Book after Book

Welcome to the blog tour for Northern Boy  by Iqbal Hussain! More about the book… Joyful, defiant and dazzling, this is the story of Rafi Aziz – a Northern boy dreaming of his name up in lights. It's 1981 in the suburbs of Blackburn and, as Rafi’s mother reminds him daily, the family moved here from Pakistan to give him the best opportunities. But Rafi longs to follow his own path. Flamboyant, dramatic and musically gifted, he wants to be a Bollywood star. Twenty years later, Rafi is flying home from Australia for his best friend’s wedding. He has everything he ever wanted: starring roles in musical theatre, the perfect boyfriend and freedom from expectation. But returning to Blackburn is the ultimate test: can he show his true self to his community? Navigating family and identity from boyhood to adulthood, as well as the changing eras of ABBA, skinheads and urbanisation, Rafi must follow his ...

Welcome to the blog tour for Daughters of the Nile  by Zahra Barri! More about the book… Paris, 1940. The course of Fatiha Bin-Khalid’s life is changed forever when she befriends the Muslim feminist Doria Shafik. But after returning to Egypt and dedicating years to the fight for women’s rights, she struggles to reconcile her political ideals with the realities of motherhood. Cairo, 1966. After being publicly shamed when her relationship with a bisexual boyfriend is revealed, Fatiha’s daughter is faced with an impossible decision. Should Yasminah accept a life she didn’t choose, or will she leave her home and country in pursuit of independence? Bristol, 2011. British-born Nadia is battling with an identity crisis and a severe case of herpes. Feeling unfulfilled (and after a particularly disastrous one-night stand), she moves in with her old-fashioned Aunt Yasminah and realises that she must discover her purpose in the modern world before it’s too late. Following ...

Welcome to the blog tour for Four Seasons in Japan by Nick Bradley! More about the book… Flo is sick of Tokyo. She is stuck in a rut, her translation work has dried up, and she's in a relationship that's run its course. That's until she stumbles upon a mysterious book left by a drunken passenger on the Tokyo Subway. From the very first page, Flo is transformed and immediately feels compelled to translate this forgotten novel, a decision which sets her on a path that will change her life... It is a story about Ayako, a fierce and strict old woman who runs a coffee shop in the small town of Onomichi, where she has just taken guardianship of her grandson, Kyo. Haunted by long-buried family tragedy, both have suffered extreme loss and feel unable to open up to each other. As Flo follows the characters across a year in rural Japan, through the ups and downs of the pair's burgeoning relationship, she quickly realises that she needs to venture outside the pages of the book ...

Welcome to the blog tour for The Giant at Number Two by Emily Wensley & Helen Morgan ! More about the book… Daisy-May is known to everyone as having a vivid imagination, so when she tells her family that there is a  giant living on their street, as usual nobody believes her. Nobody that is, except her Gran! Excited that there may be a giant living in the neighbourhood (especially one that wears funny masks!) they form a plan to find out all they can about him, in order to lure him into a trap. My impressions… The children and I had so much fun with this book! Could there really be a giant living at number two, or is it just a very tall person who looks like a giant to a small girl? I don’t wish to spoil your fun and give anything away, but I can tell you that Daisy-May and her Gran, who hasn’t lost the ability to use her imagination despite her age (!), are going to take you on a fun adventure. The illustrations by Helen Morgan are lively and colourful, and the r...

Welcome to the blog tour for Breaststrokes  by Margaux Vialleron! More about the book… A novel on pleasure, desire and consent told over the course of one weekend. Cloe and Gertrude and the Jenkins-Bell sisters, Mathilde and Sarah, have never met.  They are strangers who share only a city. It is Sunday morning. Cloe has woken-up in someone else’s home; Gertrude starts her shift in the pub kitchen, while Mathilde and Sarah are on their way to lunch. Soon, these four women’s lives will overlap. Saturday felt like a normal day, but on Sunday the past will catch-up with them as they realise that there never is only one side to a story. More about the author… Margaux Vialleron is French-born, Glasgow-based writer, who is co-host of the SPK Book Club – a podcast, reading and culinary community. Her short stories and essays have been published in magazines including Harper’s Bazaar and Compound Butter. She is the author of The Yellow Kitchen and  Breaststrokes  is her seco...

Welcome to the blog tour for Mary I:  Queen of Sorrows  by Alison Weir! More about the book… Adored only child of Henry VIII and his  Queen, Katherine of Aragon, Princess Mary is raised in the golden splendour of her father’s court. But the King wants a son and heir. With her parents’ marriage, and England, in crisis, Mary’s perfect world begins to fall apart. Exiled from the court and her beloved mother, she seeks solace in her faith, praying for her father to bring her home. But when the King does promise to restore her to favour, his love comes with a condition. The choice Mary faces will haunt her for years to come – in her allegiances, her marriage and her own fight for the crown. Can she become the queen she was born to be? MARY I. HER STORY. Alison Weir’s new Tudor novel is the tale, full of drama and tragedy, of how a princess with such promise, loved by all who knew her, became the infamous Bloody Mary. More about the author… Alison Weir ...

Welcome to the blog tour for Missing White Woman  by Kellye Garrett! More about the book… Beautiful. Blonde.  Missing. Murdered. It was supposed to be a romantic getaway to New York City. Breanna's new boyfriend, Ty, took care of everything – the train tickets, the sightseeing itinerary, the four-story Jersey City rowhouse with the gorgeous view of the Manhattan skyline. But then Bree wakes up one morning and discovers recently missing dog-walker Janelle Beckett dead in the foyer. Ty is gone, vanished without a trace. A Black woman alone in a strange city, Bree is stranded and out of her depth. There’s only one person she can turn to: her ex-best friend, a lawyer with whom she shares a very complicated past. As the police and a social media mob close in, all looking for #Justice4Janelle, Bree realises that the only way she can stay out of jail is if she finds out what really happened that night. But when people see only what they want to see, can ...