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The Trouble With Sister Francis by Matt Coyne

 

The Trouble With Sister Francis by Matt Coyne.

Published 27th August 2026 by Wildfire.

From the cover of the book:

Sister Francis is an unlikely nun.

She's sixty, sweary, drives like a lunatic and smokes like a stacked chimney . . . and she runs the Blessed Assumption Boys Club.

Richie, Bennett, Kenny and Stan are four best friends from the Whittle council estate with little to do but get up to no good. After a run-in with local bullies, they discover the crumbling, forgotten club and find themselves in the company of the most remarkable person they will ever meet.

Set against early 1980s Britain, THE TROUBLE WITH SISTER FRANCIS is a funny, heartwarming, and heartbreaking story of unlikely heroes, quiet rebellions, fierce loyalty and unexpected hope.

And at the centre of it all lies a long-forgotten journal that might just change everything.

***********

Richie, Bennett, Kenny and Stan, four best friends from the Whittle council estate, are looking forward to the long heady days of summer, even if there is not much for them to do around here. When their usual hang-out becomes a no go area, due to an altercation with the local bullies, they decide to see what the re-opened Blessed Assumption Boys Club, run by the very unconventional nun Sister Francis, might have to offer them.

Unconvinced that the crumbling club building, and its sixty-year-old, heavily smoking, very sweary custodian, is the solution they are looking for, they agree to help get the dilapidated building ship-shape -  on the promise they will be able to use it over the holidays without paying the expected daily subscription. They set to work, and in the process find a place, and a person, that will change their lives for ever.

With lashings of heart-warming loveliness, The Trouble with Sister Francis, Matt Coyne's follow-up novel to the fabulous Frank and Red, is a joy from start to finish. 

The story follows the adventures of four lads from a northern council estate, who fall in with the very unholy Sister Francis when the meagre rewards from a dubious scheme make them the target for local heavies. The book unfurls in two beautifully wielded timelines, switching back and forth between the present in early 1980's Britain, and the past through a diary Ritchie finds hidden amongst the debris at the club - which reveals the experiences of one Reggie Hartfeld, who was evacuated to Whittle during the Second World War, and who was part of the original cohort of the Blessed Assumption Boys Club (aka The Dead Dad's Club).

I cannot even begin to describe how much I loved this book, totally invested in the lives of the four boys, set against the richly described, and incredibly nostalgic background of 1981, as they face a number of coming-of-age challenges together - and realise that Sister Francis hides a heart of gold beneath her sombre nun's habit, and a wealth of pain. In parallel, Reggie's diary transports you back to 1940's Britain on the home front, through the eyes of a young man on the brink of adulthood - and impressively introduces oodles of historical detail in the process.

Golden moments of friendship, found family, quiet resistance, love, loss, true kindness in unexpected places, and standing up for what you believe abound, bleeding into a hilarious caper-meets-heartrending love-story. Matt's writing is as engaging, witty, heartfelt, and utterly compelling, keeping you turning the pages, and I felt all the emotions as the storylines collided, when Ritchie realises exactly what Reggie's diary reveals.

This is a book that captures you heart and soul. There is an impressive complexity here that belies the simplicity of Frank and Red's unconventional buddy story, even though I adored Matt's debut. The way he echoes his themes through the timelines is wonderful, and the bond that ties the members of The Dead Dad's Club together across time is beautifully portrayed. There were moments when I hardly read the words as I sobbed uncontrollably in the final swathes of the novel, and I turned the final page knowing I will always carry these characters in my heart. 

If that was not enough to convince you that this is a must-read, Matt's notion that while you can never go back to the past, you can peep at it through a keyhole, and carry what you have learned through the doors of the future, is mind-blowingly delicious.

A triumph, and a front-runner for my book of the year!

The Trouble with Sister Francis is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Wildfire for send8ng me a review copy of this book.

About the author:

Matt Coyne is from Sheffield, South Yorkshire. In September 2015, his life was turned upside down by the arrival of his son, Charlie. Three months into parenthood, he took to social media to write about his experience as a clueless first-time dad. Within days, his post about surviving the early months of parenthood was shared by millions around the world.

