2025 has been ‘a bit of a year’ so I haven’t been able to support authors as much as I’d have liked. However, I’m trying to rectify that a little today by inviting Janys Thornton to stay in with me and tell me a little about her latest book. I’m delighted Janys agreed to come along.

Let’s find out more:

Staying in with Janys Thornton

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag, Janys. Thank you for agreeing to stay in with me.

Tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?

I’ve brought my latest – Dockyard Widows. I’m really proud of it as it tells the story of the women left behind in the Great War, – those that don’t usually get a voice.

Aha – herstory rather than history then. I understand that you did the artwork for Dockyard Widows too. Congratulations. What can we expect from an evening in with Dockyard Widows?

Dockyard Widows is a rare type of book – a prequel/sequel. I wanted to tell the story of those women widowed when HMS Princess Irene exploded in Sheerness Dockyard in 1915, killing over seventy men. It was said there wasn’t a street untouched. There was a newspaper article that gave information on the money collected for a “disaster fund” and as well as the widows and orphans being beneficiaries, it included dependent elderly parent – but most interesting were the “unmarried mothers acting as housekeepers” to the men. It showed that they recognised that some couples who co-habited were not married, and they wanted to do right by them.

I didn’t know about that event previously. How interesting.

I also wanted to write something for my Dockyard Teachers series, I had written Female Remedies set in 1913/1914, and An Unsustained Charge set in 1917/1918 and wanted to fill the gap. However, I soon realised I couldn’t just tell the story of what happened in 1915 without telling my readers about what came before. Dockyard Widows starts with the various romances that brought our women to the point of the disaster and left them widows, hence the prequel/sequel!

I think that all sounds fascinating. What else have you brought along and why have you brought it?

I’ve brought some of the historical artefacts I use when I do talks about my writing.

I have quite a collection of WWI bits and pieces. My favourites are the brass triangular badges that women workers were awarded, and as well as a badge, I have what is called a “sweetheart” postcard, which has a design of the brooch together with forget-me-nots.

I have some great photos too, I have one showing a schoolroom, but what I like is that on the walls behind the class, are lots of drawings of ships. The children would have seen the Naval ships in the dockyard every day, and most of them would have fathers, brothers, uncles who worked there. All the artefacts end up as little vignettes in my novels.

I think Dockyard Widows – indeed, the whole series – sounds so interesting Janys. Thank you so much for staying in with me to chat all about it. I’ll just give Linda’s Book Bag Readers a few more details, but I wish you every success with the series.

Dockyard Widows

Dockyard Widows tells the story of the lives of a group of women in a small naval dockyard town during WWI- their loves and loses, their small triumphs and loyal support for each other in times of need. This is a community that pulls together through the historic disaster of the explosion of the HMS Princess Irene that touches the lives of everybody. in the town At the very heart of it are the teachers from the Broadway Girls School, Hattie, Betty, and Miss Garrett who do their best to help friend and family through adversity.

Dockyard Widows is available for purchase here.

About Janys Thornton

Janys Thornton is a retired Civil Servant. She is married to Jeremy and they have just celebrated their silver wedding anniversary. They currently have one dog, but a second will soon be joining them.

Janys acts as a grandparent to her nephew’s children where she gets the opportunity to shout but be ignored all at once when she is babysitting.

Janys likes writing, drawing/painting, going to aerobics and visiting museums and galleries.

When Tia Das got in touch to see if I’d like a copy of ADHD Rapped Up! by Mr G, I immediately said yes. Not only is ADHD Rapped Up! published by one of my favourite publishers of children’s books, Sweet Cherry, (you’ll find many reviews of them here on Linda’s Book Bag), but my great nephew has ADHD so it felt pertinent. 

ADHD Rapped Up! is published by Sweet Cherry on 25th of September and is available for pre-order here.

ADHD Rapped Up!

Join TikTok sensation Mr G on a fun, interactive journey into the ADHD brain – packed with raps, tips, movement breaks, and cool illustrations to help kids thrive!

Discover how neurodivergent brains work, take movement breaks by ‘shuffling’, learn how to handle tricky situations – and more! This book also includes a free audiobook, free movement break video and a fidget feature.

As well as having ADHD himself, Mr G has been teaching and helping children with ADHD for ten years. He has also helped thousands of people understand ADHD better through his TikTok videos.

My review of ADHD Rapped Up!

A book for 9-12 year olds about ADHD.

What a cracking book! ADHD Rapped Up! works brilliantly on so many levels.

Firstly, it is pitched perfectly to the target audience, with accessible language and more specialised vocabulary explained clearly but without patronising young readers. Both fonts and illustrations are equally appropriate with cartoon style drawings that appeal to the age group as well as a good balance of text, illustration and white space so that the reading isn’t overwhelming. Given that the author also has ADHD, I felt the images of him throughout the book gave the sensation of an adult being on the child’s side throughout. I also really liked his honesty about his own diagnosis which, alongside examples of well known people who have to manage ADHD, gives status to children because they can see famous people or those in authority are just like them.

With ten short, snappy but information packed chapters, I loved the modelling of good teaching practice here. Readers are told what they will discover, the information is given and then there is a brilliant rap to summarise. Not only does this reinforce ADHD information, but it means the book can be used as a teaching tool for rhyme and rhythm too! With QR codes for free audio versions of ADHD Rapped Up! and with examples of Mr G’s fidget break dance, this is a truly accessible and interactive book. 

However, I’d strongly advise not leaving ADHD Rapped Up! to children with ADHD. It might be wonderful for them, but I found much to improve my own life as a an adult without the condition, from highly useful breathing exercises to helpful suggestions for routines to manage feelings and behaviour, making ADHD Rapped Up! a really useful tool for any home or institution. 

ADHD Rapped Up! is an accessible, helpful and engaging introduction to dealing with ADHD, offering support, guidance and advice through methods suited to those with short attention spans or those who struggle to conform to expectations of society. I thought it was great.

