Bookcase

The publication of William Boyd's latest novel, Sweet Caress, has been eagerly awaited. And this latest tome only serves to justify his already impressive reputation. It is, however, largely without fanfare.

What we have is something quieter, less imposing but nonetheless spectacular.

Boyd's protagonist, a little-known female photographer, is in many ways a rather unexceptional and prosaic figure, although inspiring and pioneering in her own unassuming way. Boyd's skill is to take what is essentially a full - yet not necessarily extraordinary - life, and make it into extraordinary fiction. Fiction that instinctively pulls you in and keeps you there without having recourse to ostentation or largesse.

The life of Amory Clay, however, is not without interest. It takes in late Twenties London, early Thirties Berlin and New York, Europe in the Second World War and the Vietnam War, albeit always somewhat on the peripheries. And supplementing it all is a collection of anonymous found photos that give the novel a quasi-autobiographical feel and add to the authenticity of the fiction.

To borrow from Amory's favourite parlour game and sum this novel up in four adjectives, it would quite simply be: panoramic, evocative, captivating and accomplished.

8/10

(Review by Jade Craddock)

FICTION

Purity by Jonathan Franzen is published in hardback by 4th Estate, priced £20 (ebook £12.99). Available now

Jonathan Franzen's latest novel arrives with great expectations after a relatively moderate five-year wait. Putative heroine Pip Tyler is searching for her father's identity, drawing her into the orbit of the Wikileaks-esque 'Sunlight Foundation' and its charismatic founder. Franzen's recent successes owe much to a warm, autobiographical humanity, combined with a deceptive lightness of touch amidst weighty issues and rigorous prose. Here, however, that deftness is only intermittently present, his focus so heavily on the what, that he neglects the how. Usual non-linear ironies are present and correct, some less foreshadowed than others, but the parallel families depicted are repetitious. There are hints that discussing 21st century tech culture takes Franzen uncomfortably far from his comfort zone, with touches of paranoia bearing whiffs of nonplussed ignorance and doing little for his characters' plausibility. There are occasional highlights - a sweaty-palmed perfect crime is compelling, a college romance believably hilarious - but lingering hopes are quashed by a final, clumsy lurch into psychological thriller. A frustrating conclusion: there is a nail to be hit here, but Franzen is off-target.

4/10

(Review by Michael Anderson)

The Book Of Memory by Petina Gappah is published in hardback by Faber & Faber, priced £14.99 (ebook £7.91). Available now

Memory is an African Albino girl born into a poor township in 1970s Zimbabwe. She is committed to Chikurubi Prison, convicted of murdering her adopted father, to whom she was sold to by her parents when she was only nine-years-old. Being the first woman in over 20 years to be on death row, she begins to write down her memories of the fateful night as part of her appeal. Petina Gappah takes the reader on a wild journey of Memory's past, as the narrative loops back and forth in time. Gappah sheds light on her protagonist's constant yearning to belong, juxtaposed with a longing to just disappear. The suspense is explosive in this compelling read. Gripping and vivid, Gappah details the contrast between tradition and modernity as well as fate and free will.

8/10

(Review by Heather Doughty)

The Death Of Rex Nhongo by C.B. George is published in hardback by Quercus, priced £16.99 (ebook £5.49). Available now

C.B. George's lengthy stay in Africa's southern nations accounts for the local expertise that is present in the author's debut novel. The Death of Rex Nhongo, however, requires no background knowledge regarding the notorious passing of the renowned politician. In fact, the death is only briefly touched upon. The focus instead lies on five couples in Zimbabwe, all of whom are miserable to a certain degree. The characters range from adulterous expats to violent investigative agents, from allegedly possessed children to impoverished cabbies - and here lies the issue with the novel. The diverse characters are all too coincidentally connected to match the realistic themes of corruption and superstition that ground this work in reality. Indeed, this novel takes a legitimate political death as a starting point, but wraps all of its fictional storylines up a little too nicely, with a convenient death or two too many, to maintain the raw edge of its initial realism towards the end.

6/10

(Review by Alex Santema)

Unbecoming by Jenny Downham is published in hardback by David Fickling Books, priced £14.99 (ebook £10.92). Available now

Unbecoming, the third novel from award-winning novelist Jenny Downham, centres around three generations of women in one family: Mary the grandmother, her daughter Caroline and Caroline's daughter Katie. Grandmother Mary is back with the family after years of absence and is struggling with dementia, seemingly getting worse by the day. As her fading memory slowly unravels and long-hidden family secrets are revealed, Katie takes wisdom from her adventurous grandmother and learns to live freely and boldly and most importantly, dare to love. While the novel covers heavy themes such as dementia, sexuality and disability, Unbecoming's prime focus is on how the family pushes on with their day-to-day lives and stays true to themselves.

