Recent Books

Colditz (November 2022) – Athenaeum Book Club 2023

By Ben Macintyre

November 27, 2022

The real Colditz – for the first time

In a forbidding gothic castle on a hilltop deep in Nazi German, un unlikely band of British officers spent the Second World War plotting daring escapes from their German captors – or so the myth of Colditz has been told, unchallenged for seventy years.  But that tale contains only part of the truth.

The astonishing inside story, revealed here for the first time by bestselling historian Ben Macintyre, is a trilling tale of the indomitable human spirit, but also one of class conflict and sexual liaisons, bullying and espionage, insanity and farce.  From eminent officers – some of the greatest escapers of all – to their long-suffering orderlies, the prisoners of Colditz Castle created an eccentric world within a hilltop cage, a world apart that was divided over politics, sexuality and race, with a distinct language, theatrical shows and even its own Olympics.

With access to an unprecedented range of material.  Macintyre paints a vivid new picture of the prisoners and their jailers, who lived side by side for years in an epic game of cat and mouse.  He reveals a remarkable cast of characters, from the unknown Indian doctor who went on hunger strike to the members of the Colditz Bullingdon Club, and from the Anglophile German officer who recreated escape attempts to the Polish housewife, in fact an agent of British intelligence, whose network smuggled dozens of prisoners to safety.

Deeply researched and full of incredible stories of heroes who were also human, this is classic Ben Macintyre – and the definitive book on Colditz.

The Wild Silence (November 2022)

By Raynor Winn

November 27, 2022

In 2016, days before they were unjustly evicted from their home, Raynor Winn was told her husband Moth was dying.  Instead of giving up they embarked on a life-changing journey: walking the 630-mile South West Coast Path, living by their wits, determination and love of nature.  But all journeys must end and when the couple return to civilization they find that four walls feel like a prison, cutting them off from the sea and sky that sustained them – that had saved Moth’s life.  So when the chance to rewild an old Cornish farm comes their way, they grasp it, hoping they’ll not only reconnect with the natural world but also find themselves again on its healing path…

Shrines of Gaiety (October 2022)

By Kate Atkinson

November 2, 2022

1926, and in a country still recovering from the Great War, London has become the focus for a delirious new nightlife.  In the clubs of Soho, peers of the realm rub shoulders with starlets, foreign dignitaries with gangsters, and girls sell dances for a shilling a time.

The notorious queen of this glittering world is Nellie Coker, ruthless but also ambitious to advance her six children, including the enigmatic eldest, Niven, whose character has been forged in the crucible of the Somme.  But success breeds enemies, and Nellie’s empire faces threats from without and within.  For beneath the dazzle of Soho’s gaiety, there is a dark underbelly, a world in which it is all too easy to become lost.

With her unique Dickensian flair, Kate Atkinson brings together a glittering cast of characters in a truly mesmeric novel that captures the uncertainty and mutability of life, in a world in which nothing is quite as it seems.

All the Broken Places (October 2022)

By John Boyne

November 2, 2022

Ninety-one-year-old Gretel Fernsby has lived in the same mansion block in London for decades.  She leads a comfortable, quiet life, despite her dark and disturbing past.  She doesn’t talk about her escape from Germany over seventy years before.  She doesn’t talk about the post-war years in France with her mother.  Most of all she doesn’t talk about her father, the commandant of one of the most notorious Nazi concentration camps.

Then, a young family moves into the apartment below her.  In spite of herself, Gretel can’t help but begin a friendship with their son, Henry, though his presence brings back memories she would rather forget.  One night, she witnesses a violent argument between Henry’s mother and his domineering father, one that threatens Gretal’s hard-won, self-contained existence.

Gretal is faced with a change to expiate her guilt, grief and remorse and act to save a young boy – for the second time in her life.  But to do so, she will be forced to reveal her true identity to the world.  Will she make a different choice this time, whatever the to cost to herself?

Exiles (October 2022)

By Jane Harper

November 2, 2022

Aaron Falk returns in this masterful novel of intrigue.

At a busy festival site on a warm spring night, a baby lies alone in her pram, her mother having vanished into the crowds.

