Confessions of a Single Mum by Amy Nickell Published by Headline, £8.49 ebook, £16.99 hardback. Born and bred in Berkhamsted, Amy Nickell worked for a while as a celebrity reporter. She had fun. She didn’t take life too seriously. Then she fell pregnant at 24, and everything changed. In Confessions of a Single Mum, Amy debunks single mum myths, delves into the world of […]
Big Brother by Louis Quail Dewi Lewis Publishing, £35 Berkhamsted Photographer Louis Quail is a talented man – his 2015 show ‘Before They Were Fallen’ won various awards, and he spends much of his time on personal, long term projects. This gorgeous hardback book is the culmination of years of work. Deeply personal, Big Brother is essentially a collection of photographs of Louis’ older brother […]
The Affair of the Christmas Card Killer by Jack Murray Available on Amazon Kindle Unlimited, Free Local artist Jack Murray has turned his hand to writing, and this is his debut novel and, he hopes, the first in a series of ‘cosy crime’ books. It tells the story of a murder at Cavendish Hall at Christmas, 1919. Lord Kit Aston investigates. As the snow falls, […]
The Berko Loop by Kevin Exley £15, available from Number Twenty and www.theberkoloop.co.uk. Taking in a loop – as the name suggests – round Berkhamsted, starting at the top of New Road (by the golf club), through Frithsden, The Amaravati monastery, past Ashridge and Northchurch common, along the Grand Union Canal to Cholesbury, Hawridge, Bourne End and Little Heath Farm, this is a […]
Towns of Two Halves by David Guest Rosewood Publishing, £8 paperback, £3.47 on ebook, Amazon. Former Berkhamsted Living Editor, Sub Editor, roving news reporter and tea maker extraordinaire, David Guest has just released his second book, Towns of Two Halves. Described as a ‘tourist’s guide to football towns,’ it is just that, plus much much more. The premise of the book is that David, […]
The second in our editor Clare Swatman’s two-book deal with Macmillan is due out on 22 February 2018. Called The Mother’s Secret, it’s a powerful story about family, secrets and devastating lies. Love keeps us together Kate and Georgie are best friends, different in the way siblings always are, united by the bond of sisterhood. […]
David Guest, production editor of Living magazines, has written his first novel A Pressure of the Hand. You can own your own first edition for £7 from d.guest@btinternet.com, or in e-book form from Amazon or Apple iBooks. Berkhamsted author Sue Hampton gave it four stars on Good Reads and said: ‘I considered five stars. As […]
It is light and frothy and some of the bubbles may get up your nose. Space Captain Smith by Toby Frost, 2008 You’re entitled to expect something special from a £12 paperback. From the seriously awful front cover to the absence of an index at the back, this is not exceptionally good value. A Perspective […]
If you’re looking for a good read, get down to Waterstones and buy Before You Go, the fine first novel from Berkhamsted Living editor Clare Swatman. It is a tale of love, loss and redemption. Zoe and Ed are long-time sweethearts who have had their ups and downs. Their marriage is going through a rocky […]
The Learn by Tony Halker Published by Clink Street Publishing, £8.99 Available from Amazon. This may be one of the most ambitious and extraordinary novels you will find this year. Not many debut novelists will devise an original form of language for their story – even fewer will carry it off. Berkhamsted author Tony Halker […]