Book Review

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Author Sophie Anderson

This is an amazing story written by Sophie Anderson. It is all about Yanka, a girl who feels like she doesn’t fit in to her small village. Everyone else was born in the village but not Yanka, she was found in a Bear cave. She tries to ignore the strange looks and whispers from the locals. Yanka leaves her home to discover who she really is and an exciting adventure awaits – from a fiery dragon to a moving house. She realises the truth of her identity and the meaning of true friendship along the way.
The characters in this book are easily imagined by Sophie Anderson’s writing. I can feel the bond between Yanka and Sasha (Yanka’s best friend) and what their friendship means to each other. They go above and beyond to help each other.
This is a must read for anyone who loves adventure and mythical tales.

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David Nott is passionate, caring and determined. For over 20 years he has taken 2 months unpaid leave each year from his work as a consultant surgeon in London to spend time working in war zones in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. He has operated on casualties of war, mostly civilians including many children, often learning as he went and then passing on knowledge to local doctors. He wants to help and loves the thrill of risk taking.

In recent years he and his wife have set up the David Nott Foundation, a charity which offers training in trauma surgery to doctors worldwide. Some come to London but others do it remotely and can make use of videos and other materials as needed.

David is real, not some alabaster saint! He is searingly honest about his mistakes and his failures, his emotions and reactions and takes the reader on the roller coaster he often experiences. Not a book for the squeamish but an eye opener on life behind the front lines of modern wars and the suffering of millions of innocent people.
#indiebookweek

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Girl, Woman, Other is a fantastic book that follows 12 characters, mostly Black-British women, whose lives are all connected in a variety of interesting (and sometimes unexpected) ways.
While the thought of all these characters made this book seem a little daunting at first, Bernardine Evaristo creates each one in such detail that they clearly stand out as their own person, with their unique set of memories, dreams, and desires. In fact, once I started reading, I became excited to see what new characters awaited at the end of the book.
It’s one of my favourite books that I’ve read during lockdown, I’ll probably be ranting and raving about it until the end of the year!

#indiebookshopweek

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Apart from the fact that crabs aren’t often the stars of children’s picture books, this vibrant and heartfelt tale has much to recommend it. Little Crab is initially very excited to visit the sea for the first time, led happily out of their tiny rock pool by Very Big Crab. When they have journeyed over the rocks and seaweed and met the real thing, however, Little Crab has an understandable crisis of confidence. Very Big Crab helps Little Crab navigate the huge, whooshing waves which get bigger and bigger and their reward, and ours, is the beautiful creatures and landscapes they meet on the sea floor. Chris Haughton, one of our favourite authors, skilfully involves children in what the crabs see, hear and feel on their momentous trip. The illustration is stunning, and who can argue with someone who successfully portrays such big emotions using just a pair of eyes.
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Mudlarking is the activity of retrieving items ‘of interest’, previously discarded or lost, from exposed muddy banks and beds of rivers, estuaries or seas. I was prepared to be a bit switched off by the idea of a book describing dull and dirty finds of dubious interest from a riverbed but actually, I was surprised.
My first, superficial impression was one of delight on discovering the author’s dedication of the book “to Sarah”! But I soon realised that the book has much wider appeal…!
The author combines a passion for social history with a deep connection and attraction to this river and sense of reverence and responsibility for all that she retrieves from it. She views the Thames as a custodian of the past which, through the rhythms of nature, reveals archived treasures by throwing them under Maiklem’s scrutinising but respectful searchlight.
The book gently drew me in with its air of mystery and intrigue about the unearthing (literally) of artefacts. The artefacts, however seemingly ‘dull’ or ‘dirty’, are cleverly portrayed as clues about the “long-forgotten lives” of the people and the places that they were once connected with.
Equally intriguing is Maiklem’s personal engagement with this river environment which has drawn her in and retains a firm hold over her. Forgive the pun… she completely ‘immerses’ herself in the rhythms of her environment – the ebb and flow of the tidal Thames. It is a sanctuary that she describes as “her secret place of peace”. She affords the reader access to it through beautifully crafted descriptions that create visual pictures of mudlarking locations. I imagined that she and Diane Setterfield (author of the novel “Once upon a river”) might enjoy a conversation about their passions for stretches of the Thames albeit channelled in different directions!).
I like looking for the meaning in things. I particularly like the idea of uncovering hidden meanings linked to a particular object which provide insights into people and the world, past or present as well as our own place in it. I feel that my lockdown experience has made me stop and reflect more than before, enhancing my curiosity about and appreciation of things that may previously have hidden in plain sight.
This book is definitely for readers with a sense of curiosity and sentimentality such as the “Repair Shop” or “Antiques Roadshow” viewer, who finds interest in exploring the meaning that lies behind some seemingly banal or neglected objects that have lain forgotten within a family’s archives. Or, it may appeal to someone who looks nostalgically at items in a charity shop window remembering another era?
There are some things that, unlike Maiklem, I would be tempted to throw back into the river but her book would NOT be one of them! Despite initial reservations, I would recommend the book as a refreshing and mind-opening read.

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