Book after Book

Welcome to the blog tour for My Road to Mandalay by David Townsend! More about the book… Don Townsend signed up on his 20th Birthday in 1940. He spent 1941 supporting the 8th Army in Egypt and then took a commission in the Indian Army, becoming a specialist in Tank Transport. He led convoys across India and delivered tanks, troops and even Christmas drinks to the front lines in the Battle for Burma. His story is told from letters written to his family and from early 1944 to his new pen-friend, who later became his wife. And this is an extract from the book… INTRODUCTION Part One of this story will take you from the date that Dad joined the army on his 20th birthday, the 13th June 1940, through his training in Yorkshire, his first assignments in Aldershot and Barry Island in South Wales and then on to Egypt. As he arrives in Egypt he starts on the banks of the Bitter Lakes near Suez where the Germans are laying mines each night. After just a few weeks he is posted to Benghazi but, as ...

Welcome to the blog tour for The Great Convergence by Thomas Kast! More about the book… 10.000.002 A.D. A cantankerous scholar slipping into obscurity is out for revenge. He time-travels to the year 2022 to stop his nemesis, Scott — a successful scientist at a competing university — from thwarting his research into the origin of a mysterious phenomenon, the Great Convergence. Shrewd and ruthless, Scott will stop at nothing to defend his tenure track. The feud quickly spins out of control and the damage to reality grows unchecked. Caught in the crosshairs are three characters responsible for triggering the Great Convergence: an art-hating professional art critic who, unbeknownst to him, spontaneously switches between universes wreaking havoc as he goes; a talentless artist whose sculptures act as trans-universal portals; and a schizophrenic astrophysicist trying to avert the invasion of alternate versions of himself from different realities. As their paths converge, the apocalyptic even...

Welcome to the blog tour for First Born by Will Dean Intense. Addictive. Surprising. What a thriller! I can promise you that, from the moment you pick up this book, you will think of little else. And afterwards too! Such clever plot twists, and what an amazing backdrop New York is. In fact, the streets of the Big Apple are more of a character than a mere backdrop. And then there are, of course, Molly and Katie. The book almost asks you to pick a side… Which twin will you back up? The positive half? Or the darkest half? But… which one is which? More about the book… Molly lives a quiet, contained life in London. Naturally risk averse, she gains comfort from security and structure. Every day the same. Her identical twin Katie is her exact opposite: gregarious and spontaneous. They used to be inseparable, until Katie moved to New York a year ago. Molly still speaks to her daily without fail. But when Molly learns that Katie has died suddenly in New York, she is thrown into unfamiliar terr...

Brown Bear Goes to London & Brown Bear Goes to the Museum by Jane Foster More about the books… There’s so much to discover! Follow Brown Bear and his friends as they explore the big city - from Tower Bridge to Buckingham Palace - in Brown Bear Goes to London . Follow Brown Bear and his friends as they explore all of the different rooms - from the transport section to the art gallery - in Brown Bear Goes to the Museum . With vibrant artwork and charming animal characters, this new picture book series from Jane Foster introduces little ones to everyday adventures and the spirit of friendship. More about the author and illustrator… Jane Foster is a designer and illustrator whose work in screen printing has gained her wide acclaim. Her style is heavily influenced by Scandinavian trends with a nod to the 1950s and 60s. Appealing to adults and children alike, her work is bold, colourful and happy in its execution. Templar have sold over 300,000 copies of Jane's books worldwide. Jan...

A Shelter for Sadness by Anne Booth and David Litchfield More about the book… A poignant and heart-warming picture book exploring the nature of sadness, beautifully illustrated by David Litchfield. Sadness has come to live with me and I am building it a shelter. I am building a shelter for my sadness and welcoming it inside. A small boy creates a shelter for his sadness, a safe space where Sadness is welcome, where it can curl up small, or be as big as it can be, where it can be noisy or quiet, or anything in between. The boy can visit the shelter whenever he needs to, every day, sometimes every hour, and the two of them will cry and talk or just sit, saying nothing. And the boy knows that one day Sadness may come out of the shelter, and together they will look out at the world, and see how beautiful it is. A poignant and heart-warming picture book exploring the importance of making space and time for our own griefs, small or large, sensitively visualized with David Litchfield’s stunn...

Welcome to the blog tour for Fledgling by Hannah Bourne-Taylor! Emotional. Inspiring. Hopeful. Beautiful on the inside as on the outside, this memoir is written with great honesty and vulnerability. Set in Ghana, it transported me to another place and made me forget the big, dark clouds outside my window. Metaphorical dark clouds can follow you everywhere though. A great piece of nature writing that I would warmly recommend. More about the book… Hannah Bourne-Taylor grew up in the English countryside, the daughter of a biologist and conservationist. Years later, she found herself living in rural Ghana for her husband’s work. Without a job or purpose of her own, she sank into depression and was suffering from acute anxiety. Fledgling examines the struggles of reshaping an identity when ‘normal’ life has fallen away. Fueled by the power of nature, it is also a raw and uplifting account of Hannah’s unexpected bond with two wild birds who she rescues and raises with the intention of releas...

Welcome to the blog tour for David’s Bin Day by Sue Wickstead! What happens on a Wednesday morning? As the bin lorry clatters down the street a little boy is watching with interest. Just like them David is wearing his brightly coloured bobble hat. He is ready to play. But where does everything disappear to? And what happened to Daddy's important letter? Honestly, when I first saw this book I though: PERFECT! My little girl LOVES recycling and rubbish collection days. She hears the sound of the lorry and she literally drags one of the adults towards the door or window so that she can wave at the bin men, who now make a stop outside our door and enjoy being treated like royalty!  But enough about my girl… this book is heart-warming, funny and beautifully illustrated. It is aimed at children between the ages of 4 and 8, but my daughter is just over 2 years old and she can easily follow the story. She even tells it back to us on the days she’s feeling too independent to be read to! Tr...

Welcome to the blog tour for Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Sutanto ! Could this book be even more funny than its predecessor, Dial A For Aunties? I didn’t think it would be possible, but my laughing muscles would say otherwise! Chaos, drama and a lot of fun are guaranteed! More about the book… After getting away with literal murder, Meddy can’t wait to settle down and marry the love of her life, Nathan. She’s found the dress, got the dream venue at Christ Church College, Oxford, plus having a destination wedding comes with the added bonus of not having to invite her very large extended family. Although when her meddling aunties get involved, Meddy knows her wedding is going to be anything but quiet. Even though there’s no dead body hidden in the freezer this time, for better or worse, it’s certainly going to be a day she’s never going to forget… More about the author… Jesse Q. Sutanto grew up shuttling back and forth between Indonesia, Singapore, and Oxford, a...