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Kala by Colin Walsh I loved this noirish, coming of age thriller from Colin Walsh. In the town of Kinlough on the west coast of Ireland, three friends come together for the first time since the summer of 2003, when one of their inseparable group of friends disappeared without a trace. This is so taught and well written, and kept me completely gripped throughout. It was so atmospheric and had such a strong sense of place, and conveyed the heady sense of hope and possibility of the coming of age years juxtaposed with the darkness of the friends current circumstances...

As it's Mother's Day this weekend, we thought we'd do what we love most- choosing books- but this time for our own mums. It's a real privilege to be trusted to select books for our subscribers. As readers we love having books suggested to us, so to be able to do that for others is a real treat. We aim to surprise and delight our subscribers with every book that arrives, so let's see how we get on doing the same with our biggest supporters, our mums!

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong I'm (as usual!) late to the runaway success that is On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, but after hearing Ocean Vuong speak on several podcasts I was keen to give this a try. I also absolutely love the title- how could you not want to read something with that title? Written as a letter from a son to his illiterate mother, this is heartrending from the very start. Narrated by the son Little Dog, in his late twenties, this book gradually uncovers a family history of war in Vietnam, of intergenerational trauma, and...

It's almost March and the team has been eagerly awaiting the arrival of some exciting new publications for 2024. We've been flipping through publisher catalogues, reading online reviews and watching author interviews, to compile the list of books we're most looking forward to getting to this year. Though by no means exhaustive, we hope some of these varied titles pique your interest and are added to your own creaking bookshelves! Let us know what you can't wait to read this year.   Marianne I'm not usually driven by trying to read titles as soon as they are released, but there are quite a few...