Maryom's Picks of the Year

 I'm starting with a rather obvious sort of choice; Hilary Mantel's Bring Up The Bodies, the 'sequel' to Wolf Hall and the continuing political machinations of Thomas Cromwell. Not everyone's cup of tea but I loved it!








Next - two very atmospheric and very different novels

Archipelago by Monique Roffey  - a hauntingly beautiful story of loss and recovery set against the backdrop of the Caribbean

 and
The Book of Summers by Emylia Hall  - a wonderful evocation of long, hot Hungarian summers mixed with long hidden family secrets









Two historical novels both asking the question How do you define family - by birth or by upbringing?

Ben Elton's family-history inspired Two Brothers


and ML Stedman's The Light Between Oceans










 Two crime novels;
 The Calling by Neil Cross - spin off from BBC's Luther series; hard-hitting and violent, a story that left me reeling.

and the marginally cosier (though not by much) Vanished by Liza Marklund








                                                    


Three books that I'll rather loosely label as 'local'

David Calcutt's re-telling of the traditional tales of Robin Hood




Steven Dunn's rather too close to home thriller, Deity






and Edward Hogan's The Hunger Trace

For teens, YA and anyone really  - Celia Rees' This Is Not Forgiveness 

 a compelling, disturbing read that I couldn't put down 

For younger readers, the magical Wolf Princess by Cathryn Constable -  a wonderful, enthralling delight of a book set in an abandoned Russian palace in the depths of a snowy forest.

The Wolf Princess by Cathryn Constable

paperback

Winter Wonderland Adventure
review by Maryom

Sophie smith is an orphan living for most of the year at her dull boring boarding school while her disinterested guardian is, yet again, absent on business. What Sophie really longs for is adventure! At night she dreams of journeying on a train through the snowbound Russian countryside, so when the possibility of going there on a school trip arises, she leaps at it.The reality is not what Sophie expected. Thrown out of a train on a deserted platform, Sophie and her friends wonder what on earth will happen to them ....but then they are rescued and taken to the winter palace of Princess Anna Volkonskaya. The Princess is desperately seeking her family's lost treasure- in particular a rope of magnificent diamonds - and believes Sophie holds the key to their whereabouts.

The Wolf Princess is a wonderful, enthralling story of a decaying palace, the mysterious, glamorous Princess who lives there, the snowy forests that surround it with sleigh rides through them and the wolves that howl there in the night. A story of adventure and secrets from the past, in an exotic almost magical setting, it reminded me of the enchantment I felt on reading The Little White Horse as a child. I'm just that bit older now but was similarly mesmerised as I read The Wolf Princess.The reader is transported along with Sophie from the mundane everyday world to a mysterious, fairy-tale winter wonderland.

Hardback

A captivating story that is just right for Christmas stockings, either for the 10+ reading bracket to read on their own or as a serial bedtime story for younger ones.  The Wolf Princess is definitely going on my 'best reads' list for this year.

Unusually I've added images for both paperback and hardback versions as both are wonderful though very different.

Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Chicken House
Genre - 10+, adventure, 

Available on pre-order from Amazon till October 2012

 The Wolf Princess paperback
 The Wolf Princess hardback


Other reviews; Serendipity Reviews

Parcels and intriguing packaging

Post by Maryom!!!

 We're just back from a fortnight's holiday in Scotland which included calling in at the Edinburgh Book Festival.

Waiting for our return, in amongst the junk mail, were interesting looking parcels - books!

We don't normally get lots delivered at one time so there's no debate about which to open first

but

 when most come in slightly dull jiffy bags or cardboard folders

 

 the interesting ones jump the queue....

 In a shiny metallic green bag was a copy of Shadows by Ilsa J Bick - the much awaited follow-up to Ashes.

 But most intriguing of all was the silver shiny parcel with a book wrapped in tissue paper...

 .....with sparkly 'gems'...

 What was inside?

The Wolf Princess by Cathryn Constable

 ...and if you want to know what it's about....

here's the cover blurb. Certainly one I'm looking forward to reading.