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The Darkest Evening - Vera Stanhope

Ann Cleeves

Driving home during a swirling blizzard, Vera Stanhope's only thought is to get there quickly.

But the snow is so heavy, she becomes disoriented and loses her way. Ploughing on, she sees a car slewed off the road ahead of her. With the driver's door open, Vera assumes the driver has sought shelter but when she inspects the car she is shocked to find a young toddler strapped in the back seat.

Afraid they will freeze, Vera takes the child and drives on, arriving at Brockburn, a run-down stately home she immediately recognizes as the house her father Hector grew up in.

Inside Brockburn a party is in full swing, with music and laughter to herald the coming Christmas. But outside in the snow, a young woman lies dead and Vera knows immediately she has a new case. Could this woman be the child's mother, and if so, what happened to her?

Brown Baby: A Memoir of Race, Family and Home Nikesh Shukla

How do you find hope and even joy in a world that is racist, sexist and facing climate crisis? How do you prepare your children for it, but also fill them with all the boundlessness and eccentricity that they deserve and that life has to offer

In Brown Baby Nikesh Shukla explores themes of racism, feminism, parenting and our shifting ideas of home. With writing that will both fill and open your heart, this by turns, heartbreaking, hilariously funny and intensely relatable memoir is dedicated to the author's two young daughters, and is in remembrance of the grandmother they never got to meet.