Tempe Brennan - is certain that the Virals can work out Bonny's cryptic clues.
A deadly path It isn't long before the Virals are on the right track. But they aren't the only ones searching for the treasure.Someone is following them, and will stop at nothing to get their hands on it. Dead bodies litter the trail. Time is running out before the island will be sold. Will the Virals' special powers be enough to save them? Merrion Palmer has been Judge Guy Stockdale's mistress for the last seven years and his wife and two grown-up sons know absolutely nothing about her. Up until now, Guy and Merrion have enjoyed a blissfully, uncomplicated relationship in stolen moments in Merrion's flat, and to the rest of the world, Guy has played the part of model husband, father and grandfather. But now the time has come for things to change.Guy has become conscious of wasted years and he wants to share his relationship with Merrion with the world. He wants, dammit, to marry her. Yet he is quite unprepared for the storm that will follow ... Staff Library If your children were forced to testify against you, what terrible secrets would they reveal? Moscow 1945. As Stalin and his courtiers celebrate victory over Hitler, shots ring out. On a nearby bridge, a teenage boy and girl lie dead. But this is no ordinary tragedy and these are no ordinary teenagers, but the children of Russia's most important leaders who attend the most exclusive school in Moscow. Is it murder? A suicide pact? Or a conspiracy against the state? Directed by Stalin himself, an investigation begins as children are arrested and forced to testify against their friends - and their parents. This terrifying witch-hunt soon unveils illicit love affairs and family secrets in a hidden world where the smallest mistakes will be punished with death. Staff Library
First-class, award-winning authors interweave a gripping narrative with stacks of fun facts. This work caters particularly for the tastes of reluctant readers who would rather read about topics they're interested in than fiction - especially suitable for boys. It features fun, top-quality illustrations on almost every page. It is tested by consultants at every stage of production. Darren is going to be the best rock guitarist ever...just as soon as he learns how to play the guitar. But if he wants an electric guitar for his birthday, he has to solve his dad's puzzles first!
They spend their days - and too many of their nights - at work. Away from friends and family, they share a stretch of stained carpet with a group of strangers they call colleagues. There's Chris Yop, clinging to his ergonomic chair; Lynn Mason, the boss, whose breast cancer everyone pretends not to talk about; Carl Garbedian, secretly taking someone else's medication; Marcia Dwyer, whose hair is stuck in the eighties; and Benny, who's just - well, just Benny. Amidst the boredom, redundancies, water cooler moments, meetings, flirtations and pure rage, life is happening, to their great surprise, all around them. "Then We Came to the End" is about sitting all morning next to someone you cross the road to avoid at lunch. It's the story of your life and mine. Staff Library
Dracula is on the verge of coming into his full power. Department 19 is on the back foot. Ladies and gentlemen: welcome to war. The stakes? Mankind’s very survival‌ As the clock ticks remorselessly towards Zero Hour and the return of Dracula, the devastated remnants of Department 19 try to hold back the rising darkness. Jamie Carpenter is training new recruits, trying to prepare them for a fight that appears increasingly futile. Kate Randall is pouring her grief into trying to plug the Department's final leaks, as Matt Browning races against time to find a cure for vampirism. And on the other side of the world, Larissa Kinley has found a place she feels at home, yet where she makes a startling discovery. Uneasy truces are struck, new dangers emerge on all sides, and relationships are pushed to breaking point. And in the midst of it all, Department 19 faces a new and potentially deadly threat, born out of one of the darkest moments of its own long and bloody history. Zero Hour is coming. And the Battle Lines have been drawn. Drastically altered after her fall at the end of HIDDEN, Neferet is now more dangerous than ever - and her quest for vengeance will wreak havoc on humans as well as Zoey and her friends. Chaos is loosed in Tulsa and the House of Night is blamed. Can Zoey stop Neferet in time to keep her anger from escalating to full-on war? Or will someone else have to step in to take the fall?
Part of the "Shades" series, this story takes place during World War I aboard an armed fishing boat involved in an offshore sea battle.
