Emily Paull

* The Sisters' Song by Louise Allan * Dustfall by Michelle Johnston * You Belong Here by Laurie Steed * The Art of Persuasion by Susan Midalia * Circe by Madeleine Miller * Obsidio by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman * Jane Seymour- The Haunted Queen by Alison Weir * The Girls in the Picture by Melanie Benjamin * The Secrets at Ocean's Edge by Kali Napier * The Passengers by Eleanor Limprecht    * The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar * The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin * The Paris Seamstress by Natasha Lester * Redemption Point by Candice Fox * Transcription by Kate Atkinson     * The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland * You Think It, I'll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld * The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer These are in no particular order, and if I have missed any amazing books or you'd like to recommend me a new release (especially if it's yours!) please let me know in the comments section.

The Cottingley Secret Hazel Gaynor Harper Collins, 2017 (I own a copy courtesy of the publisher) Though I watched the movie Fairy Tale: A True Story (1997) many times as a child, it wasn't until the news of this book coming out did I think to check if the story of Frances and Elsie and the Cottingley fairies really was based on a true story.  In 1917, Frances Griffiths and her cousin Elsie Wright stunned the world by photographing themselves in the company of fairies down at the 'beck' (an old word for stream) at the back of Elsie's family home in Cottingley, Yorkshire.  These photographs soon came to the attention of the local Theosophical Society, and were certified as genuine by a Mr Snelling-- an expert in photography.  They also came to the attention of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes books, who went on to publish these photographs alongside two articles which he wrote for The Strand , as well as a book called The Coming of the Fairie...

There are still four weeks left in December, so maybe I am jumping the gun by writing this list. Books are funny things.  There are some that you love in the moment, but can't recall the plot of months or even days later.  There are others that frustrate you to no end while you're reading them, but you can still find yourself dwelling on years down the track. And because books have such a profound effect on their readers, every year I like to do a shout out to the books that have moved me over the course of the year. These are in no particular order, and I couldn't limit myself to just ten-- I give you the 17 books I read in 2017 that I would recommend to all of you... The Possessions by Sara Flannery Murphy Portable Curiosities by Julie Koh Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier The Wonder by Emma Donoghue The Weight of a Human Heart by Ryan O'Neill Bloodlines by Nicole Sinclair Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Str...