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This week’s bookcase includes reviews of Helm by Sarah Hall and Bloody Awful in Different Ways by Andrev Walden. The only named wind in Britain has an entire novel dedicated to it this week…

Fiction

Bloody Awful in Different Ways by Andrev Walden, translated by Ian Giles, is published in paperback by Fig Tree, priced £14.99 (ebook £7.99). Available now – 9/10 

Review by James Cann

“I love not being his son,” is just one of the countless quirky quotes that litter Bloody Awful In Different Ways by Andrev Walden. Now translated into English by Ian Giles, this bestselling and award-winning novel (or so it is described) by the Swedish journalist charts an adolescence in which he had seven ‘fathers’ in seven years.

Each of his brilliantly drawn mother’s lovers has a nickname denoting the main characteristic the juvenile Walden observes: for example, the Thief, the Artist, the Murderer and the fantastically realised Plant Magician.

His school friends get the same treatment, as the likes of Cyclops and Paella help Walden navigate a tempestuous childhood and build resilience in an often bruisingly grown-up world. Walden’s story is rich with dark humour and tender coming-of-age moments that make this a brilliant and beguiling page-turner.

Helm by Sarah Hall is published in hardback by Faber & Faber, priced £20 (ebook £8.99). Available August 28 – 8/10

Review by Ella Walker

A windy day can bring out the worst in school children (apparently, high winds send misbehaviour soaring) and irritate the rest of us as our hair gets whipped out of place and washing flies from the line.

But what is the wind itself thinking and feeling? Man Booker-nominated and Cumbria-based author Sarah Hall imagines the inner life of the UK’s only named wind, which slams the southwest of Cross Fell mountain in the Pennines.

In Helm – named after the magnificent, treacherous, almost otherworldly wind – Hall describes strange, wondrous and symbiotic relationships a range of characters have with the elemental being; a Bronze Age tribeswoman who walks into its raging depths, a child treated as mad and wicked for talking to it, an ex-cop who finds the sublime by flying a plane through it, a researcher investigating whether climate change is set to sunder it, amongst others.

Hall’s use of language is almost alchemical in its complexity and use of old Cumbrian words (a dictionary can come in handy while reading). A darkly witty, if slightly desolate, antidote to your usual nature writing.

Too Old For This by Samantha Downing is published in hardback by Michael Joseph, priced £16.99 (ebook £7.99). Available August 28 – 7/10

Review by Alan Jones

A pensioner killing people rather than solving murders is a quirky twist on the spate of recent novels focused on ageing sleuths (looking at you, Richard Osman). Lottie Jones, 75, resurrects her life as a serial killer when a journalist who wants to interview her for a series on people wrongfully accused of crimes tracks her down to a small town where Jones thought her bad behaviour was safely in the past.

The journalist, Plum Dixon, is persistent though, saying she’s going to tell Lottie Jones’s story anyway, which forces the geriatric’s hand. While the most exciting nights in her sleepy new life involved bingo at the local church, events lead her to commit the most brutal of murders – again. Samantha Downing’s previous novels have been best-sellers, and this shocking, original story is sure to be a huge hit.

Non-fiction 

Making Matters: In Search of Creative Wonders by Clare Hunter is published in hardback by Sceptre, priced £20 (ebook £11.99). Available August 14 – 8/10

Review by Karen Shield

Making memories as a child often includes being creative, whether that’s using our hands or our voice. But what happens as we reach adulthood? Is there no longer enough time to express ourselves creatively? Are we too busy to let our imaginations take us into a state of artistic wonder?

In her latest book, Making Matters, community textile artist Clare Hunter takes us on a journey through diverse cultures, long-held traditions, recent history, religion and politics, with an eye on how we can honour our past and celebrate our present in artistic ways.

Through assembling snowmen, sandcastles, paper boats and costumes for plays, to finding creative delight in making lanterns, puppets and pinhole cameras, Hunter brings us back to a time where the possibilities for creativity are endless. Making Matters is an open door to the power of craft. Now inspired, I’m off to get creative.

Children’s book of the week

Review by Holly Cowell

Goblin (Stories from the Swamp) by Frances Stickley, illustrated by Stefano Martinuz, is published in paperback by Magic Cat Publishing, priced £7.99. Available August 28 – 8/10

Picture book author Frances Stickley presents Goblin – her second in the Stories from the Swamp series – a cheeky yet eloquent book for preschool aged-children, once more with engaging illustrations by Stefano Martinuz.

After the success of Indie Book of the Month, Troll, Stickley’s latest tale follows a selfish goblin who collects and steals anything he can get his hands on. But, when he discovers it doesn’t bring him much joy, he wonders if kindness and friendship might be what he is truly missing. Both funny and heartwarming, Goblin is a perfect bedtime read for young children.

BOOK CHARTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING AUGUST 9

HARDBACK (FICTION) – Compiled by Waterstones

1. The Fallen and the Kiss of Dusk: Crowns of Nyaxia by Carissa Broadbent
2. The Artist by Lucy Steeds
3. A Theory of Dreaming by Ava Reid
4. Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson
5. Scarred by Emily McIntire
6. Arcana Academy by Elise Kova
7. Two Kinds of Stranger by Steve Cavanagh
8. The Magician of Tiger Castle by Louis Sachar
9. Men in Love by Irvine Welsh
10. The Names by Florence Knapp

HARDBACK (NON-FICTION) – Compiled by Waterstones

1. The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins and Sawyer Robbins
2. Goliath’s Curse by Luke Kemp
3. Jess and Norma by Jessica Asquith and Norma Burton
4. The Greatest Story Ever Told by Bear Grylls
5. To the Sea by Train by Andrew Martin
6. Don’t Believe Everything You Think by Joseph Nguyen
7. Remember When: My Life with Alzheimer’s by Fiona Phillips
8. Is a River Alive? By Robert Macfarlane
9. Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Héctor Garcia and Francesc Miralles
10. Tart: Misadventures of an Anonymous Chef by Slutty Cheff

AUDIOBOOKS (FICTION AND NONFICTION) – Compiled by Audible

• The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins
• Don’t Let Him In by Lisa Jewell
• The Names by Florence Knapp
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Book 1 by J.K. Rowling
• I Am Ozzy by Ozzy Osbourne
• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
• The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
• Atomic Habits by James Clear
• James by Percival Everett
• By Your Side by Ruth Jones