Wilson, Bee (2025) The Heart-Shaped Tin: Love, Loss, and Kitchen Objects. WW Norton.
A curious little book about emotional attachment to everyday household items. Bee Wilson began the search for beloved kitchen items after a heart-shaped baking tin fell at her feet. This tin was a powerful symbol of memory of lost love. Her short vignettes cross cultures and time to tell very personal stories of charms, mementos, junk, and treasures, from the mystery of the silver-plated toast rack and a bombed Ukrainian kitchen cupboard to glory boxes and broken cups. A book to stir nostalgic reminisces. Wistful and unexpected.
Rating: 4/5
Fforde, Katie (2026) A Cottage on the Country. Bloomsbury.
This new romantic escapist tale from Katie Fforde follows her tried and true formula. Hattie finds country homes for others, although she herself continues to housesit, her dream house just out of reach. She is generous and well loved by her friends, and is happy with her lot. Not a lot happens. Heartwarming.
Rating: 3/5
Delaney, JP (2026) The Move. Quercus.
Kate and Matt are searching for a better life for themselves and their children. Trade Cottage is their dream house in the countryside. The sellers, Rosemary and Paul, are really nice people who become close friends and neighbours. That is, until they take exception to Kate and Matt’s renovations and their son wants to repossess the cottage. As their relationship sours the family become targets of a hate campaign. Kate prepares to fight, then a body is found and secrets are exposed. Suspenseful page-turner.
Rating: 3/5
Krotoski, Aleks (2026) The Immortalists: The Death of Death and the Race for Eternal Life. Vintage.
Humanity’s search for immortality has reached new heights in the age of high-tech, and with the rise of billionaires. Now these giants are attempting to build a fountain of youth to own and control. Death is a problem to solve. By harnessing technology to cure ageing today’s immortalists are striving to be the first to defy death and profit from longevity. They are building cults and attempting to direct data and bend national systems to their will, believing AI to be the alchemy and Philosopher’s Stone. Krotoski’s investigations also explore conventional wisdom, framing illness as a battle, and the societal impact of the actions of rich men. Broad approach. Wishful thinking on the most part.
Rating: 3/5
Reed, Megan Nicol (2026) Other People’s Bodies. Allen & Unwin.
Five women are devoted to their fitness regime and their charismatic trainer Lars. When Lars suggests they make a deeper commitment to their wellness they agree as a group to take on his advanced therapies to build a simpler and healthier life. But each woman has deep vulnerabilities that opens them up to his influence. As they pressure each other to conform to Lar’s increasingly coercive tactics they miss the warning signs. This tale is focussed on the compulsive elements of the wellness trend in which group-think is prevalent and control is presented as freedom. Reed cleverly makes connections between these trends and more repressive dynamics including the manosphere and trad wife culture. Highly recommended.
Rating: 5/5
Hochhauser, Rachel (2026) Lady Tremaine. St Martin’s Press.
In this reimagined Cinderella tale twice-widowed Lady Ethelreda Tremaine Bramley is solely responsible for a crumbling manor, two daughters and a stepdaughter, and a peregrine falcon. She is the hero of this tale, rather than evil villain, struggling to secure her daughters’ futures through marriage, whilst grasping the daily challenge of putting food on the table. A royal ball is set to change everything. As an engagement to the future king looks imminent she discovers a hidden secret that could destroy them all. Good ol’feminist fairytale. Enchanting with a bit of wickedness on the side.
Rating: 4/5
7:30 Bookclub 