Gwendoline Riley - First Love #BaileysPrize @readingagency

Well I have to confess to being flummoxed with this book. It is beautifully written but I did not get it. None of the characters were appealing. Nothing very much happened and we were left with huge questions and holes in the plot. Why did she marry Edwyn? Why has she stayed married to him? Why is she so nasty to her mother? Why why why and to be honest I didn't care. Please explain what am I missing?

Linda Grant - Dark Circle #BaileysPrize @readingagency

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Loved the feisty Jewish twins diagnosed with TB. This is 1949 and the new NHS sees them arriving at a former Sanitorium for the wealthy (the poor died). The book reveals the appalling hardships and peculiar cures and practices that went on at the hospital, where until the advent of the NHS Doctor's could and did do what they liked. The Sanitarium is home to an eclectic host of characters. This would make a brilliant Reading Group book as there is so much to discuss. Fantastic story and thought provoking. Quirky and different in places, their continental holiday post Sanitorium is a scream. Then you have the children's ward. Definitely a contender for the prize.

Ayobami Adebayo - Stay with me #BaileysPrize

 This is an amazingly assured debut novel. Set in Nigeria with the backdrop of all the political and social upheavals,. it is non the less a story about a marriage. It is also about obsession the absolute desire to have a child and then the desperate need to keep that child alive.
Ayobami Adebayo takes you on a journey with an incredible sense of place and then draws in your emotions as you feel the pain of Yejide.

She is also a master storyteller. Just when you think you have a handle on what is happening then wow it all changes. OK you settle to the new reality and then she does it again and again. I cannot say too much as it would contain spoilers.
This will make a fantastic reading group book and is unmissable for anyone who likes fantastic writing, with twists and turns that will have you open mouthed.

Bailey's Prize Ambassador #BaileysPrize

So thrilled to be a Libraries Ambassador for the Baileys Prize!