MANNER culture
Hannah's
***** MAN
THE CHESTNUT
Soren Sveistrup
BOOK CLUB
One October morning in a quiet
Copenhagen suburb, the police discover
the body of a young woman who has been
brutally murdered. Above her hangs a small
doll made of chestnuts. A mysterious piece
of evidence on the chestnut man connects it
to a girl who went missing a year earlier and
is presumed dead; the daughter of renowned
politician Rosa Hartung. Soon afterwards,
a second woman is found murdered, along
with another chestnut man. Local detectives
Th ulin and Hess face a race against time to
work out the connection between the cases
and stop the killer before more bodies and
chestnut men appear. Th is action-packed
debut from Sveistrup comes off the back of
his highly successful Danish television crime
series, Th e Killing.
Hi, I’m Hannah
and I’m a
biblioholic.
My love of
reading, and
creative writing, is
the result of three
years spent at Oxford
Brookes University where I
studied for a degree in publishing.
I love a good murder mystery book,
but I also regularly read travel,
health, action & adventure and
science fi ction titles.
THE *****
FAMILIARS
Stacey Halls
Th e Familiars is set in 17th century
Lancashire, when people who were a
little diff erent were accused of being
witches and killed, not only in the UK
but across the world too. After suff ering
the loss of her third child and desperate
to give her husband an heir, seventeen-
year-old Fleetwood Shuttleworth
befriends Alice Grey, a midwife who is
accused of being a witch and faces trial
for her alleged crime. Fleetwood will do
anything to save her new friend, even
going against her high society husband.
Halls’ bewitching debut is a tale of
friendship, class, power, witchcraft and
so much more. A highly recommended
read for historical fi ction fans.
JOG *****
ON: HOW
RUNNING SAVED
MY LIFE
Bella Mackie
Reeling from her divorce and struggling
with debilitating anxiety and depression,
journalist Mackie details with hilarious and
unfi ltered honesty how she used running
to help her get off the sofa and fi nd the
strength to piece her life back together.
Featuring research, tips and stories from
the psychologists, family members, friends,
doctors and athletes who helped her on
her journey to wellbeing, this Sunday
Times Bestseller will help spur and act as
a comfort to so many who fi nd themselves
in Bella’s (running) shoes. Motivating,
inspiring and proof that exercise can often
be the best form of medicine.
*****
THE CUT
OUT GIRL
Bart van Es
A deeply moving story of a young
Jewish girl and the group of Dutch
families who risked their lives to hide
her during the Second World War.
It touches on how some in occupied
Europe resisted, whilst others sort a
less confrontational existence in the
face of tyranny. Many years after the
war, the adult girl (Lien) becomes
alienated from her foster parents,
'cut out' of the family picture - as
indicated in the book's title. Th e
author has a personal connection,
as his family hid and later adopted
Lien, giving him a burning curiosity
to understand and tell her story.
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