Vision In Blue

April's new titles have changed a bit in the last week. First I picked my favourites out of the buyer's notes, then I put them all in the page and put their descriptions... but going back over them and reading a longer description I came to realise how truly misleading buyer's notes are! You only have one or two lines to go off so they should entice you and give you a good idea of what the book is... yes? No... I deleted about five titles and pondered a couple of others after realising that actually the two different descriptions did not lead me in the same direction at all. So here, after much deliberation are my... oh lord, sorry... 23 picks for April! --- The Art Of Not Breathing by Sarah Alexander 9781474903066 When Elsie is underwater the pain eases. Her twin brother disappeared five years ago and hasn't been seen since. Underwater Elsie has flashbacks to times when her family wasn't dissolving, flashbacks that might lead her to answers. I'm no...

Firstly I'll confess that I have not read books by either of these authors. I can hear the gasps of shock now. As an excuse, historical fiction isn't really my thing, I have considered picking up The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas more than once but have never quite made it past the front cover. Over the few talks that I've been to it has been interesting to get the insight into what the path of each writer has been before becoming a published author. These two were no exception. Andy Mulligan worked in the theatre and was happily made redundant, he then went travelling and eventually became a teacher. Throughout this all he was writing and came across his agent through the school. John Boyne had done a writing degree and wanted to be around books while he wrote so he got a job in Waterstones [I'll forgive him!] where he got to encounter a lot of famous authors and other book professionals. Both authors have had similar experiences through their lives, that have seep...