A look at the latest releases, plus what's new in paperback.

By Keeley Bolger

Book of the week

Cavendon Hall by Barbara Taylor Bradford is published in hardback by HarperFiction, priced £16.99 (ebook, £10.99). Available February 3.

Barbara Taylor Bradford is the glamorous Yorkshire-born author who began her worldwide fame with the release of A Woman Of Substance in 1979.

Her latest novel mimics the winning formula of Downton Abbey, following the aristocratic Ingham family of Cavendon Hall and their staff, in particular the Swann family, who have served the Inghams for generations. As the story unfolds it becomes apparent that an intricate web of affairs, secrets and scandal links the two families.

At first the story focuses on rather mundane problems such as a ruined ball dress, however when one of the Ingham daughters is brutally raped it suddenly becomes far more gripping and tense. The growing threat of the Second World War adds to the tension, and soon the perfect world of Cavendon Hall is ripped apart.

Although it is well-written and easy to read, the constant gushing about how good-looking, loyal and kind all the characters are can become a little annoying.

However, for anyone who shamelessly enjoys a period drama full of fancy frocks and repressed desires, this is a wonderful world to escape to.

8/10

(Review by Harriet Shephard)

We Used To Be Kings by Stewart Foster is published in hardback by Jonathan Cape, priced £12.99 (ebook £8.99). Available January 30.

Stewart Foster's debut novel tells the story of 18-year-old Tom and his younger brother Jack, set in a psychiatric hospital in the late 1970s. From the outset, our narrators are arguing over who is in the best position to tell us the story of how they ended up there. It is eventually decided that Tom should tell the story because Jack died years ago, and remains only as a voice in his elder brother's head.

Told from the confusing multi-consciousness of Tom's mind, We Used To Be Kings draws the reader into the psyche of the protagonist, much like Mark Haddon's Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time does with Asperger's syndrome. As Tom recounts the traumatic series of events leading to Jack's death, you become captivated by the incomprehensible view of a young and troubled mind.

Though it is at times misdirecting to read the story from both points of narration - Jack often interrupts Tom's dialogue - this does immerse you in the complex emotional state of the character. And though the ending is something you see coming, Foster's descriptive narrative keeps you gripped and desperate to find out more. A really well-written and engaging first novel, We Used To Be Kings is an absolute must-read.

7/10

(Review by Holly McKenzie)

Andrew's Brain by E.L. Doctorow is published in trade paperback by Little Brown, priced £12.99 (ebook £4.35). Available January 30.

E.L. Doctorow is an acknowledged master of American fiction, the celebrated author of Ragtime, Billy Bathgate and The Book of Daniel. His latest fictional offering, Andrew's Brain, is a slim oddity - an entertaining and instructive blend of thought experiment, therapy session, 9/11 thriller, and political farce.

Andrew is a cognitive scientist, a brain expert who believes he has no heart and that none of us has a soul. The entire novel takes the form of a dialogue between Andrew and 'Doc', an unnamed shrink who seeks to defend the notion of an improvable human nature against the pitiless scientist who believes our behaviour is entirely determined by biochemistry. But we never really know who Andrew is talking to, or where he's talking from.

In the exchange - part playful, part combative - between the two, we see the key events of Andrew's life unfold. It's a series of tragic accidents and hapless misadventures, in which one child dies, another is abandoned, a wife goes missing and an opera singer is driven to alcoholism. But the gloom is constantly undercut by Andrew's whimsical ruminations on what it means to think, to be conscious, to have a personality.

And then things change quite radically.

Suddenly the chapters get shorter and shorter, and the meditations increasingly give way to the twists and turn of a thriller plot. It turns out that Andrew was a college roommate of the US President (no name is given, but George W is clearly meant). He knows things that the president would rather forget, and tragedy turns to farce as we start to guess where Andrew might be speaking from, and why.

In retrospect, this is a story which seems to start off as one thing and end as something rather different. But Doctorow is an effortless storyteller, and it's all very readable and enjoyably idiosyncratic.

7/10

(Review by Dan Brotzel)

Boxer Handsome by Anna Whitwham is published in hardback by Chatto & Windus, priced £12.99 (ebook £8.99). Available now.