Following this, Matt created his popular blog Man vs Baby, which now has more than 500,000 followers. He is the author of two Sunday Times bestselling books - Dummy and Man vs. Toddler - both based on Man vs Baby and has written for the Guardian, Telegraph, Private Eye and GQ.

The Trouble with Sister Francis is Matt's second novel, following his acclaimed, award-winning debut Frank and Red.

Matt lives in Sheffield with his son Charlie, his partner Lyndsay and a Jack Russell terrier with 'issues' called Popcorn.

The Shipikisha Club by Mubanga Kalimamukwento

 

The Shipikisha Club by Mubanga Kalimamukwento.

Published 23rd July 2026 by Casava Republic Press.

From the cover of the book:

A woman on trial. A marriage built on silence. A culture that demands endurance.

Sali, a working mother of three, is on trial for the murder of her husband, Kasunga. Accused of shooting him after a fight in their bedroom, she pleads not guilty and must rely on an overworked legal aid lawyer as a courtroom hungry for judgement looks on.

Fourteen years earlier, Sali’s life was shaped by a different kind of violence. The pressure to conform, to endure, to shipikisha. When an affair with a wealthy, married man ends in sudden death, she enters a loveless marriage to escape the shame of unwed motherhood. What follows is a life marked by infidelity, financial strain, postnatal depression and quiet suffering, until endurance finally gives way.

Told through a braided narrative moving between past and present, The Shipikisha Club is a powerful literary novel about marriage, motherhood and the devastating cost of silence in contemporary Zambia.

***********

Mother of three, Sali is on trial for the murder of her abusive husband, Kasunga. She pleads not guilty to shooting him dead one night after his drunkenness turned into violence, but his family are determined she will pay for what she has done.

The story unfurls through the narratives of three generations of women from Sali's family (following a short prologue from Kasunga's mother, Mayo) - Sali herself, Sali's teenage daughter Ntashé, and Sali's mother Peggy - switching between Ntashé and Peggy's voices in the present, and a timeline that follows Sali's experiences from the day that changed the future she saw for herself.

The story comes together in a spectacular combination of tense court-room drama, coming of age heart-breaker, painful retrospective, and cultural analysis that explores a myriad facets around the expectations women face on entering the Shipikisha Club - a Zambian idiom that likens marriage to a test of endurance, and the requirement for female silence that comes with its many trials.

At the beginning of the story, Ntashé is on her way to the courtroom for the commencement of Sali's scadalous trial. She is negotiating a mass of contradictory feelings about the night that led to the break-up of her family, grief at the loss of a father she idolised, and confusion around the idea her mother may actually be guilty. Over the course of the trial she learns many things about her mother, her parent's relationship, and herself that shape her ideas about marriage, motherhood, and being a woman in Zambian society. Ntashé steals your heart as a girl lost in the consequences of events she does not understand.

The central core of the story is about Sali herself, examining the things the trial reveals, the ordeal she faces after her arrest, and what you learn about the experiences that led her to the pivotal moment when she was facing down a gun in Kasunga's hand. Kalimamukwento does an incredible job delving into the cultural and emotional threads that weave together around Sali, making a rich tapestry of the circumstances that precipitated a reluctant marriage to a man she did not love, and how his role as 'saviour' became a burden that eventually broke her. Sali is a difficult character to come to terms with at times, as she is written in well-judged shades of grey, but I liked how this makes her spring from the page as such an authentic character.

To complete the circle, the latter part of the novel introduces Peggy's reflections on her own marriage, her daughter, and her despair at how events have turned out. For me, Peggy is the hardest to like, as there is a bitter taste of complicity in what she shares about herself and her relationship with Sali, that I found very hard to accept as a mother myself.

The three women are an integral part of each other's stories, making a whole that incorporates a seriously impressive number of themes. Kalimamukwento touches on so much on around cultural traditions, family, fertility, religion, marriage, motherhood, violence against women, gender roles, expectation, guilt, shame, prejudice, and, of course, the endless cycle of dysfunction that patriarchal authority breeds.

Raw and powerful, this is a book that is going to stay with me for a long time. 

