Browns Best New Books for October 2024
1st October 2024
Every month we carefully select our favourites from the fabulous new titles on offer. Leaves crunch underfoot, there is a definite chill in the air as you snuggle into your favourite jumper and pumpkin themed snacks and decorations are everywhere – it can only be October! As Halloween approaches and the clocks go back we can look forward to some truly amazing new books being published. October is always a huge month for new books with lots of fantastic new fiction, books for children and young adults and of course celebrity memoirs (including one by Rick Astley this year!) to choose from. It’s been really hard to pick our favourites from all the brilliant new books published in October and we hope you enjoy them as much as we have.
Check back next month for our picks of the new books November has to offer.
Adult Non-Fiction
The Peepshow
Summerscale, Kate
Hardback
True crime is a fascination for many and notable historical cases, especially those that involve murder, often hold a place in our collective psyche. In 1953, police discovered the bodies of 3 young women hidden in the wall of 10, Rillington Place; further grim discoveries were made at the address and a nationwide manhunt begun for the tenant, former policeman Reg Christie. A double murder at the same address had been investigated 3 years earlier– did they hang the wrong man?
Kate Summerscale is the best-selling author of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher and her true crime books are meticulously researched and utterly compelling. The Peepshow deals with one of Britain’s most notorious post-war serial murder cases and examines not only the killings themselves but the social and political times that they took place in, with the sexism and racism of the time an element of the case that has perhaps been overlooked in other accounts. Summerscale is careful to focus on the victims and present them as whole and interesting individuals, never reducing them to just how their lives were ended. The reaction of the tabloid press of the time and how the case was reported is also covered. An interesting, nuanced and riveting look at a grim and infamous case and the society in which it took place.
More DetailsAdult Fiction
The Blue Hour
Hawkins, Paula
Hardback
The island of Eris has only one house, one inhabitant and is unreachable from the Scottish mainland for 12 hours a day. This isolated place used to be home to Vanessa, a woman famous not only for her art but for the fact that her notoriously unfaithful husband disappeared over 20 years ago. The island is now home to Grace who is content in her isolation but when a sinister discovery is made in a London art gallery a stranger comes to visit Eris and the island’s secrets begin to emerge…
For me, autumn always feels like the perfect time to read a new crime thriller, there is something about curling up on a chilly evening with an intriguing and twisty story! The Blue Hour is the latest book from Paula Hawkins (author of The Girl on the Train) and is a hugely atmospheric and suspenseful read. Full of unlikeable but compelling characters, slow-building menace and a fantastic setting on a remote and cut-off island this is an eerie and gripping book, a psychological drama packed with atmosphere and a chilling look at isolation. One that will have readers hooked as the nights draw in.
More DetailsChildren’s Non-Fiction
Everything Under the Sun: Quiz Book
Oldfield, Molly
Paperback / softback
Everything Under The Sun is an award-winning podcast in which Molly Oldfield (the original QI Elf) and various experts answer questions about life on earth sent in by children from around the world (I particularly like the episode with Michael Morpurgo answering the question “why are there always problems in stories?”). Following on from the brilliant book Everything Under The Sun: A Question for Every Day of the Year, Molly’s new quiz book has 366 questions children can use to test friends and family. Questions like which animal has the most eyes? And which is the only mammal not able to fart? Each of the daily multiple-choice questions is accompanied by interesting facts and fantastic illustrations.
Perfect for KS1 and Lower KS2 children, this brilliant book is ideal for curious kids and great for answering some of the stranger questions children have about the world around them. Good for dipping in and out of and having fun testing each other with, this is a great gift for fact-loving children or a wonderful addition to Primary classrooms. (And I know you’re dying to know the answer… the only mammal unable to fart? – a sloth!)
More DetailsChildren’s Fiction
Birdie
Rose, J P
Paperback / softback
Birdie Bagshaw has never known her parents. All she has known is a home for mixed-race children in Leeds but now she has been sent to live in the Yorkshire Dales with her great-aunt Mabel. From the start things are difficult and she is treated as an outsider by the local children. Lonely and isolated, one day the bullying drives Birdie to take refuge in a coal mine where she meets Mr Duke, the last pit pony in the village. Birdie forms a bond with the special little pony but his future is in danger and she must come up with a daring plan to save him…
Set in the 1950s, Birdie is a beautiful and moving story about friendship, hope and heroism. J.P Rose’s first book for young readers, The Haunting of Tyrese Walker has been a huge hit and was shortlisted for the Diverse Book Awards and the Branford Boase Award. Birdie is a story packed with emotion and looks at belonging, remaining strong and finding your place in the world. Birdie’s relationship with the pit pony she finds is truly special and she is a wonderful central character, fierce, loveable and relatable. Birdie is a wonderful book that explores themes of family, identity, racism and belonging in an unforgettable and heartwarming way. Perfect for Upper KS2 and KS3 students this book will stay with readers for a long time.
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