The Bookcase

Journalist and radio presenter Xinran is known as the voice for Chinese women, following her books The Good Women Of China and Message From An Unknown Chinese Mother, amongst others. For her latest book, she has turned her attention to the generation of only children, born after China implemented its birth control policy from 1979, when parents were only allowed to have one child as a means of controlling population.

Although it was relaxed in 2013, the strict restrictions have meant there is a generation of "one and only" children growing up in sibling-free households, which Xinran notes has an effect on their adulthood, citing the case of Yao Jiaxin, a talented pianist who stabbed a woman he had run over as a dysfunctional example.

Within some families, sons are treated as "little emperors" and daughters as "little suns", where the world revolves solely around them.

Buy Me The Sky tells the stories of nine case studies in detail, referencing many others, some of whom Xinran - also a mother-of-one - had met through her charity, The Mother's Bridge of Love.

They vary from the spoilt Du Zhuang - a businessman's son who can't even open his own suitcase or hang up his clothes, to Flying Fish, who had to grow up quickly once she found out her father was sent to prison.

Some of the stories are heartbreaking: Golden Swallow cut off contact with her parents once she left China for New Zealand, Lotus was left emotionally and physically scarred after being drawn into a research group studying Taoist sexual practices, and Guihua's memories of seeing two of her nieces being killed by their own parents.

As with Xinran's other books, her latest non-fiction raises awareness of the issues and conflicts Chinese people face, and some of the emotions - the bond between mother and child - are easily relatable, even for those born and raised abroad.

Rating: 8/10

(Review by Shereen Low)

FICTION

At The Water's Edge by Sara Gruen is published in hardback by Two Roads, priced £17.99 (ebook £6.99). Available now

After publically shaming themselves on New Year's Eve in 1944, Maddie and Ellis Hyde are cut off financially by Ellis' father. To win back his favour, the couple flee from Philadelphia to the Scottish highlands in the midst of the raging war where Ellis attempts to hunt the Loch Ness monster, a task previously failed by his father. We follow Maddie's unexpected transformation as she struggles to redefine herself; virtually abandoned by her fame-hungry husband in a foreign land. Sara Gruen, the American author of Water For Elephants, masterfully depicts the significance of class politics and unlikely female friendships in a war-torn environment. The reader is drawn into this tumultuous time of tragedy as page by page the real monsters of the novel are revealed through Gruen's compelling storytelling. Superbly researched and far too easily devoured, this is a genuinely beautiful novel and an enthralling love story, which simply cannot be put down.

8/10

(Review by Heather Doughty)

The Cellar by Minette Walters is published in hardback by Hammer, priced £12.99 (ebook £8.64). Available now

Minette Walters takes us into the dark and chilling world of child abduction, imprisonment and slavery in her latest novel The Cellar. Muna's earliest memories are of a children's home, until the day a stranger appeared claiming to be her aunt. From that day forward Muna's life would change, forever. Kept as a slave by the Songoli family, Muna is restricted in all parts of her life, not given access to education and treated with no respect, especially late at night by Mr Sonogli in her room in the cellar. The story is told through Muna's eyes, and you get the impression that she's not that uneducated. When the Songoli's son goes missing, a chain of events occur that see the downtrodden, ill-treated Muna finally turn the tables on her captors. Walters' sometimes graphic prose left me feeling uneasy, but the story moves at a quick enough pace to make this an enjoyable read.

7/10

(Review by Phil Robinson)

Mrs Engels by Gavin McCrea is published in hardback by Scribe, priced £14.99 (ebook £5.69). Available now

It's 1870 Victorian England and millworker Lizzie Burns is London-bound from Manchester with her lover, the celebrated theorist, Frederick Engels. Lizzie's new home is a million miles from the cotton mills and although she appears to adapt to these new surroundings, this arrangement doesn't always meet with the approval of the London elite. It is fascinating to learn about the hugely influential figures of Frederick Engels and Karl Marx through the eyes of the witty, feisty and incredibly likeable character of Lizzie. She provides a shrewd, proletariat's eye view of socialist society and their never-ending discussions and debates. It is well known that Engels always admired Lizzie's honesty and strength as she shed light on the real conditions of factory employers in Britain. Based on the true story between Marx, Engels, Lizzie and her sister Mary, McCrea captures time and place so eloquently and Lizzie's determination and facetiousness inhabits every single page of this novel.

7/10

(Review by Heather Doughty)

BAILEY'S WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION: SHORTLIST

The Bailey's Prize is announced on Wednesday, June 3. Previously the Orange Prize, it has been running since 1996 and winners have included Lionel Shriver for We Need To Talk About Kevin and Zadie Smith for On Beauty. Here are our reviews of the six shortlisted titles...

