The team at Topping and Co give their pick of what's on the shelves this week:
A Splendid Little War, Derek Robinson, £8.99
Whenever I want something gripping and thought-provoking, Derek Robinson is one of my go-to writers. With Armoured trains and Russian wastes, this novel is a fantastically atmospheric and darkly funny jaunt into one of Britain's more overlooked military blunders that follows the RAF's attempt to "strangle Communism in it's cradle".
Nick
Animals, Emma Jane Unsworth, £12.99
This is a speedy, exciting tale of female friendship from a young Manchester writer, Emma Jane Unsworth. She is definitely a writer to look out for and her previous novel, Hungry, The Stars and Everything won the Betty Trask Award and was shortlisted for the Portico Prize. Read this and you'll be rewarded with hilarity, a love affair and drunken benders in beautiful, raw prose. The perfect literary bad girl antidote to Bridget Jones.
Kathleen
ABC & DO, Lee Singh and Karen Wall, £12.99
This interactive ABC book is fantastic, it is without a doubt the best of its kind out there! Fun and colourful it will have children learning their ABC's in no time! A for Amazing!
Vicky
Sculptor's Daughter, Tove Jansson, £9.99
This treasure-trove of a memoir is the most delightful book I've read this year. Jansson is most well known for her much-loved creation, the Moomins, with Sculptor's Daughter being one in a series of her books for adults to gain new attention this century. Jansson's semi-fictional tales of childhood are full of dark, snowy encounters and childhood revelry, all set among the magical Finnish and Swedish landscapes of her younger years. It's one of those rare books that made me feel like a child again!
I love this book so much that we've made it our monthly title for our Book Group on June 9. If you'd like to join us you can find details at www.toppingbooks.co.uk.
Lucy
Book of You, Claire Kendal, £12.99
We're so excited about this topical psychological thriller from debut author Claire Kendall. In the Book of You we follow Clarissa, a woman who is finding it more and more difficult to escape her invasive and sinister colleague, Rafe. When Clarissa is selected for jury duty on a case of abduction and abuse, she realises that there are telling parallels between that of the abducted woman and her own life...and it's only a matter of time before Rafe's macabre plans begin to unravel before her eyes. A chilling read that is impossible to ignore.
Claire will be doing a talk about the Book of You at the Bookshop on Tuesday May 27.
Lucy