8/10

(Review by Emily Thornhill)

NON-FICTION

The Outsider: My Life In Intrigue by Frederick Forsyth is published in hardback by Bantam Press, priced £20 (ebook £8.03). Available September 10

The Day Of The Jackal writer Forsyth has made headlines with this book, in which he reveals that while a reporter behind the Iron Curtain, in Africa in the 1960s and later, he had an occasional sideline with MI6. These are matters only really mentioned in passing in what is ultimately an adventure focusing mainly on Forsyth's pre-Jackal days, first as a Reuters reporter in Paris and East Berlin at the height of the Cold War, and then as a BBC staffer and freelancer in Biafra. It's full of derring-do, be it battling Communists or being embedded with Biafran rebels in the short-lived but horrific Nigerian civil war in the late 1960s, an assignment that seems to have deeply affected him since. Indeed it sometimes feels amazing Forsyth ever sits still long enough to write novels, as a lifelong desire to go see the world runs like a pulse throughout the book. It occasionally has a distinctly old-fashioned feel to it - no surprise given Forsyth's age - but it provides a fascinating glimpse into the mind of the man, and also into the events he has witnessed.

7/10

(Review by David Wilcock)

Treasured Island: A Book Lover's Tour Of Britain by Frank Barrett is published in hardback by AA Publishing, priced £16.99. Available now

Having dusted off his childhood copy of the classic novel Treasure Island, The Mail on Sunday travel editor Frank Barrett found poignant family memories sending him on an adventure of his own in search of the place which inspired, 'where X marks the spot'. However, that land lies far off the north coast of Scotland, so what better way to get there than to indulge in the surroundings which influenced literary greats en route? Ready to max out his National Trust membership from the south coast of England to Burns' Cottage and beyond, Barrett embarks on a pilgrimage to the homes and museums kept in honour of weighty cultural figures, such as Jane Austen and William Wordsworth, getting his eyes opened to the perils of parking and running the gauntlet of sometimes officious volunteers. After what feels like a haphazard start as he finds his feet, Barrett does hit his stride roughly 70 pages in, when you sense he is growing in confidence and purpose on the road, and it does build to a fine climax as he enters the world of Treasure Island author Robert Louis Stevenson. There are some very useful tips which could save you both time and money if planning to visit sites around Britain, but you do feel the author gets a little jaded on the journey before managing to pull it back at the end with the true escapism which awaited at his final destination.

7/10

(Review by Gary Gilliland)

Red: A Natural History Of the Redhead by Jacky Colliss Harvey is published in hardback by Allen & Unwin, priced £16.99 (ebook £10). Available now

"She'll steal your man," hissed a co-worker on the first morning of my first-ever office job. If I'd had Jacky Colliss Harvey's new book Red to hand, it would have given my younger self a better understanding of why this woman felt she had the right to judge me so quickly. Redheads make up two per cent of the world's population, many of them concentrated in the Irish and Scottish diasporas. Art historian Jacky Colliss Harvey - herself a redhead - does a good job of trouncing some of the most flagrant myths. For example, we're not all descended from Vikings, and we're not going to die out. But any brief survey of two per cent of humanity is bound to contain omissions, and in that way contribute a few myths of its own. For example, she maintains that gingerism is less prevalent in the United States than in the UK. I beg to differ. Dolly Parton's Jolene, anyone? Or Truman Capote's memorably trashy murderess Ann Cutler?

6/10

(Review by Liz Ryan)

CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE WEEK

How To Fight A Dragon's Fury (How To Train Your Dragon 12) by Cressida Cowell is published in hardback by Hodder Children's Books, priced £12.99 (ebook £4.99). Available now

Fans of bestselling author Cressida Cowell will be eagerly awaiting the next instalment in the popular How To Train Your Dragon series. And knowing this is the 12th and final book about dragon whisperer and Viking hero Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, makes How To Fight A Dragon's Fury even more special. Unlikely hero Hiccup has travelled far and has taught the world that there is 'no such thing as impossible, only improbable'. But now the dragons are preparing to fight the humans to extinction, and he must become king to save both. Can he stop the rebellion or is this the end of dragons? And can Hiccup change Furious' mind about humans? This book may sadly be the end of the series but it is an epic finale. It is brilliantly written and has Cowell's twist of humour in it - not to mention an amazing storyline. As an added bonus, there are some stunning illustrations throughout the book that are done by the author herself.

(Review by Noah Sanders, aged 10)

10/10

BESTSELLERS FOR WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 5

HARDBACKS

1. Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett

2. The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz

3. Everyday Super Food by Jamie Oliver

4. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

5. Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee

6. Purity by Jonathan Franzen

7. The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

8. The Taming of the Queen by Philippa Gregory

9. Rick Stein: From Venice to Istanbul by Rick Stein

10. Sweet Caress:The Many Lives of Amory Clay by William Boyd

(Compiled by Waterstones)

PAPERBACKS

1. After The Crash by Michel Bussi

2. Gut:The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Under-Rated Organ by Giulia Enders

3. Listen To the Moon by Michael Morpurgo

4. Mightier Than the Sword:The Clifton Chronicles by Jeffrey Archer

5. A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler

6. Queen of Shadows:Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

7. Gorsky by Vesna Goldsworthy

8. Paper Towns by John Green

9. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

10. Leaving Berlin by Joseph Kanon

(Compiled by Waterstones)

EBOOKS

1. My Sister's Secret by Tracy Buchanan

2. As the Crow Flies by Damien Boyd

3. I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh

4. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

5. How I Lost You by Jenny Blackhurst

6. Head in the Sand by Damien Boyd

7. Make Me by Lee Child

8. The Back Road by Rachel Abbott

9. Swansong by Damien Boyd

10. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

(Compiled by amazon.co.uk)