When Chris sees an ornamental glass angel smash at his feet he doesn't think anything of it. But when a trip to the moors with his girlfriend brings strange events, he begins to think it may have been a bad omen. Then, out of the blue a stranger warns him to beware. Will Chris ever find out what connects these events, and if he fails what will be the consequences?
When Drew's little brother Martin digs up a bone in the back garden, Drew isn't worried at first. He thinks it's just a dog's bone. But when Martin finds more bones, he realizes they make a hand. To begin with it feels like an adventure, but then the bones seem to move from where Drew leaves them, and someone is writing him spooky messages...It turns out there is a body of a soldier from the Civil War buried in Drew's back garden, but the hand is from someone smaller, a soldier boy who won't rest until Drew and Martin bury his bones again.
The gods have created a world - they've built mountains, a sea and a sky – and now their days are filled with long naps in the clouds (and tea and cake). That's until Harry, Sue and little Ben begin to fill the gaps of the world: with a mousy thing, a chirpy thing and a twisty legless thing. As the children's ideas take shape, the power of their visions proves to be greater than they, or the gods, could ever have imagined.
Imagine you wrote a story and that story came true. This is exactly what happens to Blue Baker when he writes about a savage living alone in the woods near his home. After his dad’s death, Blue finds comfort in dreaming of a wild kid who survives on a diet of berries and the occasional hapless passer-by. But when the savage pays a night-time visit to the local bully, boundaries become blurred and Blue begins to wonder where he ends and the savage begins.
Fang's blog has brought ITEX and their cruel research to the world's attention, and his readers take a stand at the facility where Max and the girls are being held, shutting the organisation down. But Max isn't through saving the world yet! When the Flock is asked to aid a group of environmental scientists studying the effects of global warming, the expedition seems like a perfect combination of adventure and activism. But even in Antarctica, Max is an irresistible target with the eyes of the world upon her. For whoever controls her powers could also control the world...
LRC Staff Book Club Commencing Tuesday 1st April A coming of age novel about a generation of women who were both blessed and cursed by their choices. It is 1974 and the summer of love is finally drawing to a close. The flower children are starting to realise that you cannot survive on peace and love alone. Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the secondary school social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the ‘coolest girl in the world’, Tully Hart – the girl all the boys want to know - moves in across the street and wants to be her best friend. Tully and Kate became inseparable and by summer’s end they made a pact to be ‘best friends forever’. For thirty years Tully and Kate buoy each other through life, weathering the storms of friendship, jealousy, anger, hurt and resentment. Tully will follow her ambition to find fame and success. Kate knows that all she wants is to fall in love and have a family. What she doesn’t know is how being a wife and a mother will change her. They think they’ve survived it all until a single act of betrayal tears them apart. But when tragedy strikes, can the bonds of friendship survive? Or is it the one hurdle than even a lifelong friendship cannot overcome. FIREFLY LANE is a book for every woman who knows that her best friend is the only person who really, truly, knows her. And it is a book she will never forget. 'If Elizabeth Bennet had the washing of her own petticoats,' Sarah thought, 'she would be more careful not to tramp through muddy fields.' It is wash-day for the housemaids at Longbourn House, and Sarah's hands are chapped and raw. Domestic life below stairs, ruled with a tender heart and an iron will by Mrs Hill the housekeeper, is about to be disturbed by the arrival of a new footman, bearing secrets and the scent of the sea.
For seventy years, Josef Weber has been hiding in plain sight. He is a pillar of his local community. He is also a murderer. When Josef decides to confess, it is to Sage Singer, a young woman who trusts him as her friend. What she hears shatters everything she thought she knew and believed. As Sage uncovers the truth from the darkest horrors of war, she must follow a twisting trail between terror and mercy, betrayal and forgiveness, love - and revenge.
It's all gone wrong with the man Lottie thought was Mr Right. Then out of the blue she gets a call from her first love. She decides it muct be Fate, and rushes off to marry him and rekindle their sizzling Greek island romance. Lottie's older sister can't believe she's doing something so crazy. No more Ms Nice Sister, she's stopping this marriage. Right away! And she'll go to any lengths to do so...
