The Little Award 2016

This year, in order to celebrate our favourite books of the year, we have decided to establish our very own annual literary award: The Little Award! 

We have drawn up a longlist (soon to be a shortlist) of our favourite books published in the last 12 months, and we have two smart little trophies to award- one for our winning adult title and an even smaller one for our winning children’s book of the year!

We are also offering 10% of our entire longlist until we announce the winners later in the month. 

Come into the shop to browse our chosen titles or click below to read a mini review for each one.

The Butcher’s Hook

You may have seen our recent window display celebrating ~

The Butcher’s Hook by Janet Ellis

(featuring genuine butcher’s hook courtesy of AA Swarbrick Butchers on Westgate.)

We’ve made a Book Venn to show which great titles this book reminds us of.

If you like a rebellious heroine, caught up in crimes of passion in a vivid historical setting, then we think The Butcher’s Hook might be just up your alley!

The Outrun

by Amy Liptrot

PUBLISHED 14/01/20116

I have never been to Orkney, but having read this book, it is now high up on my list of places to visit.

The outrun is a memoir of recovery. When Amy Liptrot leaves London and returns to her childhood home in Orkney aged thirty – she is just a few months sober. Broken by alcohol addiction, she has lost multiple jobs, her boyfriend, many friends, damaged her health and much of her self-worth. She does not intend to stay very long but finds her bond to the wild and windswept lands of her childhood filling in the ragged void in her life that booze has left behind.

Everyday Super Food

by Jamie Oliver

Published 2015

I am a Granola Dust Convert

I wasn’t expecting to review cookery books on here, but when I come across one that changes my entire view of breakfast, I think it deserves a review!

Jamie Oliver’s Everyday Super Food is a collection of colourful, healthy, delicious recipes which (so far) seem entirely do-able and enjoyable. I have been on the search for breakfast options which move away from sugary cereals and bread products and now I have found many alternatives… the most important of which is DUST. Jamie calls it “Awesome granola dust- nuts, seeds, oats and fruit galore.” I call it DUST.

The Looking-Glass Sisters

by GØHRIL GABRIELSEN

Translated from the Norwegian by John Irons

Written in 2008, published in this translation in September 2015 by Peirene Press*

This book explores the oxymoron of the abusive carer; bound by duty but fuelled by resentment.

The northern expanse of Norway is a land of extreme conditions and opposites, with long dark winters and summers of constant light. Here, a pair of middle aged sisters, living otherwise alone in this isolated landscape, have been locked together in a bitter power struggle for their entire adult lives.

A Year of Marvellous Ways

A Year of Marvellous Ways by Sarah Winman

PUBLISHED (paperback) 28/12/2015

This book sang to me.

It was many songs at once – a love song, a lullaby and a sea shanty all rolled into one glorious ballad.

The themes of friendship and love, of new beginnings and meaningful endings are uplifting and inspiring. The story tells of a year in the life of 89-year-old Marvellous Ways who has lived all her life in and around an old boathouse up a secluded creek in Cornwall. Her memories of past passions and pains become entwined with the lives of other fabulously named characters- broken soldier Francis Drake, star baker Peace and Paper Jack. In sorting out the memories of her own life, Marvellous brings comfort and hope to those around her.

The Trouble with Goats and Sheep

The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon

Published 28/01/2106

The darker side of Neighbourhood Watch

In the sweltering summer of 1976, a seemingly ordinary cul-de-sac on an English housing estate becomes the scene of a missing person inquiry.  The disappearance of Margaret Creasy from Number 8 puts everyone on edge. Suspicion and blame start to spread in murmurs down The Avenue, causing new rifts to break out in the community and re-opening old scars from a series of strange events that happened ten years before.