I would love to see this one produced in audio format, as it is the perfect vehicle for three separate voice actors to take on the roles of Ntashé, Sali, and Peggy.

The Shipikisha Club by Mubanga Kalimamukwento is available to buy now in hardcover and ebook formats.

About the author:

Mubanga Kalimamukwento is a Zambian writer and criminal lawyer. Her debut novel The Mourning Bird won the Dinaane Debut Fiction Award, and her work has received the Drue Heinz Literature Prize and the 2024 Dzanc Prize for Fiction.

She holds an MFA from Hamline University and lives in Minnesota, USA.

The Mermaid's Cry (DI Ben Kitto Book Nine) by Kate Rhodes

 

The Mermaid's Cry (DI Ben Kitto Book Nine) by Kate Rhodes.

Published 16th July 2026 by Orenda Books.

From the cover of the book:

DI BEN KITTO RETURNS…

A COAST IN CELEBRATION

When DI Ben Kitto sees a baby thrown into Penzance harbour, he prays it's a trick of the light. But the threat is real. The child survives – barely – and soon a chilling pattern emerges. As the Dark Sky Festival brings dancers, dreamers and stargazers to Cornwall's coast, children begin to vanish.

A KILLER IN THE CROWD

A small mermaid figurine is found beside each scene, echoing the legend of the Mermaid of Zennor, who lured a man to his death beneath the waves. Still reeling from a devastating bereavement and determined to protect his young son, Ben is pulled back into the field and into a deadly investigation. When the killer's messages begin arriving at his home, the threat becomes terrifyingly personal.

A FINAL RECKONING

Suspicions fall on familiar faces. When the summer solstice approaches, Ben must confront the boundaries of love, loss and obsession. In a final, desperate chase along the headland, only his bond with Noah – and the loyalty of his dog, Shadow – can prevent tragedy from repeating itself.

***********

Personal tragedy brings DI Ben Kitto to Penzance. Having taken leave of absence from his job as a police detective in the isles of Scilly, he is trying to keep things together for the sake of his young son, Noah, but heartache makes the long nights difficult for them both - despite the protective presence of faithful canine companion, Shadow.

One night, Ben takes Noah out in his stroller, hoping to lull him back to sleep. The peace is suddenly shattered when a shadowy figure snatches a baby from a young mother also out for a walk, and throws it into the harbour. Ben reacts on instinct, and saves the baby from drowning. Later a small figure of a mermaid is found at the scene, reminiscent of the legendary Mermaid of Zennor. Ben is certain this is an important clue...

Ben Kitto is back! Having relocated from the Isles of Scilly to Cornwall, and temporarily taken a job as a carpenter, he finds himself on the track of a killer once again - even though his current job involves making furniture rather than arrests. 

After his selfless act of bravery, Penzance's Chief of Police, DCI Lynne Farraday, asks Ben to help search for the mystery assailant. Already up to her neck in the messy politics of removing corrupt colleagues from the local police force, Farraday needs someone she can rely on. Ben is reluctant to get involved, but when another child is targeted, and more mermaid figures are found, he is persuaded to lead the investigation.

The story flips between Ben's perspective, and that of the unknown person obsessed with honouring the Mermaid of Zennor with child sacrifices. Nicely wielded threads about loss, family, mental health, the innocence of children, and closely-guarded secrets weave cleverly through the whole book, packing a punch on the emotional front - keep the tissues handy - and the timely modern themes of social problems clash like waves against the rocks of deep-seated dysfunction. Rhodes uses local folklore about the mermaid to unsettling perfection, and makes the most of a small community setting where dark undercurrents are at play too.

Once the slow-burn beginning builds pace, the personal lives of Ben and DCI Farraday get dragged dangerously into the investigation, and the guilty-party becomes increasingly unhinged. There are twists and turns galore, and a bevy of creditable suspects to consider - something Rhodes does so well - on the way to an epic climax set against the high summer crowds of Dark Sky Festival. I do not think I paused for breath during the final scenes when Ben and Shadow do their thing. So good!