About Mr G

Mr G (Jamie Gilbert) is the teacher-turned-viral-sensation spreading positivity and insight on ADHD and SEMH. Jamie’s goal is to enlighten viewers on the positive aspects to neurodiversity, showcasing his students getting involved in fun activities like football and dancing, as well as sharing hacks to maintain focus. Jamie’s influence spans online and offline, as he works alongside the DfE to inform the national curriculum for SEMH schools. 

 Outside of teaching Jamie enjoys spending time in the great outdoors, hiking, watching Newcastle United FC and is a big Star Wars fan! Jamie’s vibrant content and optimistic outlook continues to inspire, not only his students and fellow teachers, but his established community of 1.1million+ followers.

For further information, you’ll find Mr G mainly on TikTok but also on Instagram.

Anyone who knows me will also know that I adore travel, but have been rather constrained because of family duties in recent times. One of the trips I adored was when we went to the Iguazú Falls as part of an exciting tour taking in parts of South America and Antarctica. We were lucky enough to take a helicopter ride over the falls as well as a boat trip under them. Consequently, when I realised Sergio Dalaco’s new novel has that Argentinian setting, I simply had to invite him to stay in with me and tell me all about it.

Let’s see what Sergio told me:

Staying in with Sergio Dalaco

A warm welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Sergio and thank you for staying in with me. Tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?

Tonight, I’ve brought Quentara and the Voice of the Jungle, a novel born from the depths of the rainforest near the Iguazú Falls in Argentina.

I chose it because it’s not the story of a man, nor of a creature — but of a living being in transformation. Quentara is a presence that transcends form, a spirit of the jungle that listens, learns, and evolves. The novel follows their path of awakening, guided by the ancestral wisdom of the Guaraní people and the silent teachings of the forest.

But more than that, I’ve brought this book because I believe in the power of stories. We are made of them. Stories shape how we see the world, how we relate to others, and how we understand ourselves. They give voice to what we feel, to what we fear, and to what we hope.

I totally agree – and I think the reader’s own experiences shapes their response to what they read too. Tell me more.

Quentara and the Voice of the Jungle is a story that listens as much as it speaks. It carries a voice — subtle, ancient, and resonant — that connects with our own inner voices, inviting us to pause, reflect, and remember who we are.

So, what can we expect from an evening in with Quentara and the Voice of the Jungle?

Spending an evening with Quentara and the Voice of the Jungle is not so much reading a story as entering a space — a living, breathing space where silence speaks and the forest listens.

The experience is immersive. You’ll hear the rustle of leaves, feel the pulse of the earth, and sense the presence of something ancient moving through the pages. Quentara’s journey unfolds not in loud declarations, but in quiet revelations — the kind that echo inside you long after you’ve closed the book.

Quentara and the Voice of the Jungle sounds fantastic.

There’s a voice that runs through the narrative — not always visible, but always felt. It’s the voice of the jungle, of memory, of spirit. And if you allow it, it will meet your own inner voice, stirring thoughts, emotions, and questions you didn’t know were waiting.

Did you just use text to create this effect? 

The book is also enriched by illustrations that don’t just accompany the text — they extend it. Each image captures a moment, a feeling, a breath of the story, inviting the reader to pause and reflect. And for those who wish to go deeper, the book offers a few quiet companions: a reading guide, a vocabulary that expands the meaning of certain words, and a section called Insight of the Work — not to explain, but to invite reflection. These elements are not meant to instruct, but to accompany the reader in their own journey through the forest of ideas.

I think Quentara and the Voice of the Jungle sounds fascinating.

What else have you brought along and why have you brought it?

I’ve brought the jungle with me — not in its entirety, of course, but in fragments: the sound of cicadas at dusk, the mist rising from the Iguazú Falls, the scent of wet earth after rain. These are the elements that shaped the story, and they continue to shape me.

To help readers feel this world, I’ve brought a soaring drone flight over the rainforest canopy. This is the landscape where the story unfolds. In the density of these forests, other lives are lived, other rhythms followed, other voices heard. You can access this experience here. 

Quentara and their friends walk through these landscapes, listening to their voices, learning from their silences.

I have a feeling that listening is something we could all do more attentively Sergio!

I’ve also brought an image that speaks volumes without words — a photograph of the jungle, vast and alive, with the city skyline quietly emerging in the distance. It’s a visual metaphor for one of the novel’s deepest tensions: the coexistence — and sometimes collision — of two worlds. This is the landscape where Quentara and their friends walk, listen, and learn. A place where ancient rhythms still pulse beneath the surface of modern life.

And I’ve brought a cup of yerba mate — the infusion that has accompanied many quiet mornings and long nights of writing. It’s more than a drink. It’s a ritual, a grounding presence, a way of listening.

Oo. I need to try that!

And of course, I’ve brought Quentara. Not as a character, but as a presence. Quentara doesn’t speak in words, but in gestures, silences, and transformations. Tonight, they sit with us — still, attentive, and alive.

Finally, I’ve brought the visual soul of the book. The cover, designed by Fabián Robles, is not just an image — it’s a portal: a visual invitation to step into a world where nature and spirit intertwine. Inside, you’ll find illustrations by Braian Belén that breathe with the story — each one crafted to capture the essence of a chapter, a moment, a feeling. And the English translation by Grecia Fonseca is the result of a deep, thoughtful collaboration — a shared search for the right words to honour the spirit of every sentence.

I love the sense of collaboration there.

Readers will find not only a story, but the passion of artists who listened, felt, and gave form to something sacred.

How wonderful. I’m so grateful you stayed in with me to discuss Quentara and the Voice of the Jungle, Sergio. I have a feeling it would be a book that I’d love. How about you making me a cup of yerba mate whilst I give readers a few more details?

Quentara and the Voice of the Jungle

In the heart of the jungle, where ancient spirits still murmur through the trees and every creature moves by sacred law, a great leader has fallen. With his death, a forgotten voice stirs once more: the voice of the jungle itself.

