Solaris, Lem S, Science Fiction (Faber & Faber 1961)
Link: Amazon, Goodreads. £6.99 at time of review
Psychologist Kelvin is sent to the Research Station orbiting one of the greatest mysteries encountered by mankind: an oceanic planet that appears to exhibit signs of intelligence. His mission is to evaluate whether the research is a failure. What he finds is utter chaos, scientists driven past the edge of sanity by a force that may be the ocean – and that Kelvin may not be able to escape.
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Biswas, Damyanti, You Beneath Your Skin, Fiction, (Indie: 2019)
Link :Amazon, Goodreads. Price £2.99 at time of review
Anjali strives to be the perfect professional psychiatrist and the perfect single-mother to her autistic teenaged son. Her lover, married Police Commissioner Jatin, is in danger of losing his promotion due to political scandal. When a woman is raped and horribly disfigured, he concocts a plan to use those closest to him – including Anjali – to personally solve the murder and rebrand himself a champion of women’s rights. The consequences of this choice will tear their worlds apart.
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Atwood M, The Testaments, Speculative Fiction, (Penguin 2019)
Link :Amazon, Goodreads. £10 at time of review
In an increasingly believable dystopic future, the greater part of the United States has been overthrown by the religious fundamentalist nation Gilead. The Testaments are the story of three women fighting to overthrow Gilead, one the storyteller, pulling the strings, the other two puppets struggling to survive her manipulations.
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Druon, Maurice, “The Iron King” (Harper Collins: 1955), tr. Humphrey Hare
Link :Amazon, Goodreads. Price at time of review: £6.99
At the beginning of the 14th century King Phillip IV is trying to release France from an age of serfdom at the same time as managing incompetent sons, faithless daughters-in-law and a scheming Queen of England (who happens to also be his daughter.) But will it be his final, bloody victory against the order of the Knights Templar that the brings an end to his reign and launch Europe into the hundred years war?
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