One single mum With two jobs and two children, Jess Thomas does her best day after day. But it's hard on your own. And sometimes you take risks you shouldn't. Because you have to . . . One chaotic family Jess's gifted, quirky daughter Tanzie is brilliant with numbers, but without a helping hand she'll never get the chance to shine. And Nicky, Jess's teenage stepson, can't fight the bullies alone. Sometimes Jess feels like they're sinking . . . One handsome stranger Into their lives comes Ed Nicholls, a man whose life is in chaos, and who is running from a deeply uncertain future. But he has time on his hands. He knows what it's like to be lonely. And he wants to help . . . One unexpected love story The One Plus One is a captivating and unconventional romance from Jojo Moyes about two lost souls meeting in the most unlikely circumstances. A boat washes up on the shore of a remote lighthouse keeper's island. It holds a dead man - and a crying baby. The only two islanders, Tom and his wife Izzy, are about to make a devastating decision. They break the rules and follow their hearts. What happens next will break yours.
What if you had the chance to live your life again and again, until you finally got it right? During a snowstorm in England in 1910, a baby is born and dies before she can take her first breath. During a snowstorm in England in 1910, the same baby is born and lives to tell the tale. What if there were second chances? And third chances? In fact an infinite number of chances to live your life? Would you eventually be able to save the world from its own inevitable destiny? And would you even want to?
A moving love story inspired by a true story and perfect for fans of The Help In a time of hate, would you stand up for love? Shalerville, Kentucky, 1939. A world where black maids and handymen are trusted to raise white children and tend to white houses, but from which they are banished after dark. Sixteen-year-old Isabelle McAllister, born into wealth and privilege, finds her ordered life turned upside down when she becomes attracted to Robert, the ambitious black son of her family’s housekeeper. Before long Isabelle and Robert are crossing extraordinary, dangerous boundaries and falling deeply in love. Many years later, eighty-nine-year-old Isabelle will travel from her home in Arlington, Texas, to Ohio for a funeral. With Isabelle is her hairstylist and friend, Dorrie Curtis – a black single mother with her own problems. Along the way, Isabelle will finally reveal to Dorrie the truth of her painful past: a tale of forbidden love, the consequences of which will resound for decades . . .
A SECRET THAT WILL CHANGE LIVES FOREVER It was supposed to be the start of a big night out. But when Emily Kane arrives at her sister Carrie's house, she finds the front door unlocked and no one inside. Dinner's cooking, the TV's on. Carrie, her husband and their two daughters are gone. When the police draw a blank, Emily asks missing persons investigator David Raker to find them. It's clear someone doesn't want the family found. But as he gets closer to the truth, Raker begins to uncover evidence of a sinister cover-up, spanning decades and costing countless lives. And worse, in trying to find Emily's missing family, he might just have made himself the next target ...
‘I’ll tell you what happened because it will be a good way to introduce my brother. His name’s Simon. I think you’re going to like him. I really do. But in a couple of pages he’ll be dead. And he was never the same after that.’ There are books you can’t stop reading, which keep you up all night. There are books which let us into the hidden parts of life and make them vividly real. There are books which, because of the sheer skill with which every word is chosen, linger in your mind for days. The Shock of the Fall is all of these books. The Shock of the Fall is an extraordinary portrait of one man’s descent into mental illness. It is a brave and groundbreaking novel from one of the most exciting new voices in fiction. If your children were forced to testify against you, what terrible secrets would they reveal? Moscow 1945. As Stalin and his courtiers celebrate victory over Hitler, shots ring out. On a nearby bridge, a teenage boy and girl lie dead. But this is no ordinary tragedy and these are no ordinary teenagers, but the children of Russia's most important leaders who attend the most exclusive school in Moscow. Is it murder? A suicide pact? Or a conspiracy against the state? Directed by Stalin himself, an investigation begins as children are arrested and forced to testify against their friends - and their parents. This terrifying witch-hunt soon unveils illicit love affairs and family secrets in a hidden world where the smallest mistakes will be punished with death.
This Book Club will end in July