Latest Expert Book Reviews

Day Walks on the South Downs

A great read. Time to reach for your walking boots and give it a try.

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I confess, I’m a fan of circular routes. I enjoy walking but a finish that involves public transport or a conveniently parked second car is not for me. I also like great views, the UK countryside and a decent pub to rest, recuperate and meet both locals and fellow explorers. Add to that mix, an opportunity to visit civil-war battle fields, pick a route to suit available time and to enjoy great maps, detailed descriptions, good photos and variety that includes the Downs and lowland countryside, and you have Deirdre Sutton’s excellent little book. And I ... Read Full Review

Matt Johnson

A Tall History of Sugar

A sublime, myth-infused story of love, prejudice and injurious colonial legacies that begins in 1950s rural Jamaica and wends its captivating way through the life of an unforgettable outsider.

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Beginning in rural Jamaica in the late 1950s with the island on the verge of independence from Britain, A Tall History of Sugar is an all-consuming story of love, history and self-determination whose author, Curdella Forbes, possesses a majestic ability to evoke the big from the small. Rich details of dialogue, of time and place, of inner states and the outer world, intermesh with a sweeping sense of history, with its pertinent opening line referencing the state of contemporary Britain: “Long ago, when teachers were sent from Britain to teach in the grammar schools of the West Indian colonies (... Read Full Review

Joanne Owen

The Museum of Broken Promises

A LoveReading star book, this glorious, beautifully engaging read is set to break and capture hearts.

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A beautifully engaging novel that both broke and truly captured my heart. We travel with Laure through three time frames, from Prague of 1986, through to Paris of today. She finds love, and founds a museum based on promises broken, discarded, forgotten. Elizabeth Buchan writes with such eloquence, compassion and meaning. I felt, really felt the history and heartache. The past and the present somehow balance, as they move backwards and forwards slowly cutting snippets of information free. I fully existed in each moment, almost forgetting another point existed until I found myself there and became immersed once more. I really ... Read Full Review

Liz Robinson