This is my second Ben Kitto thriller post Kate Rhodes' move to Orenda Books, following Deadman's Pool, and I am rapidly seeing why her books are so well received. I absolutely inhaled this one, consuming it in a single sitting, and cannot wait for more!

The Mermaid's Cry is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats. You can support indie publishing by buying direct from Orenda Books HERE.

Thank you to Orenda Books for sending me a review copy of this book, and to Random Things Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Kate Rhodes is an acclaimed crime novelist and an award-winning poet.

She lives in Cambridge with her husband, the writer and film-maker Dave Pescod, and visited the Scilly Isles every year as a child, which gave her the idea for this series.

She is one of the founders of the Killer Women writing group.

The Ark by Haruo Yuki

 

The Ark by Haruo Yuki.

Translated from the Japanese by Jim Rion.

Published 12th February 2026 by Pushkin Vertigo.

From the cover of the book:

One week to escape.

High in the mountains, a sudden rockslide traps ten hikers in an abandoned bunker, nicknamed 'The Ark'. Then it starts to flood.

One person will be sacrificed.

There is only one chance of survival - in order for the rest of them to escape, someone must be left behind.

But one of them has other plans.

As they struggle to decide who to abandon, the group is torn apart by a brutal murder. And it won't be the last.

Can they unmask the murderer and reach safety before the water rises? Or will The Ark become their tomb?

***********

A group of seven friends, reuniting after university days, decide to set off on a hike into the Japanese countryside to find an abandoned underground complex, called The Ark. Yuya, the only member of the party who has seen the structure, assures them their minds will be blown by what they will see there.

After hours searching for the location out in the wilds, traversing mountainous landscape and a very unstable foot-bridge, they arrive at the Ark weary and fed-up. Although most of them are grumpy at this point, they decide to check out the creepy structure, with its multiple rooms and weird contents, finding that the lowest level of the three floors is flooded. As night begins to fall, the group decides to camp out here, and are shortly joined by a family party (father, mother, and son) who claim to have become lost while out mushroom-hunting.

During the night, an earthquake traps them all underground. As the water level begins to rise, they must find a way to escape - and if that was not enough to occupy them, someone decides that resorting to murder will make the whole enterprise a lot more exciting...

This Japanese horror-meets-locked room-murder mystery is narrated by Shuichi, one of the university friends, who has brought along his cousin Shotaro as a guest. When the group becomes trapped, they have to work out the best way to free themselves from impending doom by considering aspects of the structure's quirky design, and the limitations it puts on their escape options - carefully considering its decrepit state, and the odd array of items its former occupants have left behind.

The danger of the situation is ramped up by a murdering spree on the part of one of them, who begins picking off their fellow inmates in gruesome ways only hours into their forced sojourn in The Ark, starting with cocky Yuya. It is delciously Agatha Christie-esque, and the Christie vibe continues in a very entertaining amateur detective vein too, with cool-headed Shotaro taking on the role of sleuth in the company of Shuichi as his more impulsive side-kick.

Slow-burn is the name of this game, as the hours countdown, the water rises, and the inmates eye each other with increasingly panicked suspicion. Typically Japanese conversational scenes, pregnant with carefully guarded secrets and simmering emotions, segue into brutal murder scenes, with everything tied together by Shotaro and Shuichi's search for clues - and there is a lovely thread about morality and punishment that brings the characters together over a solution to their problem.

The tension builds steadily, drawing you in, and culminates in a very Poirot-reveals-the-murder kind of way, which I thoroughly enjoyed. But do not forget that this is Japanese crime, because there is a final unsettling kick to the piece that will set you reeling.

The translation by Jim Rion (also the translator of Uketsu's mind-bending mysteries) flows well, and kept me turning the pages all the way through a very cinematic novel that is definitely deserving of a film adaptation - which I hope is in the works!

The Ark is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Pushkin Vertigo for sending me a review copy of this book.

About the author:

Haruo Yuki is a mystery and science fiction writer based in Japan. He is the author of three standalone novels and several continuing mystery stories currently serialized in Japan. His true identity remains a mystery.

 July 2026 Reading Round-Up

What a month on the book front!

