Heroic, by Phil Earle

Jammy and Sonny McGann are brothers. When Jammy returns from Afghanistan a very different man to the one who left, Sonny is left to hold things together.

When Heroic arrived at work I knew I had to read it. Army life is something that really interests me, mainly because I have a Dad that was in the Army. I don't know a huge amount about his time there but I've always been fascinated by the lifestyle and protocol. So it's always seemed strange to me that these young men go off to fight for their country, witness some truly devastating things and are then expected to come home on leave and just get on with life, the everyday things, like everything is 'normal'.

This is the theme explored in Heroic - PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It's something I still think we don't know enough about. Phil Earle has managed to write about an emotive subject with the sensitivity and courage it deserves. Jammy and Sonny really do go through the emotional wringer, and you're there with them all the way.

It's gritty, raw and emotional but it's also life-affirming and very good. Ultimately it's a story of brotherhood and of coming out the other side.

Stick it on the curriculum, I say!

Read by Kate

Wolf Princess, by Cathryn Constable

On a school trip to Russia, thirteen year old orphan Sophie Smith and her two friends find themselves abandoned on a train. They are rescued by Princess Anna Volkonskaya and taken to her winter palace. At the palace they are told stories of lost diamonds and royal secrets.

Up until now, Sophie has always felt ordinary and not much cared for. She has longed for something wonderful to happen. Little does she know that the secrets she is about to learn will take her on an adventure of a lifetime.

The Wolf Princess had me up until the early hours. It's exciting, wonderfully evocative and beautifully written. I really cared for Sophie and her friends and was desperate to get myself on a plane to St Petersburg to join them!

It's a great read for girls aged 9 years plus, or for anyone wanting to be swept up in a snowy, Russian fairytale.

Read by Kate

The Naughty Girls' Book Club, by Sophie Hart

Single mum Estelle sets up a book group to increase custom to her struggling cafe. The first book the group read is Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles. The members read it and raise some interesting points, yet ultimately think it's dull and old-fashioned. This makes Estelle nervous and unsure of her next book suggestion - Crime and Punishment.

As Estelle wrestles with ideas for the next book choice, she spies her very battered copy of 'Ten Sweet Lessons' By CJ Jones, the bestselling erotic novel doing the rounds, sticking out of her handbag...

Before you know it, the group are discussing all sorts of erotic literature, from Jilly Cooper's Riders to the Marquis de Sade.

This book is so much fun. I love that Sophie took the idea of an erotic read we are all very familiar with (some more than others!) and running with it. Not only do we get a story that is funny and a little bit naughty, but we also get to know the individuals in the group and each of their back stories. Some of these stories are sweet and romantic and others are more poignant.

The Naughty Girls' Book Club is one of my favourite reads this year. It followed me from room to room, and kept me company on many bus journeys - I just couldn't put it down. Yes, it's 'Chick Lit', but with a naughty twist.

Read by Kate

Author events: July

We've got some pretty fantastic events coming up in July. First of all, Village Books are thrilled to announce an evening event with Shelina Permalloo - Winner of MasterChef 2012.

Shelina's new book 'Sunshine on a Plate' showcases the food of Mauritius - with family-friendly, time-saving recipes and beautiful on-location photography. 

Shelina will be talking about her time on MasterChef, and how spices featured in her upbringing. She will also show you how to use spices to jazz up your everyday family food. 

You can read more about Shelina here: www.shelinapermalloo.com 

 Tuesday 2nd July, 7.30pm 

Tickets £5.00 each to include a FREE delicious Mango Cocktail and £3.00 off the book 

St. Barnabas Parish Hall, Dulwich Village SE21 7BT 

 Young fans of MasterChef welcome - Tickets £3.00 (Age 10-16) 

 Then on Wednesday 3rd July, join us for coffee, cake and book chat with Rachel Joyce, author of bestselling 'The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.' 

 We enjoyed our event with Rachel so much last year that we asked her to come back to see us again, to talk about her new book 'Perfect.' 

 Read more about Rachel here: www.rachel-joyce.co.uk 

 Wednesday 3rd July 10.30am 

Tickets £5 - to include coffee/cake and £2.00 off the book 

 St. Barnabas Parish Hall, Dulwich Village SE21 7BT 

 Book your tickets now as spaces are limited! 