How To Be Both by Ali Smith is published in paperback by Penguin, priced £8.99 (ebook £6.21). Available now

Ali Smith, author of The Accidental, loves to use unconventional forms. Also shortlisted for the Booker Prize, How To Be Both begins as a poem, changes to standard paragraphs, then goes back again to a poem; it is anything but an ordinary read. The book is split into two sections; one following the spirit of the Renaissance painter Francesco del Cossa as he explores the modern world, and the other focusing on troubled teenager George. Nicknamed the 'heir to Virginia Woolf', Smith explores the idea that gender isn't fixed. Del Cossa is born a girl but decides to become a boy to further her career, and when we first meet the somewhat androgynous looking George, she is presumed to be a boy. In fact, the entire novel proves that time, forms, genders and narratives can be changed. The story flows effortlessly, and it's an enjoyable, witty and gripping read.

9/10

(Review by Harriet Shephard)

A Spool Of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler is published in hardback by Chatto & Windus, priced £18.99 (ebook £7.99). Available now

Family life in Baltimore is the topic of this wonderful new novel by Pulitzer Prize winner Anne Tyler - her 20th, in fact, making Tyler something of a veteran of literary, compelling fiction. But it's also rumoured to be her last. Opening on Abby and Red Whitshank's universally recognisable bedroom, they are fretting about their teenage son, Denny. So begins a scene that is verging on play-like (you can almost imagine two actors perching on either side of the bed, stage centre), but that soon transmutes into a work of fiction so compelling that you're glad the book is divided into sections, giving you the chance to pause once in a while rather than inhaling in one go. Tyler's skill lies in making the utterly everyday something special - we follow this family over several generations, skipping back and forth in time, and though they are much like any other, you close the book feeling you've been privy to a family that is quite extraordinary.

9/10

(Review by Emma Herdman)

Outline by Rachel Cusk is published in paperback by Vintage, priced £8.99 (ebook £4.35). Available now

Rachel Cusk's enigmatic narrator is a woman who travels to Athens to teach a writing course. Through the lives of those she meets, human nature and relationships in all their fallible glory is explored. On the plane, she sits next to a man who begins to tell her his life story, including the details of his failed marriages, which mostly wash over the reader. Ryan, another writing tutor; the absent Clelia, who's lent her apartment to the narrator; and the narrator's writing students are all presented - and shaped - through the prism of her narrative. Like clouds parting, the long sections of minutiae in Cusk's text occasionally give way to moments of pure clarity - as a universal truth is described. It's a (sometimes self-conscious) masterclass in storytelling, character description and narrative form, which explores creativity, love and whether people's stories are all they seem.

8/10

(Review by Kate Whiting)

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters is published in paperback by Virago, priced £7.99 (ebook £9.50) . Paperback available June 4

Meticulous Fingersmith and Tipping The Velvet writer Sarah Waters heads back a century for her sixth novel, the compelling and richly written The Paying Guests. Opening up in London in 1922, we meet Mrs Wray, a formerly well-to-do widow and her spinster daughter Frances who have fallen on hard times following the late Mr Wray's poor investments, and are forced to take in lodgers to make ends meet. Somewhat brasher and less socially established than the Wrays, Lilian and Leonard Barber, a young upwardly mobile couple from the clerk class, bring a change in their domestic dynamic. Stuck indoors and tasked with doing the back-breaking work that the servants used to do while her ashamed mother is out of sight, the more worldly Frances soon strikes up a bond with the seemingly conservative Lilian, who is adjusting to running her own household. Through fabulously alive paragraphs, the two young women start a fervent friendship, connecting over a love of books and, before long, fall in love. But the domestic bliss, which luxuriates in a tantalising slow burn, is soon shattered by a tragic event which binds the two women together in a terrifying way. Compelling from the start, with dialogue and detail giving a real sense of place and time, The Paying Guests does nevertheless fall short of topping some of Waters' justifiably praised earlier novels .

8/10

(Review by Keeley Bolger)

The Bees by Laline Paull is published in paperback by Fourth Estate, priced £8.99 (ebook £4.27). Available now

Bees. They're so fascinating and so trendy that it was only a matter of time before someone set a book inside a hive. The much-hyped debut novel from playwright Laline Paull follows Flora 717, a lowly sanitation bee, as she rises through the ranks of the honey bee matriarchy, battling her bee brothers and sisters as often as the murderous foes from beyond the hive - all while harbouring a mutinous secret. In a multi-layered analogy, Flora's home is under threat (as are hives in the real world), while the colony also serves as a satire for a totalitarian state - can she ever prevail in the face of the all-powerful Hive Mind? Part old-fashioned fairytale, part bee biology lesson, The Bees is an impressively researched and realised concept that will appeal to fantasy fans and entomology enthusiasts alike. But those who struggle with anthropomorphism will find Flora's story more than a bit sickly.

7/10

(Review by Katie Wright)

A God In Every Stone by Kamila Shamsie is published in paperback by Bloomsbury, priced £8.99 (ebook £2.84). Available now

1915, India. British gentlewoman Vivian Spencer escapes her stifling parents in London to track down the man she loves and explore an archaeological wonder; injured young serviceman Qayyum returns home after a spell in the British Indian army and a young boy, Najeeb, discovers his love of learning for the first time. Kamila Shamsie eloquently addresses wartime loss, unrequited love and the changing political landscape in this, her fifth novel. Although there's no denying the beauty in Shamsie's descriptions, at times the novel seemed bogged down in detail and because of this, I felt oddly detached from the main characters. Towards the end of the novel, Shamsie introduces a key character who, in contrast to everyone else featured, feels vibrant and realised. But for me, her introduction came too little too late and the novel left me cold.