Quentara and the Voice of the Jungle is a lyrical eco-fantasy rooted in Indigenous myth and ecological urgency. It follows Quentara—a curious forest-born being—on a journey that defies ancestral rules. Guided by his loyal friend Taí and the wisdom of Aruárua, a legendary harpy who remembers the world before men, Quentara must cross into the human world to deliver a message of memory, unity, and survival.

This contemporary fable invites readers of all ages to pause, reflect, and reconnect with the natural world. A celebration of storytelling and a call to listen—to the jungle, to each other, and to what we may have forgotten.

Quentara and the Voice of the Jungle is available for purchase here. 

About Sergio Dalaco

 

Sergio Dalaco (Argentina, 1973) is a writer with a humanist background and over twenty years of experience in personal development. His journey through diverse cultures and life experiences has shaped a deep and reflective view of what it means to be human — and how we relate to the world around us.

In his writing, Sergio explores questions that go beyond the surface: What does it truly mean to progress? Can we create beauty and comfort without harming other living beings or future generations? What is our place in the web of life, and how do we reconnect with the nature that sustains us?

His debut novel in English, Quentara and the Voice of the Jungle, is a poetic and thoughtful reflection on these themes. It invites readers to listen to the voices that whisper from the jungle, from memory, and from the unseen — voices that remind us of who we are, and who we might become.

It’s my pleasure today to share my review of The Birdcage by Eve Chase which was my U3A book group choice this month. It makes a change for me actually to have read the book in time for today’s meeting!

The Birdcage was published in paperback by Penguin on 13th October 2022 and is available for purchase through the publisher links here. 

The Birdcage

When half-sisters Lauren, Flora, and Kat are unexpectedly summoned to the Cornish house where they spent their childhood summers, it’s the first time they’ve dared return.

Because the wild cliffs and windswept beaches hide a twenty-year-old secret.

The truth about what they did.

Someone who remembers them lurks in the shadows, watching their every move.

And there are other secrets, even darker than their own, waiting to be unearthed . . .

My Review of The Birdcage

Half-sisters Lauren, Kat and Flora are back with their artist father in Cornwall. 

I thoroughly enjoyed The Birdcage, because, although it is a slow burn narrative, the tension spirals upwards like a bird on thermals until the reader is sucked into the story and needs to know quite what has happened on that 1999 day of the solar eclipse. 

I admit that my heart sank when I realised the plot had two timeframes and three points of view, but I needn’t have worried because Rock Point house is an unwavering constant that binds everything together. In fact, far from being sprawling and unfathomable, I found the story claustrophobic and frequently sinister, even when some of the action is quite prosaic. And I think that’s the point about The Birdcage. There are highly dramatic moments, but often Eve Chase explores with great skill the way life flips as a result of an ordinary or careless word or action. There’s huge realism here. It’s a human trait to do something thoughtless that reverberates through the community, through relationships and through our lives and the author explores this perfectly. The Birdcage title fits flawlessly into the story with literal, metaphorical and emotional resonance and a sense of being trapped, but you’ll need to read the story to discover quite why for yourself! 

I found the dynamics between the siblings actually quite disturbing as Kat and Flora behave with spitefulness bordering malevolence towards Lauren. It was Lauren who appealed the most because her otherness leaves her exposed and vulnerable. I felt I knew Kat least and that Eve Chase had deliberately created her that way because other characters know less about her city life too. I thoroughly appreciated the way we never truly know what happens in other people’s lives and minds is explored. There’s a real sense of how childhood relationships impact adult behaviours and how we are moulded by early experience so that we cannot escape who we truly are. Indeed, I feared for Raff, as I felt there was a danger that he might grow into the kind of person his talented, yet selfish, grandfather Charlie seems to be.

The plot is carefully crafted, with the parrot Bertha reminding me of Lear’s Fool, acting both as a kind of Greek chorus and an unexpected voice of reason and truth. I loved the way truth is finally uncovered and, whilst I found Charlie irritating and self-centered at best, and completely flawed and irredeemable at worst, he too is the kind of traditional anti-hero whose behaviour shapes so much of the narrative. I thought this was such clever writing. And speaking of the writing, there are some beautiful descriptions so that the sense of place is vivid and strong. 

I think that those readers looking for high octane action will find the pacing of The Birdcage too measured for their taste, However, those looking for an insightful exploration of family dynamics, with a layered sense of threat and themes of obfuscation, art, trust and honesty, will find The Birdcage fascinating and engaging. I most certainly did.

About Eve Chase

Eve Chase is an internationally bestselling British novelist who writes rich, layered and suspenseful novels. Including Richard & Judy pick, no.1 kindle bestseller The Midnight Hour, The Birdcage, The Glass House (The Daughters of Foxcote Manor, US) Sunday Times top ten and Richard and Judy Book Club pick, The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde (The Wildling Sisters, US) longlisted for the HWA Gold Crown Award, and Black Rabbit Hall, winner of Paris’ Saint-Maur en Poche prize for Best Foreign Fiction.

For further information, follow Eve on Instagram, Twitter/X @evepollychase, Bluesky and Facebook.

I’m very lucky to be sent lots of wonderful books so it’s very rare that I actually ask for a book just for me and not for ‘work’. However, when I saw the fabulous Simon and Schuster Christmas Gift Guide contained the latest novel from a favourite author, I simply couldn’t resist requesting My Friends by Fredrick Backman and my enormous thanks go to Tomisin Delano for sending me a copy.

Fredrik Backman was the first author I ever met over a decade ago when A Man Called Ove was published and you’ll find his other appearances on Linda’s Book Bag with my reviews here. 

Out now in hardback, ebook and audio, from Simon and Schuster and coming in paperback on 12th February 2026, My Friends is available for purchase through the links here. 

