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Where the wild things are
Exploring nature with his children prompted Richard Smyth to reflect on how the natural world has changed. Laura Parker floats through his prose like a butterfly and learns a lot along the way.
Small Joys
Guest book blogger Marc Forrest-Thomas is captivated by this debut novel, Small Joys, by Elvin James Mensah.
A FORTUNATE WOMAN by Polly Morland
Laura Parker gives some background on this beautifully written book - part medical memoir, part nature writing, part love letter to the NHS, part homage to John Berger - and explains its enormous success as it passes yet another week in the bestseller lists.
(Dys)functional Families
In perfect harmony mother and daughter Laura and Kitty Parker review two brilliant books, Charlotte Mendelson's The Exhibitionist and Meg Rosoff's The Great Godden, that revel in the horrors of nightmare families full of lies and secrets and deep recriminations. Enjoy them at the festival on 29 April.
The Hare-Shaped Hole
Lizzie Pickering, grief expert and author of When Grief Equals Love which is featured at the festival, has reviewed The Hare-Shaped Hole, the wonderful new picture book by John Dougherty and Thomas Docherty about loss and change. The Hare-Shaped Hole event will be incredibly heart-warming and tender and is highly recommended for anyone over 4.
THE MEMORY OF ANIMALS
Book blogger Marc Forrest-Thomas finds the tension is subtle but always present in Claire Fuller’s The Memory of Animals.
