Welcome back to Book Break, today I am bringing you our Pan Macmillan January TBR.
So I've been talking to loads of people round the office and finding out what they're planning
to read next month, what are on people's radars, and what they are most excited about.
So let's start with the book that I am so excited to read in January. I just got my
hands on this proof of Love is for Losers, which is a YA novel that everyone has been
raving about.
It's coming out in May and it's about a teenage girl called Phoebe and her first love with
a girl called Emma.
And it's supposed to have all of the humour of the Georgia Nicholson books which I absolutely
loved growing up. I've heard that it's kind of that meets Sex Education the TV show.
So it sounds brilliant, I cannot wait to dive in.
And then there has been a lot of excitement around the office for The Mercies for Kiran
Millwood Hargrave. Almost everyone I spoke to is most excited about reading this, it's
coming out in February.
This is set in the 17th century on a Norwegian island, where all of the menfolk of the island
are killed in a storm, and so the island becomes a place of women.
And it's about female power and witchcraft and it sounds brilliant.
So two of the people that I spoke to about it, the first was Liz from Legal.
She said that she got really excited about this when one day she was sitting with the
audiobook team while they were doing the casting for the audiobook and they got her really
excited about it.
And she said it sounds quite similar to a book called Burial Rites by Hannah Kent, which
also, when she described it to me, sounds brilliant.
So that one is set in 19th century Iceland, and it's based on a true story about a woman
who is a convicted murderer and is sent to live on this farm while she's awaiting being
executed.
So it's got this kind of beautiful, cold backdrop, and then also this cold, suspicious community
of people who all hate her.
It sounds so exciting, I'm definitely going to have to add that one to my TBR as well
as The Mercies.
And then I also spoke to Glenda, who is the project coordinator of our move to our fabulous
new building, and she said that she is slightly obsessed with witchcraft, so she knew she
had to read this one the second she saw it was based on a real life witch trial.
And The Mercies is this author's first adult book, but she is an award winning author of
YA fantasy, so I think this one is going to be just magical.
And then also while talking to Glenda she said she was really excited to read The Sculptress
by Minette Walters, because she is known as the queen of British crime, but Glenda hasn't
read any of her books before, and actually neither have I. But this sounds brilliant
so now I really want to.
So The Sculptress is about a woman who is accused of murdering her mother and sister.
And she's called The Sculptress because of how she hacked their bodies into pieces and
arranged them into a jigsaw, which is super gruesome. But the book is also about a journalist
who, while researching this case, starts to think that The Sculptress might actually be
innocent of this crime.
And Minette Walters has written 20 books, so Glenda was saying if she likes this one
then basically her whole reading for 2020 is set.
And then I spoke to our Sales Director Sarah who's got two books that she's really excited
for in January. The first is The Highland Falcon Thief, which is the first in the Adventures
on Trains series, which is going to be a middle grade mystery series. Everyone in the office
is really excited about this book.
So in this first one, Harrison Beck is on the train to Scotland, and he has to solve
a mystery and catch a jewel thief before his train arrives. And this one is coming out
in January.
And then she also said she's really excited to read the second Umbrella Mouse title. So
this one is Umbrella Mouse to the Rescue.
The first book was so beloved and Sarah was saying she's just had a sneak peek at the
illustrations for the second coming out in April so that's really exciting.
And then finally I spoke to Robert on reception, who said that he's got three books he's really
excited about this month. The first is Berta Isla by Javier Marias, who Robert said is
his favourite living author, so I really hope this book is everything he hopes it's going
to be.
Next he wants to read Steven Price's Lampedusa, which is coming out in February, and that
one is set in Sicily in the 50s, about a man coming towards the end of his life and figuring
out what's important to him, so that one sounds really really moving.
And then finally the last book on Robert's radar is one that came out just a couple of
months ago, and that's The Supernova Era by Cixin Liu.
And Barack Obama is actually a big fan of this author, so Robert's in good company there,
and the Supernova Era is a sci-fi novel where radiation from a dying star is heading towards
Earth, and within a year that radiation will kill everybody over the age of 13.
So the book is about parents basically trying to teach their parents everything they need
to know to keep the world running. Sounds very exciting.
So those are just some of the books that we're really excited to read this January but I
would love to know what's on your guys's TBR.
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