This isn’t a book I’d have normally picked up, but someone suggested the title for our local book group in July and so I duly read it. Part of the fun in book group is discovering new authors, I’ve learnt, and I’ve enjoyed The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul by Deborah Rodriguez since it’s lifted the curtain on a world that’s largely hidden. Hidden not just for me but also most of Europe. … More The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul

There’s a dreamy, elegiac quality to this novel about Lara, a mature wife and mother coming to terms with her racier past as an actress as she relates carefully selected parts of her life to her three adult daughters. Written during lockdown, the novel itself is actually set during an unspecified pandemic and centres on Lara, her husband Joe and their children. … More Tom Lake