With thick, black curly hair, honey-coloured skin, toned physique and muscular strong legs, Bobby is considered 'boxer handsome'.

But 'the Yid' makes the mistake of getting involved in a street brawl days before his big fight with his stablemate, Irish traveller Connor, nicknamed 'Gypsy Boy', over fellow traveller girl Theresa - and the consequences soon carry over to the boxing ring and beyond.

Londoner Anna Whitwham has taken inspiration from her own life for her debut novel, which is set in the capital's East End.

Like Bobby, whose father and grandfather were boxers, Whitwham's grandfather John Poppy - whom she dedicates the book to - was a featherweight boxer in a Hoxton club and the sport gave him a way out of poverty.

The fights are described in glorious visceral detail but this unconventional love story is just about the ducks and dives as much as it is about the hits and wins.

Whitwham's East Side Story packs a punch, and is a knockout debut her family could only be proud of.

7/10

(Review by Shereen Low)

Winter by Christopher Nicholson is published in hardback by Fourth Estate, priced £14.99 (ebook £6.02). Available now.

As an old man, Thomas Hardy sits in his study and dreams of youth and beauty... From the acclaimed author of The Elephant Keeper comes this portrait of a great writer in his twilight years, just as a production of Tess is to be staged. The raven-haired local woman Hardy picks for Tess brims with life and sweetness and stirs a yearning admiration in the old writer. But as Gertrude Bugler (also known as Gertie) captures Thomas's imagination and becomes a more permanent figure in the Hardy world, his wife Florence spirals from her characteristic melancholy into a fevered distrust of the young woman.

Nicholson's emotional acuity captures the reader's heart fast, and his delicate prose is Hardy-esque in pace, evocation, and quality. We feel for the elderly man whose creativity is sparked by a new and quiet passion. The anxious Florence suffers from having so voluntarily played the part of the Great Writer's Wife; answering his letters and tending his house, her sorrow is a eulogy for unfulfilled women of the period. The lovely Gertie lifts the book's wintery tone, and we half-wonder whether, after all, Thomas Hardy might end his days in love. A novel for literary lovers.

9/10

(Review by Kitty Wheater)

Non-fiction

My Age Of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread And The Search For Peace Of Mind by Scott Stossel is published in hardback by William Heinemann, priced £20 (ebook £8.03). Available now.

If you have ever suffered from anxiety, if you know someone who has, or if you just have a passing interest in the subject, then My Age Of Anxiety is well worth a read.

The book covers all aspects of the clinical condition. It starts, naturally, with an exploration of what exactly anxiety is - looking at definitions of the disorder from ancient Greek physician Hippocrates and father of psychoanalysis Freud, to the modern day Diagnostic And Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders. It also poses the question - what exactly is the difference between 'normal' anxiety and 'clinical' anxiety?

From there, Scott Stossel looks at anxiety's impact on the body as well as performance, how drugs have both treated anxiety and formed how it is diagnosed, the nature/nurture basis for this psychological condition, describing in detail how early attachment to parents plays a key role in the development of anxiety, and finally how to deal with the disorder.

But what makes this book a real winner is that Stossel is an author with a difference. The 40-something editor of The Atlantic magazine has real insight into the condition because he has suffered severe anxiety of all types - fear of public speaking, social phobia, anxiety about being sick and general anxiety, to name a few. And he has tried nearly every treatment out there - individual therapy, family therapy, exposure therapy, hypnosis, mediation and lots of medication.

As a result, what could be a dry read is turned into a fascinating, page-turning book, with Stossel interspersing facts with personal experiences, as well as stories about famous names who have suffered from the condition and snippets of information he has received from the many therapists he's seen over the years.

This is a captivating and insightful look at anxiety.

9/10

(Review by Sophie Herdman)

The Fateful Year: England 1914 by Mark Bostridge is published in hardback by Viking, priced £25. Available now.

There are, quite rightly, going to be endless books about the First World War this centenary year - so how do you chose which ones you should spend your time and money reading? The Fateful Year: England 1914 seems like a good place to start.

The elusive 'history book that doesn't read like a history book', The Fateful Year tells the facts of what England was like in that pivotal year, without ever trying to lecture.