You can find my thoughts about this eclectic mix by clicking on the photos below.

Three Summers by Karen Swan

Never to be Found by Jo Spain

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

The Rose and the Yew by Agatha Christie

Time to Burn by Ellery Lloyd

Main Characters by Bobby Palmer

The Kill Switch by Robert Peston

The Hotel Manager's Guide to Murder by Erlendur Arason

The Spy and the Snake by M.J. Robotham

Sugartown by Caragh Maxwell

The Girl with the Seven Lives by Vikas Swarup

The Love Library by Sarra Manning

August is now underway, and there are more gems to come in my reading pile.

Watch this space!

The Love Library by Sarra Manning

 

The Love Library by Sarra Manning.

Published 25th June 2026 by Orion.

From the cover of the book:

After a series of dating disasters, Tess Hardy wonders if she'll ever find the man of her dreams - or if he only exists on the pages of her favourite novels. So when she's invited to visit The Love Library, a 200-hundred-year-old institution which promises dates with her favourite romantic heroes in real life, Tess can't resist!

But handsome head librarian Gabe Sharma seems grumpily determined to keep the library under lock and key. And as soon as Tess steps into the beautiful building crammed full of books, she realises why - it's not just dust in the air... it's magic. Here she really can grab drinks with Heathcliff, dine with Rochester and cosy up to her one true literary love, Darcy.

There's just one problem: Gabe. He's determined to sabotage all of Tess's dates! And why is it that she has more fun fighting with Gabe than flirting with any of her book-bound suitors...?

***********

Tess Hardy is just about ready to give up on love. A broken heart, and endless disastrous dates have shown her that no one can live up to the standards her book boyfriends have led her to expect, especially her perfect man Fitzwilliam Darcy, from the pages of her favourite Jane Austen book, Pride and Prejudice. Her work life is not much better. Writing tedious advertorials is very far from the career as a features writer she was hoping for eight years ago. 

When Tess gets an unexpected invitation to try out a brand new dating experience at The Love Library, based in a 200-year-old institution that claims to offer the chance to date heroes from romantic literature, she is intrigued. This might just be a way to solve her dating problems, and give her something to write about a bit more worthy than ergonomic walking shoes.

Philosophy lecturer Gabe Sharma has inherited the job of Head Librarian at Sharma's Academic Library, a post he is required to share with his feisty twin sister Ella. As much as he loves his sister, their ideas about finding ways to save the 200-year-old building and its precious contents are most definitely not on the same page. He is pretty sure Ella's new initiative, The Love Library, is not the answer, in fact he thinks it will be a disaster, and is determined to find a way to sabotage it.

The story unfurls from the perspectives of Tess and Gabe, as Gabe sets about making sure Tess' dates with the great and not-necessarily-good male icons from romantic literature go awry. Cue the most hilarious rom-com ever to spring from the very talented pen of Sarra Manning, pitting real life against literature's classic love stories.

Tess discovers that the swoon-worthy male characters she has hither-to thought of as romantic are not really fitted to modern dating - especially the likes of Heathcliffe, Rochester, and Oliver Mellors - but she still holds out great hopes for her hero-in-tight-breeches himself, Mr Darcy, even when she finds herself developing feelings for grumpy Gabe. Meanwhile, Gabe realises he is becoming attracted to Tess too, and that he has a lot of work to do on the romance front if he stands any chance against the ultimate love rival, Darcy.

Manning's Love Library concept is absolute genius. The glorious thread of magical realism, celebrating classic love stories, weaves deliciously through a sizzling romance between Tess and Gabe that is filled with heat. If you worship at the altar of Jane Austen and the classics, you will find this a delight, especially the Pride and Prejudice theme - and there is plenty to tickle the fancy of lovers of contemporary romance books, films, and popular culture too. The love story themes are given fabulous depth through Tess' struggles with self-confidence, and Gabe's enlightenment when it comes to the struggle between head and heart, and there is also oodles of stuff about friendship, family, and coming to terms with the past.

