Frankie Boyle swaps comedy for crime with his debut novel…
Fiction
1. Her Majesty’s Royal Coven by Juno Dawson is published in hardback by HarperVoyager. Available now
Who's reading #HerMajestysRoyalCoven this weekend?
Share your reactions witches! pic.twitter.com/ho8raeYiXZ— HarperVoyagerUK (@HarperVoyagerUK) July 23, 2022
Juno Dawson might be best known for YA novels, but now she’s launching her first adult series – and it has a supernatural spin. This is a fun and adventurous novel, drawing together fantasy and contemporary politics with great gusto and imagination. It tells the story of an ancient coven of witches, who are facing the same challenges as contemporary governments and individuals are today – but in an even more explosively dangerous way. Carefully crafted characters come together in this world that is so close to being ours, but still a step away from what we know, with magic and romance front and centre. Despite being a bit sickly sweet and gimmicky in places, this novel succeeds in drawing attention to vital conversations we all should be having, while also telling a brilliant story.
8/10
(Review by Imy Brighty-Potts)
2. The Retreat by Sarah Pearse is published in hardback by Bantam Press. Available now
🇬🇧 It’s UK Publication Day!! 🇬🇧 #TheRetreat is out today in the UK!
A big thank you to my agent @ce_seymour, editor @CottonFinn , publicist @ThomasssHill & the wider team @TransworldBooks for their hard work on the book and to every reader and author who has supported so far! pic.twitter.com/7oAgoo6o1b— Sarah Pearse (@SarahVPearse) July 21, 2022
Fans of The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley might very well enjoy The Retreat. It’s also a thriller set in an isolated location – in this case Reaper’s Rock, a creepy island that’s been reinvented as an Instagram-friendly health and wellness spa. And very lovely it would be too, if it wasn’t for a vicious serial killer bumping off the guests one by one. Sent to investigate is DS Elin Warner, whose boyfriend happens to be the retreat’s architect, and who has plenty of demons of her own. In fact, pretty much everyone in the book is hiding a dark secret or a dodgy past, making guess-the-killer a serious challenge. With its short chapters, each one ending on a cliffhanger, The Retreat is designed to keep you guessing to the very end. A great one to read on holiday – provided you’re not visiting a creepy island, of course…
7/10
(Review by Jackie Kingsley)
3. Meantime by Frankie Boyle is published in hardback by Baskerville. Available now
Publication day! Thanks to everyone who helped make it happen. Hope you dig it. pic.twitter.com/woK7nehVp4
Advertisement— Frankie Boyle (@frankieboyle) July 21, 2022
Frankie Boyle the stand-up comedian – whose brilliant rants are littered with funny, shocking, often obscene but always gripping storylines – has become Frankie Boyle the crime novelist, whose debut is similarly funny, shocking and gripping. Meantime is set in Glasgow, in the aftermath of the Independence referendum, with central character Felix McAveety just about staying clear of drugs long enough to investigate the murder of his friend Marina, after deciding the police aren’t interested. He needs help to switch from being an occasional bar worker/drop out to a private detective, so he enlists the support of a dying crime novelist. The investigation lurches through a heady mix of drugs, stalkers and dangerous criminals. You can imagine Boyle actually reading the book out loud, with each chapter peppered with amusing anecdotes and hilarious observations.
7/10
(Review by Alan Jones)
Non-fiction
4. Femina by Janina Ramirez is published in hardback by WH Allen. Available now
My book #Femina is officially released on Thursday. I’m so excited/nervous/anxious/delighted and I’d love to see it soar! You can help it grow wings by ordering here https://t.co/dJ4r8yhuqV. I am trying to frame history differently so we clearly see those that have been excluded. pic.twitter.com/XfcwLLJEOy
— Dr Janina Ramirez (@DrJaninaRamirez) July 19, 2022
In 2007, on farmland in an unprepossessing part of North Yorkshire, archeologists excavated the burial mound of a seventh century noble who came to be known as the Loftus Princess. The significance of her grave and its lavish decorations challenged the common perception of the benign roles of women in the Middle Ages, and forms one of a series of inspiring portraits in Janina Ramirez’s Femina. Through her exhaustive research, a radically new narrative emerges; one which flies in the face of more conventional histories of the period. Ramirez reveals the lives of women who controlled vast kingdoms and acted as power brokers between rival clans, their stature emphasised by the veneration they were evidently afforded in death. Once routinely disregarded as ‘femina’ in historical records, Ramirez brings these long-forgotten heroines back to life. In doing so, she implicitly exposes the extent to which the realities of the period have been overlooked, and relishes the opportunity to set the record straight.
8/10
(Review by Mark Staniforth)
Children’s book of the week
5. You Can Do It by Marcus Rashford and Carl Anka is published in paperback by Macmillan Children’s Books. Available now
Happy publication day @Ankaman616 @MacmillanKidsUK 💚
‘You Can Do it’ is out now!https://t.co/uG0j655ym0 pic.twitter.com/abWsJLyuJm— Marcus Rashford MBE (@MarcusRashford) July 21, 2022
A follow-up to You Are A Champion, children will undoubtedly find You Can Do It hugely inspiring. In it, Marcus Rashford shares some deeply personal stories – such as what was going through his head when he missed the penalty in the Euro 2020 final, as well as what happened afterwards – all giving teachable moments on how to be a better you. It covers everything from the importance of taking care of yourself and how to be a better ally, to why we should celebrate our differences. The language is clear, inclusive, not at all patronising, and will resonate with any child, and the illustrations give the book extra vibrancy. It’s perfect for any young person who’s looking to make a difference in the world, but doesn’t quite know how to go about it.
9/10
(Review by Prudence Wade)
Book charts for the week ending July 23rd
Hardback (Fiction)
1. Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
2. The House Of Fortune by Jessie Burton
3. Murder Before Evensong by Reverend Richard Coles
4. Meantime by Frankie Boyle
5. Her Majesty’s Royal Coven by Juno Dawson
6. Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
7. Glow by Raven Kennedy
8. Lore Olympus Volume Two by Rachel Smythe
9. The Partisan by Patrick Worrall
10. Godmersham Park by Gill Hornby
(Compiled by Waterstones)
Hardback (Non-fiction)
1. Revenge by Tom Bower
2. The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland
3. Happy-Go-Lucky by David Sedaris
4. Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? by Dr Julie Smith
5. House Arrest by Alan Bennett
6. The Hong Kong Diaries by Chris Patten
7. Russia by Antony Beevor
8. The Premonitions Bureau by Sam Knight
9. Fantastic Beasts by J.K. Rowling & Steve Kloves
10. The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse by Charlie Mackesy
(Compiled by Waterstones)
Audiobooks (Fiction & Non-fiction)
1. Revenge by Tom Bower
2. Mack The Life by Lee Mack
3. Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
4. The Long Call by Ann Cleeves
5. This Much Is True by Miriam Margolyes
6. Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? by Dr Julie Smith
7. One Last Secret by Adele Parks
8. Along Came A Spider by James Patterson
9. Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
10. Atomic Habits by James Clear
(Compiled by Audible)