Some of these facts are, of course, already well-known, like the antics of the Suffragettes, the crisis in Ireland and the general fear of German re-armament. But to really show how unsettled the country was beneath its veneer of Edwardian calm, Bostridge also delves into lesser reported stories. He talks of a school-pupil strike in a small east Anglian village, and the reaction to the murder of a small child on a north London train. With each topic, he writes passionately and engagingly, and the chapters easily flow, until finally, war breaks out and England - and the world - changes forever.

There are a few moments in the book where you start to wonder exactly what Bostridge's point is, but it always becomes clear - and, to be honest, it's all so elegantly written, a slight amble off focus is enjoyable rather than annoying.

So, whether your interests lie in history, society as a whole, or merely in finding an informative and rewarding book, The Fateful Year is a must.

8/10

(Review by Nel Staveley)

Beatrix Potter: Her Inner World by Andrew Norman is published in hardback by Pen 7 Sword Books priced £19.99. Available now.

Beatrix Potter, the renowned artist, children's author and fervent support of the National Trust, is yet again the subject of study, this time by biographer Andrew Norman.

Norman's interest lies in exploring the way that Potter's early life, social circle, relationships and illnesses shaped her art.

As well as the many meticulously researched extracts from Potter's lively letters, Norman provides extensive family trees helping to piece together who's who in Potter's world.

Of particular note are the chapters on Potter's correspondence and friendship with Sir John Everett Millais as a child (her father was close friends with the painter) and her dalliance with mycology (the study of fungi).

Overall though, it is difficult to get into the book, which is quite formal, repetitive in tone and divided into short chapters, giving the narrative a disjointed feel.

5/10

(Review by Keeley Bolger)

Children's book of the week

How To Catch A Dragon by Caryl Hart and Ed Eaves is published by Simon And Schuster, priced £6.99 (ebook £3.49). Available now.

Young Albie is tired. He's been to school all week and the last thing he wants to do is settle down to his homework which is to doodle a dragon. He's never even met one for starters.

When his mum suggests they go to the library to return some books though, he soon he comes face to face with a young knight, Sir Cuthbert Clinkety-Clank who takes Albie to the Forgotten Forest. Once there, they meet a troll, a bear and eventually some dragons.

This is a delightful story full of lively dialogue and illustrations sure to make your child, and whoever's reading the story with them, chuckle.

8/10

(Review by Keeley Bolger)

Bestsellers for the week ending January 18

Hardbacks

1 Minecraft: The Official Beginner's Handbook

2 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck, Jeff Kinney

3 Raising Steam, Terry Pratchett

4 Demon Dentist, David Walliams

5 Eat - The Little Book of Fast Food, Nigel Slater

6 The Little Book of Mindfulness, Tiddy Rowan

7 Entry Island, Peter May

8 Allegiant: Divergent, Veronica Roth

9 Alex Ferguson: My Autobiography, Alex Ferguson

10 Minecraft: The Official Annual: 2014

(Compiled by Waterstones)

Paperbacks

1 The Examined Life: How We Lose and Find Ourselves, Stephen Grosz

2 Stoner: A Novel, John Williams

3 The Railway Man, Eric Lomax

4 The Fault In Our Stars. John Green

5 Twelve Years A Slave, Solomon Northup

6 And the Mountains Echoed, Khaled Hosseini

7 Wreck This Journal: To Create is to Destroy, Now with Even More Ways to, Keri Smith

8 The Rosie Project, Graeme Simsion

9 The Little Coffee Book of Kabul, Deborah Rodriguez

10 Longbourn, Jo Baker

(Compiled by Waterstones)

Ebooks

1 Twelve Years A Slave, Solomon Northup

2 The Husband's Secret, Liane Moriarty

3 A Dog's Purpose, W.Bruce Cameron

4 Life After Life, Kate Atkinson

5 Bittersweet, Noelle Adams

6 The Railway Man, Eric Lomax

7 The Storyteller, Jodi Picoult

8 When You Walked Back Into My Life, Hilary Boyd

9 Take Me Home, Daniela Sacerdoti

10 Catching the Wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belfort

(Compiled by the Kindle store at Amazon.co.uk)