My Friends

You have to take life for granted, the artist thinks, the whole thing: sunrises and slow Sunday mornings and water balloons and another person’s breath against your neck. That’s the only courageous thing a person can do.

 In the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world three tiny figures sit at the end of a pier. Most people don’t even notice them. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise.

Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers seek refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days together. They tell jokes, they share secrets, and they commit small acts of rebellion. These lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream, a reason to love.

Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be placed into 18-year-old Louisa’s care. Determined to learn how it came to be and to decide what to do with it, Louisa embarks on a cross-country journey.  But the closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more nervous she becomes.

 In this stunning testament to the transformative, timeless power of friendship and art, Louisa is proof that happy endings don’t always take the form we expect.

My Review of My Friends

Louisa wants to see a painting.

Oh dear. That’s every book for the rest of the year ruined! I absolutely, unconditionally adored My Friends – and given I had unreasonably high expectations of a book from Fredrik Backman, that’s saying something. It’s actually impossible to convey just how this story affected me and resonated so deeply within me. 

The essence of the plot is relatively simple. Two strangers share confidences on a train – in much the same way many folk do. And that’s what’s so important. Much of the narrative considers the ordinariness of life, with the deepest of meaning coming from things we ignore, the things we don’t say and or do, every bit as much – if not more – than those we do. Fredrik Backman looks deep into the heart of humanity and lays it bare in the most stunning read. There’s something here any reader can relate to, so that reading My Friends is the most amazing oxymoronic blend. One moment I was crying with laughter, often because of the dialogue, and the next I was sobbing with emotion. Frequently I was doing both simultaneously so that I simply wasn’t in control of my own emotions, as a result of the wonderful writing. There were so many passages where I felt the author articulated flawlessly exactly what I thought or have experienced, making me wonder if he had access to my soul. Having said all that, there are moments in the plot where I was completely taken aback by their unexpectedness. This aspect of the writing is brilliant. 

The characters are superb. The concept of finding those to whom we belong, the depiction of teenagers and the profound understanding of the lost, the different, and the emotionally and physically broken, is a total triumph. As Louisa hears Ted’s stories, she gradually gets to know the others and I thought it was wonderful the way the artist’s name is not revealed until Louisa has a sense of who he truly is. 

Louisa herself is the most pitch-perfect blend of intelligence and naivety, of strength and vulnerability, of loquaciousness and internal thought. I’d defy anyone not to believe in her wholeheartedly. I loved Ted unconditionally too. He is a wonderful lynchpin between past and present, and between the friends. Not artistically talented like the artist, not insanely determined like Joar, nor feisty like Ali, he is, nonetheless, vital to their lives. I wept with and for him. I laughed alongside him.

I thought the opaqueness of the setting was magnificent because it makes My Friends so relatable. This narrative could be taking place in any country. There are universally recognisable elements like supermarkets, the coast, schools and railway stations, ensuring that readers can place themselves within the action and engaging them further – if that were possible!

In case it isn’t clear, I thought My Friends was fabulous. Filled with tenderness and human understanding, My Friends is a love letter to art, friendship and what constitutes home. My Friends is, for me, sheer, unmissable perfection. I loved it beyond measure and cannot recommend it highly enough.

About Fredrik Backman

Fredrik Backman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, Britt-Marie Was Here, Beartown, Us Against You, Anxious People, The Winners, My Friends, as well as two novellas and one work of nonfiction. His books are published in more than forty countries. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife and two children.

For further information, Find Fredrik Backman on Facebook or follow him on Twitter/X @BackmanLand and Instagram.

Regular visitors to Linda’s Book Bag will notice I have been rather quiet of late, following Mum’s death, but it gives me great pleasure to try out a bit of blogging again and welcome H. S Norup to the blog today to tell me all about her latest middle grade children’s book. I am a huge advocate of children reading for pleasure and I think this book sounds perfect.

Let’s find out more:

Staying in with H. S. Norup

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Helle and thank you for agreeing to stay in with me.

Thank you for inviting me to your cosy book bag blog.

My pleasure. Tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?

I have brought my newest book The Changeling Child, which came out in August. It takes place in autumn, and it’s quite spooky, so it’s perfect to read at this time of year. I would suggest with a hot drink, pine-scented candles, and a nice fluffy (preferably red and faerie-deterring) blanket.

That sounds perfect for the darkening evenings. What can we expect from an evening in with The Changeling Child?

The Changeling Child is Alfred’s and Saga’s second adventure in the world that was introduced in Into The Faerie Hill, but it can be read as a standalone story. Although the book is written for a middle-grade audience, I have been assured by adult readers that there is something for all ages in the story, which will appeal to lovers of dark folklore. It explores the links between nature and faeries.

I think all good children’s books can be enjoyed by adults too! 

So, you can expect to encounter a whole host of tricksy and fearsome faeries, who are not at all pleased with humans and the way our infrastructure spread and encroach on nature and harm the Faerie realm.

I love the sound of that. How have your books been received? 

To quote the review by Tamsin Rosewell and Thomas Taylor in the latest newsletter from the illustrious FAIRY INVESTIGATION SOCIETY: “Both these novels weave our oldest, darkest fairy-lore, in which the faerie folk are certainly not sweet and glittery, and their moral codes are very different to our own, with conspiracy preoccupations about the environment and our disruption of the natural landscape. From the wickedly sinister pixies – Little Mother and Little Father – to the austerely cruel high fae, there are plenty of otherworldly beings to spark the imagination, as our young protagonists, Alfred and Saga, battle to save two worlds, as well as find their own places in both of them.”

How brilliant! You must be delighted. 

What else have you brought along and why have you brought it?

I have also brought Saga, one of the two main characters. She’s a fierce eco-warrior, who fights for nature and dreams of becoming the David Attenborough of the faerie world. And because he is her protector, Mr Tumbleweed, Saga’s tree sprite companion, has tagged along. That is quite lucky for us, because Mr Tumbleweed requires payment in cake, so Saga has been forced to bring a basketful of his favourites. There are chocolate brownies, blueberry muffins, half a lemon drizzle cake, and a whole red velvet cake with extra frosting on top. 

