The long way to a small angry planet – Becky Chambers

“I can wait for the galaxy outside to get a little kinder.”

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The Lake House – Kate Morton

A person never forgets the landscape of their childhood.

The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood

Better never means better for everyone, he says. It always means worse, for some.

The Essex Serpent – Sarah Perry

Anything that was ever worth knowing began with once upon a time.

The Memory Book – Lara Avery

They tell me that my memory isn’t going to be the same, that I might start forgetting things. At first just a little, and then a lot. So I’m writing to remember.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe – Benjamin Alire Saenz

I got to thinking that one of my jobs in the world was to laugh at Dante’s joke‬s.

Wing Jones – Katherine Webber

No, I don’t dream about the accident. I dream, over and over again, that I’m running. Running like I’ve never run before. Running like Eliza Thompson. Running like my lioness. Running as fast as my dragon flew that night, up into the sky and away from here. The setting changes – I’m on grass, on the beach, on the dirt track at school, on the road – but I’m always running. So far and so fast that my dream lungs ache and my muscles scream, but I keep going. I can’t tell if I’m running away from something or if I’m running toward something.

Tonight is no different. I wake up drenched in sweat. Every beat of my pounding heart is a command.

Run. Run. Run.

The Wind Singer – William Nicholson

In Aramanth, exams are everything, deciding where people should live and what they should wear. When Kestrel rebels, her family are sentenced to the harshest punishment. In order to save them and to restore happiness to Aramanth, Kestrel knows she must restore the voice of the wind singer, an ancient statue standing in the city’s square. She embarks on this dangerous mission with Bowman, her twin, and along the way they encounter Mumpo, the silly, smelly school dunce who adores Kestrel. Their daring journey encompasses the Mudpeople, the malevolent Old Children and bloodthirsty desert tribes.

The Fever – Megan Abbott

(please enjoy my new blanket, which is a recycled wool one from the National Trust)

There’s something bad happening in Dryden.

When Lise Daniels collapses to the floor during math class, a cloud of fear and speculation settles over the school. Parents and teachers scramble to protect the students, but how do you stop what you can’t contain?

Because Lise, beautiful Lise, is only the first: one by one the girls become victims, betrayed by their bodies, becoming strangers to themselves.

As hysteria swells, swecrets will spill, and the safe world we’ve been building for our children will start to come apart.

Garlic, Mint & Sweet Basil – Jean-Claude Izzo

Have no fear: an excess of basil, like an excess of love, will not damage the heart.