5/10

(Review by Keeley Bolger)

NON-FICTION

Do It Like A Woman... And Change The World by Caroline Criado-Perez is published in paperback by Portobello Books, priced £12.99 (ebook £8.64). Available now

Running through just a handful of instances from the frighteningly long list of gender inequalities Criado-Perez documents - like the fact that doctors are less able to recognise heart attack symptoms in women because they differ from men's, or that university entry requirements in China are routinely tougher for women, or that thousands of girls are sold into marriage when they're still children every year - makes for maddening reading. And yet this book isn't wholly depressing. Far from it. Criado-Perez, an activist who faced months of misogynistic abuse herself when in 2013 she started a campaign to get a female historical figure reinstated on a British bank note, chooses to focus on the pioneers who, defiant in the face of sexism, are fighting to change the status quo - and not just in a white, western setting either. Like Sheryl Sandberg's feminist handbook Lean In, but without the corporate focus, it's a powerful and inspiring read, celebrating game-changers across the globe.

8/10

(Review by Katie Wright)

Simple Rules: How To Thrive In A Complex World by Donald Sull and Kathleen M Eisenhardt is published in hardback by John Murray, priced £20 (ebook £7.47). Available now

Tackling complex problems with an armoury of simple rules is the key to success, say award-winning strategy experts Donald Sull and Kathleen M Eisenhardt. And, as their book Simple Rules reveals, there are numerous examples that illustrate this. From medical professionals using triage to prioritise war casualties, to how female crickets choose their mate, this book is never short of relevant case studies from across different fields and sectors to back up claims. The authors' informative and fascinating manner reveals how we can create a handful of simple rules to use for particular situations, then how to execute them for the best results. It is clear from the off that Sull and Eisenhardt's creation is well researched and well thought-out. But while the various case studies are intellectually stimulating to read, in some parts they start to become a little tiring, mainly due to repetition of explaining the same point in different ways. Nonetheless, this book is a solid guide to navigating a complicated world where information overload is the norm.

7/10

(Review by Mary Ann Pickford)

CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE WEEK

Demolition Dad b y Phil Earle is published in paperback by Orion Children's Books, priced £6.99 (ebook £3.66). Available now

Phil Earle discovered his love of children's fiction when he found himself selling books for a living. He decided to try his hand at writing and has since become an award-winning author of titles for young adults and children. His latest book for younger readers is Demolition Dad. Jake Biggs and his dad share a secret. By day, George Biggs demolishes buildings, by night he demolishes wrestlers. He is Demolition Man! The king of sting, the master of disaster! Jake always knew that his dad was a great, unrivalled wrestler. So before he knows it, Jake throws his dad into a fight that might take it out of him, against the Tsunami Terror, who has defeated many wrestlers in combat. Soon George is on every billboard all over the world. But is George ready for his fight or is he going to be defeated for the first time? This book was very well set out, and with a slam of humour and a bam of great writing, it really had a dynamic effect! The characters had very believable and likeable personalities. I really liked the wrestler names. They sounded like something out of professional wrestling! So if you are a wrestling fan or just like Phil Earle, then buy this fantastic book!

8/10

(Review by Noah Sanders, aged 10)

BESTSELLERS FOR WEEK ENDING MAY 16

HARDBACKS

1. Yes! No (Maybe...): Tom Gates, Liz Pichon

2. The Girl On The Train, Paula Hawkins

3. A God In Ruins, Kate Atkinson

4. Mary Berry's Absolute Favourites

5. All I Know Now: Wonderings And Reflections On Growing Up Gracefully, Carrie Hope Fletcher

6. The Shepherd's Life: A Tale Of The Lake District, James Rebanks

7. Reasons To Stay Alive, Matt Haig

8. Deliciously Ella, Ella Woodward

9. The Scarlet Gospels, Clive Barker

10. An Inspector Calls, JB Priestly

(Compiled by Waterstones)

PAPERBACKS

1. Us, David Nicholls

2. Sapiens: A Brief History Of Humankind, Yuval Noah Harari

3. Kolymsky Heights, Lionel Davidson

4. All The Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr

5. Perfidia, James Ellroy

6. Enchanted Forest: An Inky Quest and Colouring Book, Johanna Basford

7. Waterloo: The History Of Four Days, Three Armies And Three Battles,

8. Darkmouth, Shane Hegarty

9. The Children Act, Ian McEwan

10. The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair, Joel Dicker

(Compiled by Waterstones)

EBOOKS

1. The Girl On The Train, Paula Hawkins

2. The Lie, C.L. Taylor

3. The Throwaway Children, Diney Costeloe

4. Silent Scream, Angela Marsons

5. Gray Justice, Alan McDermott

6. Here Come The Girls, Milly Johnson

7. Game Of Scones, Samantha Tonge

8. Holy Island: A DCI Ryan Mystery, LJ Ross

9. The Letter, Kathryn Hughes

10. The Woman Who Stole My Life, Marian Keyes

(Compiled by amazon.co.uk)