Now that’s my kind of guest! You can all come again…

What would you like, Linda? I think I’ll take a slice of lemon drizzle.

I’d like them all so I think I’ll start with a chocolate brownie.

I also see a flask of Saga’s mum’s freshly pressed apple juice. Isn’t it delicious?

It is indeed.

Let’s eat, while Saga tells us all about her litter-pick walks and the protest against the motorway tunnel she organised in Into The Faerie Hill. She’s also happy to talk about how she solved the mystery of the missing child in The Changeling Child. Perhaps she’ll even hint at the dangerous mountain climb she undertook to save the Faerie fortress from vanishing into nothingness. (As long as you promise not to tell her parents. If they knew what she and Alfred get up to, she would surely be banned from ever leaving their farm.)

It sounds to me as if Saga gets up to all kinds of things…

But if you want all the fantastical details and find out exactly how Alfred tricked the most fearsome faerie, I suggest reading the book…

I think that sounds like an excellent idea. Thank you so much for staying in with me to chat about this latest book. Now, you sort out the cakes and I’ll give readers a few more details about The Changeling Child:

The Changeling Child

Twelve years ago, a child vanished from his cradle. He was never seen nor spoken of again. Saga is desperate to discover what happened – did he really just disappear? Or was he whisked away to the Faerie kingdom, to be raised as one of their own?

As she searches for the truth, her best friend Alfred has his own vital mission. The mayor’s relentless construction projects are devastating the natural world, and now the fearsome faeries want revenge. Only Alfred, a demi fae, can restore peace between the two realms.

But as he journeys deeper into the magical kingdom than ever before, the two friends start to suspect that the lost child could be the key to everything…

The Changeling Child was published by Pushkin Press Children’s Books on 14th August 2025 and is available for purchase through the links here. 

About H.S. Norup

H.S. Norup is the award-winning author of Into the Faerie Hill, The Hungry Ghost and The Missing Barbegazi – a Sunday Times Book of the Year in 2018. She grew up in Denmark, where she devoured fairy tales and escaped into books. After living in six different countries, she now resides in Switzerland and writes stories inspired by her travels, set in the borderlands between the real and imaginary worlds. When she’s not writing or reading, she spends her time outdoors either skiing, hiking, swimming or taking photos.

For further information, visit H. S. Norup’s website and find her on Twitter/X @HSNorup, Instagram, Facebook and Bluesky. 

I so adored River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer which I reviewed here, that I could not be more excited to be part of the cover reveal for her second novel, Fireflies in Winter. My huge thanks to Caitlin Raynor at Headline for inviting me to participate.

Fireflies in Winter will be published by Headline Review on 10th February 2026 and is available for pre-order from all good bookshops and here. 

Fireflies in Winter

A breathtaking novel of two young women fighting for love and survival on the edge of the wilderness from the author of River Sing Me Home.

Nova Scotia 1796. Cora, an orphan newly arrived from Jamaica, has never felt cold like this. In the depths of winter, everyone in her community huddles together in their homes to keep warm. So when she sees a shadow slipping through the trees, Cora thinks her eyes are deceiving her. Until she creeps out into the moonlight and finds the tracks in the snow.

Agnes is in hiding. On the run from her former life, she has learned what it takes to survive alone in the wilderness. But she can afford no mistakes. When she first spies the young woman in the woods, she is afraid. Yet Cora is fearless, and their paths are destined to cross.

Deep among the cedars, Cora and Agnes find a fragile place of safety. But when Agnes’s past closes in, they are confronted with the dangerous price of freedom – and of love….

****

I think that sounds so atmospheric and cannot wait to get my hands on a copy!

About Eleanor Shearer

Eleanor Shearer is a mixed-race writer and the granddaughter of Windrush generation immigrants. She splits her time between London and Ramsgate so that she never has to go too long without seeing the sea. For her Master’s degree in Politics at the University of Oxford, Eleanor studied the legacy of slavery and the case for reparations, and her fieldwork in St. Lucia and Barbados helped inspire her first novel.

For further information, follow Eleanor on Twitter @eleanorbshearer, or find her on Instagram.

I have always prided myself on being entirely reliable. Hmm. We all know what pride comes before don’t we? 

I cannot apologise enough to Christina Marrocco for completely forgetting to post this ‘staying in’ evening yesterday when her latest book was published. Christina did everything I asked, sending me all I needed well in advance and my brain went on holiday. I do have an excuse but that’s not the point!

So, with an embarrassed red face and huge apologies, 24 hours later than intended, I am staying in with Christina, 

Let’s find out more:

Staying in with Christina Marrocco

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag, Christina and, with my apologies once again, thank you for agreeing to stay in with me.

Tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?

 

I’ve brought my new book, The Way Beauty Comes Apart. It’s my second book and one that’s really been a labour of love and of research—and of deep, deep work. I think it’s a book that’s really going to resonate with readers as it faces life and human sufferings and fallibilities face on.

Ha! I think I’ve illustrated fallibility right here! What can we expect from an evening in with The Way Beauty Comes Apart?

The Way Beauty Comes Apart is a novel in stories told by the dead, set in the Edwardian and Victorian eras in North West Wales. I’ll let that sink in. 

What an irony and how fascinating. I’ve been dealing with the recent death of my Mum (which is why I forgot about our evening together) and when you sent me your responses I was actually on holiday in North Wales. Tell me more.

There are 14 narrators who each tell the story of their own life, and because they are a community, they also tell of one another. The genre is literary historical fiction, but I’d say with a perhaps supernatural bent and lots of humour.

The Way Beauty Comes Apart sounds very much my kind of read.

