Books & Chat

Waterstones Novel of the Year 2023  A gripping, heart-shattering love story between two soldiers in the First World War. It's 1914, and talk of war feels far away to Henry Gaunt, Sidney Ellwood and the rest of their classmates, safely ensconced in their idyllic boarding school in the English countryside. At seventeen, they're too young to enlist, and anyway, Gaunt is fighting his own private battle - an all-consuming infatuation with his best friend, the dreamy, poetic Ellwood - not having a clue that Ellwood is in love with him, always has been. When Gaunt's German mother asks him to enlist as an officer in the British army to protect the family from anti-German attacks, Gaunt signs up immediately, relieved to escape his overwhelming feelings for Ellwood. The front is horrific, of course, and though Gaunt tries to dissuade Ellwood from joining him on the battlefield, Ellwood soon rushes to join him, spurred on by his love of Greek heroes and romantic poetry. Before long, their classmates have followed suit. Once in the trenches, Ellwood and Gaunt find fleeting moments of solace in one another, but their friends are all dying, right in front of them, and at any moment they could be next. An epic tale of both the devastating tragedies of war and the forbidden romance that blooms in its grip, In Memoriam is a breathtaking debut.

Every life is both ordinary and extraordinary, but Logan Mountstuart's - lived from the beginning to the end of the twentieth century - contains more than its fair share of both. As a writer who finds inspiration with Hemingway in Paris and Virginia Woolf in London, as a spy recruited by Ian Fleming and betrayed in the war and as an art-dealer in '60s New York, Logan mixes with the movers and shakers of his times. But as a son, friend, lover and husband, he makes the same mistakes we all do in our search for happiness. Here, then, is the story of a life lived to the full - and a journey deep into a very human heart. 'Astonishing, touching, extremely funny. A brilliant evocation of a past era and an immensely readable story' - Sunday Telegraph

The Morrison siblings have been haunted by tragedy since the sudden death of their parents in an accident when they were young. Kate found an escape from the legacy of their dark past in her passion for the natural world. Now a zoologist far away from the small farming community where she grew up, she thinks she's outgrown her three brothers, who were once her entire world. But Kate can't seem to escape her childhood or lighten the weight of their mutual past.

Our Missing Hearts is the third novel by the American author Celeste Ng [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celeste_Ng]. It was published in 2022 by Penguin Press [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penguin_Group]. The novel follows Noah Gardner (known as Bird) on a bus trip from Cambridge, Massachusetts [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge,_Massachusetts], where he lives with his father, to New York City in search for his mother. The novel takes place in a dystopian future under PACT (The Preserving American Culture and Traditions Act)

Rachel Sargeant is the author of The Roommates [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Roommates-gripping-psychological-bestselling-Neighbours-ebook/dp/B07NKPZQ8R/ref=sr_1_1?amp&&&&&crid=LDOB6FAV0KIP&keywords=the%20roommates%20rachel%20sargeant&qid=1694433884&s=books&sprefix=the%20roommates%20rachel%20sargeant%2Cstripbooks%2C639&sr=1-1], The Good Teacher [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Good-Teacher-gripping-bestselling-Neighbours-ebook/dp/B07GJB38F3/], and The Perfect Neighbours [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Perfect-Neighbours-gripping-psychological-thriller-ebook/dp/B074M2VJ3P/ref=sr_1_1?amp&&&&&crid=1YEEC5TIK9U2G&keywords=the%20perfect%20neighbours%20rachel%20sargeant&qid=1694433993&s=books&sprefix=the%20perfect%20neighbours%20rachel%20sargeant%2Cstripbooks%2C3498&sr=1-1]. She also writes the Gloucestershire Crime Series, which includes Her Deadly Friend [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Deadly-Friend-Gloucestershire-Crime-Book-ebook/dp/B0CY94TJBS/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3JRSDK8OPWG0Y&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ju9V2RjM4Zd4uYp8QOMmOcfgXKdk1ECiy9ZcHSaFlFeckfQBYgxEsLTTX4CjW1T6kGIUMdVrSP6Iq6a1ZlsO3YGXuwCh-5BgKTtg0FT0vWwXfxmZiGR4aIX_rhGwN-bVeTdR_64SAXwc096bFABNaDYBY72Nrtu_9whm2fHQfvf_3rXtE03LHputUpBAyYNYs-oBl2Iq3VqW5AGB-hL2zBu9TNDo8slbEs6b_8tbqFc.LdYlMN_jfSp12l6BpbNljjJSpOB96PC33KEYrpsKTQ4&dib_tag=se&keywords=her+deadly+friend&qid=1713889755&s=digital-text&sprefix=her+deadly+friend%2Cdigital-text%2C1587&sr=1-1] and Her Charming Man [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Her-Charming-Gloucestershire-Crime-Book-ebook/dp/B0CY5ZFRR4/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3FEI4E1IMQ9J3&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.xmcNjWgoi3mwPOYkEDxki8B6S6dKHy64DXYmCBkwnuvt3mM0CgflG3APm0x2YnUX5A79NkFkxXT3L_MUMFhWq0LMOX0X0KeCHfZTZ3AHHthinMhai3l_6h4T_BOn3_LWFntflgmOFtd_ufdAgw1W8U08u2c30ckLfpW-iYDchlBbBEpItHZeCSIOW_Kv9nZ3uak5j3OwjxwJdeTmDnBPfAVecLfSjgcc-L8wkZYAxtE.c3eSZZM7vg0UxRFP9Q3Cnyal4CTAyUoakgVYoog7b6Q&dib_tag=se&keywords=her+charming+man&qid=1713890009&s=digital-text&sprefix=her+charming+man%2Cdigital-text%2C235&sr=1-1]. She won Writing Magazine’s Crime Short Story competition and has been shortlisted in various competitions including the Bristol Short Story Prize. Her stories have appeared in My Weekly and the Saucy Shorts series by Accent Press. She is a graduate of Aberystwyth University and holds a PhD from the University of Birmingham. She provides bespoke critiques for Henshaw Press short story competition entrants and is a judge in the quarterly competitions. After many years in Germany, she now lives in Gloucestershire with her family. Her hobbies are visiting country houses and coffee shops, and going to the theatre.