I had already bought a copy of this book, as Sarra Manning is an auto-buy for me, but actually ended up listening to the excellent audio book narrated by Imogen Wilde - which turned out to be one of my favourite listens of the year. Imogen's narration is spot on, whether she is voicing Tess, Gabe, or troublesome heroes of literature. A must if cleverly wrought rom-coms in audio format are your bag.

I cannot remember the last time I chuckled so much at a rom-com, and still found myself reduced to a sobbing mess when the ending rolled around. There really are not enough superlatives to describe how wonderful this is. Get yourself to The Love Library now! 

The Love Library is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Orion for granting me access to the audio version of this book, via Netgalley. I also purchased the paperback.

About the author:

Sarra Manning has been a voracious reader for over forty years and a prolific author and journalist for thirty.

Her many novels, which have been translated into numerous languages, include Unsticky, London With Love and The Last Days Of Summer. Sarra has also written a number of YA novels, and several light-hearted romantic comedies under a pseudonym.

She started her writing career on the iconic Melody Maker and Just Seventeen and has written for The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, ELLE, Grazia, Stylist, You Magazine and Harper's Bazaar. She is currently the Literary Editor of Red Magazine.

Sarra lives in London surrounded by piles and piles of books.

The Girl With The Seven Lives by Vikas Swarup

 

The Girl with the Seven Lives by Vikas Swarup.

Published 13th August 2026 by Head of Zeus.

From the cover of the book:

Devi is a fighter. Growing up in the slums of Delhi, she has learnt that survival comes at a cost - and naturally, that means she's made a few enemies along the way.

Now she's being held captive, her life up for sale in an online auction, where the highest bidder will determine her fate.

With her existence hanging in the balance, Devi proceeds to give her captor 'a confession to beat all confessions' - as over the course of a single night, Devi unveils the secrets of her seven extraordinary lives.

Devi is the ultimate survivor - a girl from the gutters who dares to rewrite her own destiny. But will she survive the longest night of her life?

A high-stakes tour-de-force from Vikas Swarup, the internationally bestselling author of Q & A, the book that inspired one of the most memorable films of the twenty-first century: hit Hollywood, multiple-Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire.

***********

Devi grew up in the slums of Delhi. She has had to take on several different identities to survive in the twenty-five years she has been on this earth, and has made many enemies along the way.

Now she has been plucked from the streets and is being held captive by a masked man, who plans to auction her to the highest bidder amongst the group of wealthy people looking for vengeance for the wrongs they believe she has done them.

But before the deal is done, Devi must tell the story of her seven lives to her captor. She has one night to reveal her secrets in one more battle for survival...

After more than a decade since his last book, Vikas Swarup, author of Q & A (the debut that spawned the block-buster movie Slumdog Millionaire), returns with a novel that beautifully explores the chaotic and contradictory nature of India through the eyes of his compelling protagonist, Devi.

The novel begins with Devi held captive by an unknown abductor, who forces her to tell the story of her 'seven lives', and bear witness to the 'crimes' that she has committed in the eyes of the buyers who hold her fate in the balance. Each part of the book covers a different identity, beginning with her childhood as Devi, and then cycling through her experiences as Deepa, Deeba, Dasmeet, Deepthi, Diana, and Dolly, which have taken her the length and breadth of her homeland - and from dire poverty on the streets, to the luxury abodes of the India's elite.

Swarup's skill as a master storyteller shows in the moments of love, kinship, stark reality, and horror, and Devi stands proud as the kind of complicated anti-hero it is easy to take to your heart. Some episodes flow better than others, but in each of her guises Swarup does a good job exploring the  difficult choices she has made, many of which have led her to stray wildly off the straight and narrow - and the segues connecting them are cleverly handled. I very much enjoyed that the only judgement here comes from the masked man and the gradually-revealed participants in the auction who are after her blood. In most cases it it easy to see that blaming her is much easier than taking responsibility for their own actions, or those of people close to them - but even when the things she has done are in the name of revenge, her reasoning is very clear to understand - and, to my mind, forgive.

Against a backdrop that oozes plotlines rich in heart-rending trauma, abuse of the vulnerable, far-reaching cons, and astonishing corruption, Devi fixes your attention. Golden nuggets of warmth, friendship in adversity, and the kindness of strangers lighten the brutality of the story which I needed at times, but there are many bitter pills to swallow here about modern day India that sent my thoughts spinning.