 It’s a hard book to pigeonhole. It’s very much a novel in which the setting—a village in North West Wales is prominent and present. This is because I believe that places are very much in their people and also that the people leave themselves behind, sort of glowingly smeared on the places they live. I read Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology as a young adult and that left a mark on me. And while writing this book, I came upon Cre Na Cille as well, and while this book is distinct from those—it does seek the same sort of impact. A memento mori that’s lively and real. And an acknowledgment that we live lives of paradox.

Oh, I agree entirely that we impact, and are impacted by, the places we visit and the books we read. But, you’re not based in Wales so how difficult was it to write about? 

I also want to mention that in order to write with respect and sensitivity about a culture and setting outside of my own, I conducted soooo much research, read every historical and fictional account of the region I could get my hands on, and also worked with Welsh editors and readers in order to get everything just-so.

That sounds like diligence! Do you have a passage you could share with us from The Way Beauty Comes Apart? 

I do. I’ll let two characters introduce themselves:

Cranstal Jones:

Cot death is what they called it, those neighbourly women who came to the door with seed cakes and condolences, who arrived with baskets full from here in Nefin* and the farms surrounding. How they whispered, after Elen, as if speaking loudly would draw death’s attention to themselves and their own children. As if it might bring the little people to leave changelings for them. When I saw these same women out in the world, they scurried away from me like crabs on the shore. No matter if I were off to the shop or down to chapel. Surely, their hurry was much to do with my dead baby, with cot death. But it wasn’t that alone, and I knew it. The other thing that kept them an arm’s length from me was this: I’d come from outside. The Manxwoman is what they called me. Gwilym said they aren’t so clannish as that and it was mainly in my head. He said that I’m no foreigner if I’m his wife. But Gwilym has always been liberal with the benefit of the doubt.

Twm Gethin who turns out to be quite a villain:

Twm Geth, here. Gethin if you want to say it proper. Steward at the quarry and a man with a prime small holding, no landlord hovering over me. Kind of steward gets to come into the main office—that kind. Began as a low-down cutter, just like most in the quarry. Made my way up and fast,too, which is most unusual. Too fast for the likes of some in the office, especially those who came from down south and such. Those who thought themselves better than us locals. But I never got full of myself or above myself. In fact, I made it my habit to have a pint with my friends any payday to show them that I was still one of them, always would be.

The most important thing about me is I was known all around these parts as an honest man. Never thought myself better than another man, never thought myself worse. And what’s more and is most unusual, I can say I never told a lie, ever. And me saying so would be true! Now, I certainly have done some wrong in my life. To do some wrong is the option of every man so long as he atones for it later.

There’s a definite authentic Welshness there Christina! 

What else have you brought along and why have you brought it? 

Home-made Kombucha—I’ve begun a bit of an obsession with kombucha.

Also, a photo of my own hand and the wool streaming out on the strand as it was an initial and then repeated visits to Nefyn and Lilthfaen that made me write this book. 

My husband is going on a residential Welsh language course in Nefyn very soon and we were on that very beach on 3rd August when it was his birthday! 

Also, last thing, I have a sharp fork—my mother gave it to me recently. It’s an institutional fork—and it belonged to my great grandfather who had TB. He lived in a sanitarium off and on and always ate with his own fork. Items like this—and attached stories—remind us of the nature of things. And all of this: hope, kombucha, imagination and fancy, and gritty reality make literature and they make up life.

You are absolutely right – and here’s another co-incidence; my mother had TB as a child…

Thank you so much, Christina, for staying in with me to chat about The Way Beauty Comes Apart. If you’d like to serve up some kombucha, I’ll give readers a few more details:

The Way Beauty Comes Apart

The Way Beauty Comes Apart is a transportive and magical, yet grittily real account of life told by the dead of Nefin, a close-knit, fictional community in North West Wales. Entangled characters who cannot but both love and hate one another weave beautiful cloth from what it is to be human– and sometimes horrible. Cranstal Jones stands behind the bedroom curtains, gazing out at little graves, struggling to keep her sanity, trying to appease the “fair folk” and understand why loss keeps coming for her. Lili Morgan plots to leave Nefin for London but is thwarted by a vicious attack which sends unseen ripples through the entire community for lifetimes to come. 

Even as her attacker, Twm Gethin, claims he cannot tell a lie, he becomes a dangerous master of omission whose own heart will also break on the rocky coast. Grandmother and Granddaughter midwives-the Dafydds-tend to the birthing, the dying, and the languishing, keeping to their craft even as modern medicine eclipses ancient practices. These and other disarmingly real characters speak directly to readers from the places they last drew breath. They take readers deep into their lives, their time, their deaths, their “truths,” and ultimately their accounts of one another.

Published yesterday, 25th August 2025, The Way Beauty Comes Apart is available for purchase here. 

About Christina Marrocco

Christina Marrocco is an award winning author from the Chicago area. Her latest release The Way Beauty Comes Apart is a novel-in-stories set in Wales and told by the dead. Her 2022 debut novel, Addio, Love Monster won the Book of the Year award from the Chicago Writers Association.

Christina writes character-driven accounts of life that are visceral and transportive. Her work often showcases working-class people, the realities they face, and the landscapes they inhabit. Christina has a deep interest in ancient beliefs and practices, and this shows in her novels, essays, and poems. Her doctoral dissertation, The Evil Eye in Italian American Literature established her reputation in ethnic studies. An eclectic writer, she’s also a poet whose work has appeared in many journals including Ovunque Siamo, The Laurel Review, Silverbirch Press, House Mountain Review, Red Fern Press, and Voices from the Attic.

Christina teaches Creative Writing and other courses at Elgin Community College.

For further information, visit Christina’s website and find her on Facebook. 

 

Last year it was my absolute pleasure to attend the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize awards in London where I had the most fabulous evening. My huge thanks to Charlotte Maddox for inviting me. 

Today it’s my pleasure to take a look at 2025’s Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize shortlisted books and to add further thanks to Charlotte for sending me copies of them all so that I can read, share and recommend my favourites. 

The Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize

The Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize is a global prize that supports and celebrates the best adventure writing today. The Prize is open to writers of any nationality, writing in English. American, British, Filipina and Jamaican authors are represented on the shortlist.

Behind the Scenes

Novels are submitted by agents and publishers, and then read and reviewed by a volunteer panel of librarians and library staff from across the UK. This panel is responsible for selecting the long and shortlists with our ethos, ‘An Adventure for Everyone’, at the forefront of their minds. 

The shortlist is now with the judging panel, comprising five experts in either the literature or adventure fields. 

The 2025 judges are Nathan Gray, former high-risk test pilot and one of Britain’s most decorated military aviators; Keme Nzerem, journalist, filmmaker and co-founder of Opening Up The Outdoors; Francesca de Tores, author, academic and winner of the 2024 Adventure Writing Prize; and Corinne Turner, literary IP consultant and former Managing Director of Ian Fleming Publications. 

Alongside an online ‘Readers’ Vote’, which represents one seat on the judging panel, they will select the winning book. 

The winner of the £10,000 award will be revealed on 11th September 2025 at a private reception in London, UK. The same event will also reveal the winners of the New Voices award, an editorial development programme for unpublished writers, and the Author of Tomorrow award for young writers.

The 2025 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize shortlist is: 

Babylonia by Costanza Casati (Penguin Michael Joseph)

 

Ancient Assyria, 9th century BC. An orphan is raised on the outskirts of a brutal empire. Heir to a tragic prophecy, Semiramis dreams of wielding power and escaping her destiny.

Far away, a reluctant prince walks the corridors of his gilded palace in a city built by the gods. Ninus would rather spend his days in books and poetry than conquering the world of men. But when he meets Onnes, a broken, beautiful warrior, something awakens in them both.

That is until Semiramis arrives. A savage love soon erupts between them all. And before long, all three will be forced to learn the lesson of the gods – in Babylonia, you must bend the world to your will. What doesn’t bend, you break.

Babylonia is available for purchase here. 

Sycorax by Nydia Hetherington (Quercus)

Born of the sun and moon, shaped by fire and malady, comes a young woman whose story has never been told . . .

They call her Sycorax. Seer. Sage. Sorceress.

Outcast by society and all alone in the world, Sycorax must find a way to understand her true nature. But as her powers begin to grow, so too do the suspicions of the local townspeople. For knowledge can be dangerous, and a woman’s knowledge is the most dangerous of all . . .

With a great storm brewing on the horizon, Sycorax finds herself in increasing peril – but will her powers save her, or will they spell the end for them all?

Sycorax is available for purchase here. 

Redemption by Jack Jordan (Simon & Schuster)

  

‘Sometimes I wonder if I have it in me to kill someone . . . what my tipping point might be.’

AARON has just been released from jail after causing the death of a boy in a hit-and-run. Now a free man, all he wants to do is leave his troubled past behind him.

EVELYN, consumed by grief and rage, has been counting down the days until this moment. After eleven long years, she is finally able to exact the revenge her late son deserves.

TOBIAS knows what his wife is planning, and as they embark on a breathless pursuit across the Nevada desert, he is determined to do everything he can to save her from herself.

Even if it means protecting the man who killed their son.

Locked in a blood-soaked collision course, they’re about to find out what waits for them at the end of the road.

Redemption is available for purchase here. 

A House for Miss Pauline by Diana McCaulay (Dialogue Books)

When the stones of her home begin to rattle and call out to her in the quiet of the night, Pauline Sinclair knows she will not live to see her 100th birthday.

From educating herself through stolen books to becoming one of the most successful ganja farmers in the area and raising a family, Pauline has lived a life on her own terms in Mason Hall, a rural Jamaican village.

Yet these whispering walls promise to topple the foundations of her security and exhume Pauline’s many buried secrets, including the mysterious disappearance of the man who came to claim the very land on which she built her home, stone by stone, from the ruins of a plantation.

Compelled to make peace before she dies, Pauline decides to leave the only home she has ever known on a final, desperate mission to uncover truths she could never have imagined…

Lyrical, funny, eerie and profound, A House for Miss Pauline tells a timely and nuanced tale, infused with the patois and natural beauty of Jamaica, which questions who owns the land on which our identities are forged.

A House for Miss Pauline is available for purchase here. 

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao (Bantam, Transworld)

 

On a backstreet in Tokyo lies a pawnshop, but not everyone can find it. Most will see only a cosy ramen restaurant. And just the chosen ones – those who are lost – will find a place to pawn their life choices and deepest regrets.

Hana Ishikawa wakes on her first morning as the pawnshop’s new owner to find it ransacked, the shop’s most precious acquisition stolen and her father missing. And then into the shop stumbles a charming stranger, quite unlike other customers. For he offers help, instead of seeking it.

Together, they must journey through a mystical world to find Hana’s father and the stolen choice – through rain puddles, hitching rides on paper cranes, across the bridge between midnight and morning and through a night market in the clouds.

But as they get closer to the truth, Hana must reveal a secret of her own – and risk making a choice she will never be able to take back.

Water Moon is available for purchase here. 

Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

 

A wildly funny and razor-sharp exploration of love, family, religion and the decisions we make in pursuit of belonging.

‘By normal, you mean like you? A slag with a saviour complex?’

Nadia is an academic who’s been disowned by her puritanical mother and dumped by her lover, Rosy. She decides to make a getaway, accepting a UN job in Iraq. Tasked with rehabilitating ISIS women, Nadia becomes mired in the opaque world of international aid, surrounded by bumbling colleagues.

Sara is a precocious and sweary East Londoner who joined ISIS at just fifteen.

Nadia is struck by how similar they are: both feisty and opinionated, from a Muslim background, with a shared love of Dairy Milk and rude pick-up lines. A powerful friendship forms between the two women, until a secret confession from Sara threatens everything Nadia has been working for.

