Camilla Leask, our brilliant Book Club guru, gives us her top picks for March!

Freelance books publicist and mum of two, Camilla has worked predominantly with children’s authors for 14 years. There’s nothing she doesn’t know about books, hot off the press new releases and what our members and their families will enjoy reading.

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FOR ADULTS:

How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue (Cannongate, HB £14.99. Publishes on 11th March 2021

New York Times bestseller Imbolo Mbue delivers this breathtaking David-and-Goliath story about a fictional African village’s collision with an unscrupulous American oil giant.

Pipeline spills have rendered ancestral farmlands infertile. Kosawa’s children are dying from drinking toxic water. Promises of clean-up and financial reparations are made – and ignored. The country’s government cares only about profit. Left with few choices, the people of Kosawa decide to take matters into their own hands, leaving generation after generation to pay the price.

Told through the voices of the village children and the family of a slight, clever girl named Thula, Mbue’s gripping story is of one community’s determination, the impact of tradition, the ghost of colonialism and the noxious impact of profit margins. Sacrificing everything for her people’s freedom, Thula’s story will stay with you long after the final page.

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FOR THE YOUNGER GENERATION:

The Incredible Record Smashers by Jenny Pearson, Usborne, PB £6.99. Publishes on 29th April

Jenny Pearson’s second novel is a heart-warming tale with a cast of likeable characters and a satisfyingly silly plotline.

Lucy is a fixer of broken things. But there’s one thing she can’t fix, her unhappy mum, which is why she spends so much time with her lovable, eccentric Aunty Sheila. When a new friend, Sandesh, comes into her life, Lucy starts to hatch an incredible plan to solve all her mum’s “problems”.  With Sandesh’s help, she’s going to star on Record Smashers TV and reunite her mum with the show’s heartthrob host. Best laid plans and all that…

Perfect for 9+ year olds, Pearson’s laugh-out-loud book sets her on a par with Frank Cottrell-Boyce, David Baddiel and David Solomons.

 

YOLK, by Mary H.K. Choi (Atom Books, PB £7.99). Publishes on 4th March

The New York Times bestselling author of Permanent Record packs another punch with YOLK, a razor-sharp story about two very different sisters and how far they’ll go to save one of their lives.

Jayne and June Baek are nothing alike. June is the older, affluent sister with a hedge fund career and lifestyle to match, while Jayne is a self-centred social hand grenade who invites chaos into her life. Once thick as thieves, these sisters who moved from Seoul to San Antonio no longer want anything to do with each other. That’s until June is diagnosed with cancer and Jayne is the only one who can help her.

Choi’s whipsmart narrative fizzes, bringing characters and settings to life in a funny, emotional story that will resonate with all siblings.

 

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Camilla Leask has worked with literary giants including Waterstone’s Children’s Laureate 2019-2022 Cressida Cowell, the late Michael Bond and Paddington Bear, Enid Blyton Entertainment and the Narnia Estate among many others.