Intense, immersive, cinematic, and with an entertaining twist, this is a heart-pounding return to the literary stage by Vikas Swarup. I swallowed it whole!

The Girl with the Seven Lives is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook, and audio formats.

Thank you to Head of Zeus for sending me a review copy of this book.

About the author:

Vikas Swarup is a member of the Indian Foreign Service. Q&A was his first novel. An international bestseller, it has been translated into over forty languages, and was made into the multiple Oscar-winning film SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.

Sugartown by Caragh Maxwell

 

Sugartown by Caragh Maxwell.

Published 4th June 2026 by Oneworld.

From the cover of the book:

What do you do when you've ruined your life? You go home to your mother, if you're lucky enough still to have one. Saoirse Maher wouldn't recommend it. 

Leaving home wasn't supposed to be temporary. When she moved to London, Saoirse was leaving Ireland behind for good, and with it her messy, broken family. But it turns out that starting again isn't as easy as she imagined, and when her five-year relationship goes south, Saoirse finds herself out of options. And so here she is, trudging back to her mother Máire's house up a side road on the outskirts of Irish civilisation. 

Except the world she comes back to is nothing like the one she left behind. Her mother has a new family, and everyone else seems to be moving on. But between the drinking, drugs, and an entirely healthy, not-problematic-at-all-thanks relationship with Charlie, there's plenty to distract her.

Don't look too closely, and everything's fine. Saoirse is just fine. 

***********

After a bad break-up in London, Saoirse Maher returns home to live with her mother Máire on the outskirts of Irish civilisation. It was not a place she thought she would see again, and after five years it is very difficult to fit in with the happy family life that surrounds her mother, step-father, and three much younger half-sisters.

Máire is determined Saoirse will not be allowed the leisure of wallowing in her misery, and does her utmost to push her towards a new start, but she cannot see a future in a place she no longer recognises - even if some things have remained the same, such as her mother's distance and her father's alcoholism. Saoirse can at least pretend to be doing alright, whilst propping herself up with drink, drugs, and a less than healthy new relationship with a new man called Charlie. But pretending will only get her so far...

This cracking debut immerses you in the messy life of Saoirse with a rawness that cuts to the emotional quick. Told from Saoirse's perspective, the novel unfurls from the time of her less than triumphant return to her hometown, where she settles awkwardly into the carefully contrived life that her tightly-controlled mother has crafted around herself and her new family.

Saoirse's depressive state makes her ill-fitted to negotiate the egg-shells she continually walks on around her mother. She tries to pick up the threads of her old life, but ends up escaping into a pattern of addiction that includes embarking on a new relationship that is very far from the kind of healing partnership she needs. Soon, she is spiralling deeper into reckless behaviour, and self-destructive acts that lead her to the point of no return.

Maxwell's writing is simply wonderful, and the power of Saoirse's narrative holds you transfixed from beginning to end. Through her experiences Maxwell explores a wealth of heartfelt themes - dysfunctional families, mother and daughter relationships, the legacy of childhood trauma, love, loss, desire, addiction, shame, guilt, and so much more are all examined with incredible insight for a debut. The story free-wheels between excruciating moments of pain and alienation and nostalgic tenderness, building tension between characters stuck in a claustrophobic small town setting, and my heart took a thorough pounding as Saoirse works through an emotional journey that sees the chance of something hopeful arise from the ashes of despair.

This is one of those books that will stay with me for a long time.

Caragh Maxwell is an impressive new voice in Irish fiction, and I cannot wait to see what comes next from her!

Sugartown is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Oneworld for sending me a review copy of this book.

About the author:

Caragh Maxwell is a writer living in Sligo town. She graduated from the Trinity College MPhil in Creative Writing in 2023, and her essays, poems and stories have been published in The Irish Times, The Cormorant and other publications. Her writing focuses on the self, memory, and womanhood. 

Sugartown is her debut novel, and was shortlisted for the 2025 An Post Irish Book Awards.

