BOOKMARK April 2025 Book recommendations
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April Titles
All books are available from Adventure Into Books in Blairgowrie.
‘Spring is sprung and Winter is done’ – what better way to start us off this month, than with these words from Antonio Vivaldi, translated and extoled by Michael Morpurgo in his new, beautiful book Spring: the story of a season.2025 is rapidly becoming a year of remarkable stories of remarkable women. We’ll be hearing of two such women at the BOOKMARK Meet the Authors event on 3rd May, when Sean Lusk will be speaking of the colourful and influential life of pioneering writer, poet and feminist, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, whose tale is told so well in A Woman of Opinion. Sean will be joined by Victoria Mackenzie talking about her book For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy on My Little Pain.
Staying with the theme of remarkable women is No Country For A Woman by Jane Dismore. However, If true crime is more your thing, I can recommend Hallie Rubenhold’s Story of a Murder: the Wives, the Mistress and Doctor Crippen -it sets the context, shifts the emphasis and causes the reader to think beyond the story of a sensationalised murderer.
Planning a train journey over Easter? The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue - on second thoughts, perhaps don’t read it while you’re on a train!
If you are a Japanophile, the second in the Kamogawa Food Detectives series could be for you: The Restaurant of Lost Recipes by Hisashi Kashiwai and, to round off, a recommendation from a bookshop customer: The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair by Joël Dicker
I hope you enjoy these recommendations. Let me know if you have any you would like to share.
Kate
BOOKMARK member
PS: The Adventure into Books Book Blether group meets at 7pm on the first Wednesday of each month. On 2nd April, we’ll be meeting to chat about The Women by Kristin Hammer (ISBN: 9781035005697, paperback, Pan Macmillan, 2025). On 7th May, we’ll be blethering about James by Percival Everett (ISBN: 9781035031269, paperback, Pan Macmillan, 2025). All are welcome.
Spring: The Story of a Season by Michael Morpurgo
(Hodder Books, 2025)
Non-Fiction
Spring: the story of a season by Michael Morpurgo (ISBN: 97813997288435). Describing his experiences of Spring on his Devonshire farm, it makes a wonderful, observant and immersive companion, for this time of year, and any other.
A Woman of Opinion by Sean Lusk
(Transworld Publishers Ltd, 2025)
Historical Fiction
Sean Lusk's new book is the story of the colourful and influential life of pioneering writer, poet and feminist, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, whose tale is told so well in A Woman of Opinion (ISBN: 9781804994368).
For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy on My Little Pain by Victoria MacKenzie
(Bloomsbury, 2026)
Historical Fiction
Victoria Mackenzie's For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy on My Little Pain (ISBN: 9781526647931), which depicts the meeting between Margery Kempe and Julian of Norwich in 1413. A slim, vivid novel, it recounts a long-ago event and a secret that changes the course of history.
No Country for a Woman by Jane Dismore
(The History Press, 2025)
Biography
No Country For A Woman by Jane Dismore (ISBN: 9781803996141), which tells the story of Lady Dorothy Mills: explorer, writer, adventurer and imbiber of cocktails. She seems to have taken the advice of a relative to heart when she was told as a young girl that as she would never be beautiful, she had better be interesting. A trail-blazing and fascinating life, her sense of adventure often took her to explore places where European women had rarely ventured, earning her a Fellowship of the Royal Geographical Society.
Story of a Murder: the Wives, the Mistress and Doctor Crippen by Hallie Rubenhold
(Penguin, 2026)
True Crime
Hallie Rubenhold’s Story of a Murder: the Wives, the Mistress and Doctor Crippen (ISBN: 9780857527318). Rubenhold’s central tenets is that ‘No murderer should ever be the guardian of their victim’s story’. In her previous book, The Five, she told the stories of the women murdered by Jack the Ripper; in her new book, she tells us about the lives of the women caught up in the life of Hawley Harvey Crippen. It sets the context, shifts the emphasis and causes the reader to think beyond the story of a sensationalised murderer.
The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue
(Pan Macmillan, 2025)
Historical Fiction
The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue (ISBN: 9781035057269). An intriguing, captive cast, each travelling for their own reasons – some innocent, some mundane, some harrowing, some dangerous; all heading to Paris on a train that’s shooting towards the terminus.
The Restaurant of Lost Recipes by Hisashi Kashiwai
(Pan Macmillan, 2025)
Fiction
The Restaurant of Lost Recipes by Hisashi Kashiwai (ISBN: 9781035009640, paperback). Set in a traditional Japanese restaurant in Kyoto, a father and daughter duo of culinary sleuths have made it their mission to track down and recreate dishes fondly remembered by their customers. Mouth-watering food writing, warm storytelling and sprinkle of Japanese culture make for a truly feel-good book.
The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair by Joël Dicker
(Quercus, 2024)
Crime Fiction
The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair by Joël Dicker (ISBN: 9781529440263 – a new edition, first published 2014). The story starts in August 1975, in Somerset, New Hampshire, when struggling author Harry Quebert falls in love with Nola Kellergan. When her body is found 33 years later, buried in Harry’s yard, Harry is the only suspect. His protégé, Marcus Goldman, sets out to clear Harry’s name, but nothing in life – or death – is ever as it seems in this twisty, gripping murder mystery.