Fundamentally is available for purchase here. 

These six are in the running for the £10,000 award. 

However, The Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize is as much about readers as it is about writers. The foundation aims to generate a conversation around the books that will lead to more readers for all of the authors on the shortlist, as well as more readers finding a new favourite book and author. 

I have only read one of these fantastic sounding books so far – Redemption by Jack Jordan –  and you’ll find my review here. It’s so exciting to have all the others on my TBR too now. As I took each one out of the box, I kept saying ‘Oh! That looks good!’ Indeed, I have a feeling that each of these books is going to transport me from recent events with the death of my 91 year-old mother and take me on journeys that will distract and entertain me in equal measure. I’m having considerable trouble deciding which one to read first. Is there one that appeals most to you and if so, why?

About The Wilbur & Niso Smith Foundation

The Prize is awarded by The Wilbur & Niso Smith Foundation, a charitable organisation established in 2015 by the late bestselling author Wilbur Smith and his wife, Niso. The Foundation empowers writers, promotes literacy and advances adventure writing as a genre, working to uplift, inspire and educate writers and readers of all ages across the world. 

Wilbur Smith’s first book, When the Lion Feeds, was published in 1964 and he had a hugely successful career as an author. His books have sold over 140 million copies and are translated into 32 languages. Wilbur passed away in 2021, but the founder, his wife, Niso Smith, continues to support the Foundation to keep the adventure fiction flag flying. 

For further information, visit the foundation website, or find them on Instagram, Twitter/X, and Facebook. 

 Read. Share. Recommend.

My huge thanks to Harriett Collins at Simon and Schuster for sending me a surprise copy of The Next Chapter by Rebecca Ryan. I was delighted to receive it as I loved Rebecca’s previous two books, My (extra)Ordinary Life and The Philosophy of Love which you’ll find reviewed here. 

The Next Chapter was published by Simon and Schuster on 17th July 2025 and is available for purchase here. 

The Next Chapter

Lily Brown is ready to turn the page and see what adventure awaits . . .

Lily Brown prides herself on her organised, surprise-free life. Whether it’s charity yoga for polar bears or crafting a ninety-six-piece balloon arch, Lily always goes the extra mile. But when her adoptive father asks her to reconnect with her birth mother, Lola Starr – a legendary pop punk singer who vanished from fame – Lily decides to venture off the well-trodden path.

With her best friend Seb, Lily tracks Lola to her humble hotel on the beautiful Isle of Skye in Scotland, far from the glamorous life she imagined. Hiding the truth, Lily gets to know Lola and finds a kind, free-spirited woman. If life wasn’t complicated enough – she meets Noah, a charming travel writer on a quest to discover hidden gems.  

As Lily takes a chance and embraces new possibilities, she begins to question whether the safe rules she’s built her life around are what she really needs.

My Review of The Next Chapter

Ghost writer Lily Brown has a new assignment.

I feel I ought to write a thank you letter to Rebecca Ryan rather than a review of The Next Chapter. Occasionally, a reader needs a particular type of book at a particular moment and so it was with The Next Chapter. I loved it. I had not been able to settle to reading, but Rebecca Ryan’s perfect blend of wit, warmth and wonderful storytelling had me entranced and reignited my love of books and my ability to focus. It also provided me with the most uplifting sense of the possibilities of life in the future. That’s a sensational effect from a book.

The story is smashing, especially being set predominantly on the Isle of Skye where the environment, the hotel and the activities play a vital and engaging part of the story (though I won’t be skydiving any time soon!). There’s a real sense of quest and identity underpinning The Next Chapter with a finely balanced exploration of the search for truth and the deceptions we tell – particularly to ourselves. It is Lily’s development through these themes that makes The Next Chapter incredibly entertaining.

Lily Brown is a triumph of a character. She’s so realistic that her personality thrums with vibrancy. Filled with self-doubt, addicted to lists and the ultimate people pleaser, Lily is highly relatable. I adored how her relationships are displayed across the narrative. Her friendship with Seb provides much of the humour in the novel and he helps the reader discover Lily’s true personality. Her attraction to Noah adds a warmly romantic aspect that is delightful and I was quite in love with Noah myself. But it is when Lily discovers more about Lola that we get a true understanding of the complexities of Lily’s character because Lily’s perceptions about herself and her previous life shift and realign in a kind of literary kaleidoscope. Rebecca Ryan has a highly perceptive insight into humanity that is spot on, so that it’s impossible not to feel you’re on the same journey as her characters. I absolutely adored this aspect of the story.

Even those with more minor roles are realistic and appealing, from the truculent Harper to the indolent Clementine. Every person here adds colour, development and contrast to Lily’s personality. The relatively small cast split between Manchester and Skye makes the writing feel intimate and all the more convincing. Indeed, the whole story has quite a traditional dramatic unity of time (six weeks) and place (Skye) that adds depth and engagement.

It’s quite challenging to convey how much I enjoyed The Next Chapter. It’s definitely fun, emotional, escapist and romantic, and is just perfect for a holiday read, but somehow it manages to be greater than the sum of its parts so that it leaves a surprising mark on the reader. Rebecca Ryan is fast becoming my ‘go to’ author of uplifting, engaging and thoroughly entertaining stories. don’t miss The Next Chapter. It’s an absolute cracker!                                                                                                

About Rebecca Ryan

Rebecca Ryan is the author of My (extra)Ordinary Life, The Philosophy of Love and The Next Chapter, although she can’t quite believe that she’s written three whole books. She left a career in teaching to pursue writing full time, and now mostly spends her days making up stories, replying to emails from her children’s school, or killing off brain cells watching reels on Instagram. Rebecca lives in Bradford with her three children, no small number of notebooks and an expansive collection of scatter cushions. And she wouldn’t have it any other way.

For further information, follow Rebecca on Twitter @WriteBecsWrite, find her on Instagram or visit her website.