The Spy And The Snake (Mrs Spy Book Two) by M.J. Robotham

 

The Spy And The Snake (Mrs Spy Book Two) by M.J. Robotham.

Published 9th July 2026 by Aria.

From the cover of the book:

One mission. One fake husband. One very real problem.

Maggie Flynn has finally earned her place at of MI5-but with promotion comes paperwork. No more disguises, no more danger, just meetings, memos, and the quiet realisation that life feels a little too safe.

With her daughter away at university and her spirited mother pursuing her own adventures, Maggie's days in London are starting to feel decidedly ordinary. So when the chance arises to return to the field, she doesn't hesitate.

The assignment: fly to Budapest and pose as the wife of a notorious British defector in order to smuggle him back to the UK. It should be a straightforward operation. But Maggie Flynn has never done straightforward-and what's waiting in Budapest is anything but routine.

As Cold War tensions simmer and shadows linger on every corner, Maggie finds herself navigating a city steeped in secrets-and drawn to a mysterious stranger who may endanger the mission… or steal her heart.

***********

Three years after Maggie and her fellow band of Watchers foiled a conspiracy at the heart of MI5, she has earned herself a place at Headquarters, something very rare for a woman. Her new role means lots of boring desk work, although the odd escapade minding intoxicated defectors still keeps things uncomfortably interesting. Now Maggie's daughter Libby is leaving for college, and with her mother Gilda off enjoying retirement in sunny climes in the company of Frank, she is feeling a bit rudderless.

Then, Maggie is offered her first mission in the field. The job involves flying behind the Iron Curtain to Budapest, where she must extract a former double agent who wants to return to the MI5 fold. It seems a straightforward operation, but once Maggie is on the ground, she realises this will be anything but simple...

Maggie Flynn is back in her second glorious adventure (I highly recommend reading the excellent first book, Mrs Spy, before embarking on this one)! Three years after her promotion, Maggie is stuck in a rut, feeling a bit lonely, and ready for something new. The chance to flex her spy credentials catches her off-guard, but reassured she can do this by the sage words of Queen Bea Baglan, the formidable guardian of MI5's repository of files (hello again, Bea!), she accepts.

Of course, there is a reason why this mission is off the books, and when Maggie realises getting the alcoholic Fitzroy Carver back to the West is going to be very problematic indeed, she is forced to think on her now thankfully bunion-free feet - with occasional input in her head from former fellow Watcher Frank, and her late husband, secret spy Davy, who provide professional advice in absentia - all while avoiding the attentions of the KGB and AVH.

Along the way, Maggie makes new friends amongst the locals chaffing under Soviet control after the brutal Hungarian Revolution - enter stage right the ebullient Zoltan and his brother Janos, and long-suffering Lida who looks after Fitz. She is also manoeuvred into asking for help from handsome rival Tom Bredon, who makes her feel things she has not felt in years, even if she cannot really trust him. 

The Mrs Spy books are one of the best things to happen to the espionage genre for a very long time, bursting with character-led lusciousness. Robotham's writing sparkles with wit, humour, and all the spy shenanigans you could possibly desire. The atmosphere thrums with authentic Cold War vibes, and the carefully-crafted tension keeps you teetering on a knife-edge. I also love that this is set in beautiful Budapest, the city of spies.

Picking up the delicious themes about social change, the role of women in the secret services, and finger-pointing in the wake of double agent scandals that work so well in the first book, Robotham develops them nicely to further explore betrayal, intrigue and sexism, while also getting into the nitty-gritty of the rivalry between MI5 and MI6. And looking at everything through the eyes of, the so relatable and eminently resourceful, forty-eight year old Maggie makes this an absolute joy to consume.

I adored it from start to finish, and cannot wait for Mrs Spy book three!

The Spy and the Snake is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Aria for sending me a proof of this book.

About the author:

M.J. Robotham saw herself as an aspiring author from childhood, but was waylaid by journalism, birth, children and life. After twenty years as a midwife and a Creative Writing MA, she is a full-time author, writing historical fiction as Mandy Robotham. She lives in Gloucestershire with her partner.