A year on, Kim Gillespie’s absence casts a long shadow as her friends and loved ones gather deep in the heart of South Australian wine country to welcome a new addition to the family.

Aaron Falk, federal investigator, is joining the celebrations.  But as he soaks up life in the lush valley, he begins to suspect this tight-knit group may be more fractured than it seems.  As hidden truths slowly emerge, Falk faces the darkest of questions.

The Twist of a Knife (October 2022)

By Anthony Horowitz

November 2, 2022

‘Our deal is over.’

That’s what reluctant author Anthony Horowitz tells ex-detective Daniel Hawthorne in an awkward meeting.  The truth is that Anthony has other things on his mind.

His new play, Mindgame, is about to open in London’s Vaudeville Theatre.  Not surprisingly Hawthorne declines a ticket.

On opening night, Sunday Times critic Harriet Throsby gives the play a savage review, focusing particularly on the writing.  The next morning she is found dead, stabbed in the heart with an ornamental dagger which, it turns out, belongs to Anthony and which has his fingerprints all over it.

Anthony is arrested, charged with Throsby’s murder, thrown into prison and interrogated.

Alone and increasingly desperate, he realises only one man can help him.

Forever Home (October 2022)

By Graham Norton

November 2, 2022

Carol is a divorced teacher living in a small Irish town, her only son now grown.  A second chance at love with the older Declan brings her unexpected connection and belonging, but sparks local speculation: what does a woman like her see in a man like him?  What happened to his wife who abandoned him all those years ago?

The gossip only serves to bring them closer, but when Declan becomes ill things start to fall apart.  His children are untrusting and cruel, and Carol is forced to leave their beloved home with its worn oak floors and elegant features and move back in with her parents.  Unwilling to see her daughter suffer, Carol’s mother vows to get to the bottom of things.  It seems there are secrets in Declan’s past, strange rumours that were never confronted, and suddenly the house they shared takes on a more sinister significance.

Compassionate, knowing and exquisitely tense, Graham Norton’s gripping and darkly comic novel looks beneath the surface of everyday life to reveal that dangerous place where hidden desires and forgotten fears lurk.

The Bullet that Missed (October 2022)

By Richard Osman

November 2, 2022

It is an ordinary Thursday and things should finally be returning to normal.

Except trouble is never far away where the Thursday Murder Club is concerned.  A decade-old cold case leads them to a local news legend and a murder with no body and no answers.

Then, a new foe pays Elizabeth a visit.  Her mission?  Kill…or be killed.

As the cold case turns red hot, Elizabeth wrestles with her conscience (and a gun), while Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim chase down clues with help from old friends and new.  But can the gang solve the mystery and save Elizabeth before the murderer strikes again?

A Heart Full of Headstones (October 2022)

By Ian Rankin

November 2, 2022

John Rebus stands accused: on trial for a crime that could put him behind bars for the rest of his life.  Although it’s not the first time the legendary detective has taken the law into his own hands, it might be the last.

What drove a good man to cross the line?  Or have times changed, and the rules with them?

Detective Inspector Siobhan Clarke faces Edinburgh’s most explosive case in years, as a corrupt cop goes missing after claiming to harbour secrets that could sink the city’s police force.

But in this investigation, it seems all roads lead to Rebus – and Clarke’s twin loyalties to the public and the police will be tested to their limit.

The Bookseller at the End of the World (October 2022)

By Ruth Shaw

November 2, 2022

Ruth Shaw runs two tiny bookshops in the remote village of Manapouri in Fiordland, in the deep south of New Zealand.

This rich memoir weaves together stories of the characters who visit her bookshops, musings about favourite books, and bittersweet stories from Ruth’s full and varied life.

She’s sailed through the Pacific for years, been held up by pirates, worked at Sydney’s Kings Cross with drug addicts and prostitutes, campaigned on numerous environmental issues, and worked the yacht Breaksea Girl with her husband Lance.

Underlining all her wanderings and adventures are some very deep losses and long-held pain.  Balancing that out is her beautiful love story with Lance, and her delightful sense of humour.

This will make you weep and make you laugh and make you want to read more books – and make you want to visit Ruth and her two wee bookshops.