The Bee Sting by Paul Murray. A brilliant 600 page turner about an Irish family in crisis - Dickie has a new car dealership which has been very successful but is tanking; his wife Imogen is desperate to save the family finances and determined never to go back to the destitution she came from. Their daughter Cass is off to Uni in Dublin and when Dickie takes her there to get her settled in, he confronts a seismic flashback to his own days there; and the teenage son lives his life online where he’s found a new friend who won’t post a photo of himself. I loved this - and it’s also on this year’s Booker longlist. 

Oh, Miriam! By Miriam Margolyes. More incredible stuff from Miriam who has absolutely no filter. Her first book This Much is True had some extraordinary moments in it and if anyone enjoyed that they will also love this. It’s extreme oversharing from a remarkable woman. 

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