 You can book tickets via: 

 Phone - 020 8693 2808 

Email - dulwich@village-books.co.uk 

Twitter - @bookshopdulwich 

Facebook - /villagebooksdulwich 

Or talk to a bookseller in either our Dulwich Village or Wandsworth Common shop

Star Island, by Carl Hiaasen

I know Carl Hiaasen best as a children's author - an excellent one, at that - but I will certainly be picking up another of his adult crime novels when I get the chance. I just found Star Island incredibly... refreshing, I think is the word.

Cherry Pye is a talentless hack but nevertheless a star, a tone-deaf nymphet who's only marketable quality is her slightly tawdry teeny-bop sexuality. She's also a horrendous liability - consuming booze and drugs with giddy abandon, she's likely to die at any minute from an overdose that has less to do with tortured artistry than idiocy. To keep the paparazzi guessing, her management employs a body double, a doppelgänger so convincing that when one obsessive photo-jock goes off the deep-end, he kidnaps the wrong lady. It gets wackier from there.

It's a crime caper, with a strong element of slapstick and an even stronger sense of irony. Thoroughly implausible but gleefully so, its reliance on celebrity culture as plot (and its subsequent reliance on technological zeitgeist as plot-device) may one day render it dated, but for now it's a fun, quirky and witty read.

I think the reason I found it so enjoyable was its distinctiveness. It's just not like any other crime novel I've read recently. It's the absolute antidote - almost the antithesis - to the Scandinavian thrillers so popular in the late Noughties and early Tens. One person dies (only ONE!), and even then he's an unremitting dweeb and probably had it coming, and his death is gruesomely ludicrous as opposed to plain gruesome. It's energising to read a crime book that doesn't rely on heinous crimes and buckets of gore to create tension (and my favourite crime novel is probably Dark Hollow, so I'm not saying I mind books about those things).

A good summer read, funny an interesting and written in a breezy but solid style. Grab it soon, before everyone forgets what a Blackberry is.

Read by Joshua

    

Astray, by Emma Donoghue

First of all, I hate this cover. I appreciate the necessity of branding, and although this fits nicely against the current editions of Room and The Sealed Letter (skinny-Gothic text, wibbly out-of-focus shot of a sad looking person looking away from the camera) I think it lets the book down. It makes it look like a misery memoir, and while it might be argued that Room was a book of that type, I thought that particular novel both somewhat atypical of Donoghue's work and marketed as a more sensational book than it actually was (I do not mean this as a criticism). OK, rant over.

Cover = bad, book = good.

Astray is a collection of fourteen fact-inspired stories. Fourteen diverting sidenotes from the history books or old letters are turned into fourteen vignettes about people gone astray. It's a sweet, evocative, interesting read.

Donoghue captures the immigrant/emigrant experience with clarity and pathos. That experience is not the pull-up-your-socks, second-generation movie version, it's the version where it hurts so bad to leave your home that you carry the ache around with you like a boulder in your stomach. Many of the people in this book are very far from home, and moving ever farther.

The short stories themselves are distinct, as befits a collection gathered over more than a decade ('Counting the Days' was published in '98). Choosing these unusual historical footnotes is an interesting idea, and Donoghue uses it well. My only criticism is that her attempts to add a distinctive turn to the writing of each tale falls a little flat. The ones that deviate from non-standard telling (the first story is unfortunately one of these) feel forced, very 'creative-writing-y.' I would have preferred more boldness with her own voice, and a unifying sound to each of the stories.

Other than that, and the cover, this is recommended. It's a good choice for anyone looking to be transported  away from the tube, or the gloomy weather, to a place you've never heard of before and will never ever go.

Read by Joshua.

Upcoming Event: an afternoon of conversation with Sabine Durrant and Gill Hornby

Join us for an afternoon of coffee, cake and conversation with Sabine Durrant, author of the best-selling thriller Under Your Skin, and Gill Hornby, author of school-gate mums comedy-drama The Hive.

 Friday 7th June, 2pm 

 St. Barnabas Parish Hall, Dulwich 

Tickets £5 (£2 redeemable against book purchases) 

Inc. tea/coffee & cake 

 This event will sell-out, and so booking is ESSENTIAL. 

 You can book tickets via: 

 Phone - 020 8693 2808 

Email - dulwich@village-books.co.uk 

Twitter - @bookshopdulwich 

Facebook - /villagebooksdulwich 

Or talk to a bookseller in either our Dulwich Village or Wandsworth Common