The novel is told in the third person and follows Scout, a sentient vacuum cleaner who names herself after the character in To Kill A Mockingbird. Other appliances include the Fridge, Clock, Auto (self-driving car) and Watch (which controls the smart house). They serve a retired couple, Harold and Edie. When Edie passes away and Harold is plunged into grief, the controller of everything (‘the Grid’) is going to remove the most precious of his belongings and move him out of the house. His daughter Kate, a computer expert who is still paying the price for a rebellious action years ago, won’t let that happen. Kate, Scout and Adrian (a piano-playing boy who used to be Edie’s student) will do anything they can to keep Harold in his home with his valuable books.

I liked this story very much, even though it has many unanswered questions. When it’s on this small a scale, you can’t expect the complete downfall of the system, but there are people who live outside of the Grid. I would have liked more links between Harold’s books and the story. The Catcher in the Rye is mentioned frequently as one of his treasured books but there is no discussion of its content. I also thought that Harold was portrayed as very elderly at the age of sixty-eight. I know that people are longer-lived even in our time, but perhaps in the near-future controlled by the Grid, the reverse could be true and the automated boredom of life ages them!

In summary, a recommended read. It’s not that weird a book, I’ve read much stranger ones. It will definitely make you think.

Thank you to the publisher Faber and Faber for the review copy via NetGalley.

More discussion on ‘The Brave Little Toaster’ can be read in Mirrors, Movies and Magic: 1980s Children’s Films Based on Books.

The narrative switches between Ollie’s memories of his younger days, especially of a quirky girl he befriended one summer, and his diary on board the spacecraft on its long journey, where they are out of contact with Earth. He made a decision to leave his family to go on this mission and he’ll forever wonder if he did the right thing. It’s quite a sad novel in some ways and the main character remains somewhat mysterious. I was very impressed by everything about this book. The author also mentions Tim Peake’s Limitless in her acknowledgements, for a sense of what it’s like to work in space.

Published by 4th Estate, 2026.

In summary, this is a good read, particularly as debut literary fiction, but it deserved a better ending.

Published by Canongate, 2025.

Whispers in Yellow: Spring Stories by N S Ford

Step into Springtime with this collection of quirky stories!

A bout of Spring-cleaning turns into a crazy journey to parallel universes. On an egg hunt, a harassed father questions his sanity when only he can see the Easter bunny. A woman named April Showers is embarrassed about her name, but a date with a clown gives her a new perspective. When a magnolia tree is under threat, the forces of nature must work together to save the garden. Among the daffodils, invisible beings whisper of a planet where it is always Spring.

Five unique stories with N S Ford’s trademark mix of weird and wonder, darkness and light.

My Devil Wears Denim (London Magic Book 1) by Angela Pearse

When the devil shows up in tight Levi’s, how can you resist?
Jade Jameson would quite happily sell her soul for a better life. To her surprise, the universe takes her seriously and sends a handsome devil with an offer. But there’s a catch: sealing the deal requires more than a handshake.

Ever the opportunist, Jade negotiates a workaround, picturing cocktails and a resort with patchy Wi-Fi. Instead, she lands in the 1980s – no internet, no smartphone, and an alarming amount of neon. Not to mention having to juggle new flatmates and a job she never applied for.

Sebastian Burns has a bad habit of letting people off the hook, and Jade is his latest fiasco. Demoted and desperate to earn back Lucifer’s favour, he knows he should be focused on scoring souls – not getting attached to a sassy brunette who pushes his buttons.

When he shows up looking sinfully good in stonewash and armed with survival tips for the ‘80s, Jade’s walls start to crumble. This sexy devil might just be the reason her life takes a turn for the better – but how do you plan a happily ever after with a man from Hell?

If you like funny paranormal romcoms with banter, temptation, and wickedly charming immortals, then you’ll love My Devil Wears Denim. Dive into romantic mayhem and time-travel trouble today!

The Ghostwriter: A Tiny Terrible Tale by Sarah Jules

For as long as she could remember, Clio Pike devoured stories. It was only natural that she’d become a ghostwriter.

Percy Hern wasn’t her usual client.

He was ninety-eight: a shut in, a technophobe, and he said he had a story worth telling. In Clio’s experience, there was a direct positive correlation between the client’s age and the dullness of the stories they wanted immortalised.

Hern was offering £50,000, more money than Clio would typically make in a whole year. How could she possibly say no?

All she had to do was travel to the Isle of Kresnick, a tiny island just off the north coast of Scotland, listen to an old man’s stories, and then weave them into something worth reading…

But something is wrong with the Isle of Kresnick, and its sole occupant. Something… monstrous. And Clio has no way to escape its grasp.

Hideaway Valley Fire: The Complete Series by Eliza Rockwood

Welcome to Hideaway Valley – where the alpha heroes of the local Fire District fall hard and fast for feisty, independent women.

His Hidden Star: She’s a movie star on the run, and he’s the small-town fire chief who’s also her best friend. When a fire drives her into his protective arms, will his love be enough to keep her safe?

His Hidden Desire: He was her dad’s best friend and the only man she’s ever loved. Bound by honor, he’s kept his distance. But when he learns she’s planning to date a rookie firefighter, will jealousy finally push him to claim the heart that’s always been his?

Her Hidden Protector: She thought he was gone forever, but he’s been watching her from the shadows for years. When he finally steps out of the darkness, can she forgive him for letting her believe he was dead?

Her Hidden Hero: She’s the hometown girl he never stopped loving, and he’s the man who shattered her teenage heart. Now, fate has brought them both back to Hideaway Mountain – will they risk it all for a second chance at love?

His Hidden Fire: She’s a guarded tattoo artist with a dark past, and he’s the younger firefighter determined to ignite something unforgettable. He may be inexperienced, but he’s eager to learn – the only problem is, can she risk her heart to teach him?

A Taste of Smoke: He’s been searching for his forever, and she’s desperately trying not to be found. But when a wildfire forces her into his waiting arms, will she let him keep her safe from more than just the flames?

The Darkness Series Box Set by Jessica Huntley

Everyone has a little darkness inside them … But just how dark is yours, and what are you willing to do to keep it hidden?
“Cherry Hollow is a place where if you leave to live elsewhere, you never return, and if an outsider moves in, they never leave.”

It may seem like your average rural town in the Lake District, but Cherry Hollow hides more secrets than most. And it all started with the disappearance of Kieran Jones in 1998. Didn’t it?

Four friends deal with their grief over what happened in different ways, each suffering from their own version of The Creature, an entity that may or may not be real and feeds on their inner darkness.

New people move to the town. More secrets are revealed. And more lives are lost. But at what price?

How did The Darkness start? Why is it tormenting the town and its grieving residents, and who will be the one to finally reveal the darkest secret of all?

A dark psychological thriller series that focuses on mental health and explores just how dark our minds can go, the aftermath of trauma and how it can have repercussions for the rest of our lives … and beyond.

Dame Ophis: a sapphic fantasy tale by Merlina Garance

She has many names.

Lady of the Oak.

Dame Ophis.

Few are those to know her real one.

Sinha.

When wounded knight Cerris crosses through the forest on her way back to the castle, she doesn’t expect a surprising young woman to offer her shelter, nor to heal her.

Things take a complicated turn when Cerris realises who she is dealing with.

She is supposed to kill Dame Ophis.

The only problem is, she might have fallen in love with Sinha.

When the Devil Calls: a Collection of Horror Stories by Bethany Russo

Aliens cause havoc at a service station in Lancaster, and continue to terrorise the cleaners at two hotels in Plymouth. A woman recounts the horrors that lurked in the woods at her favourite childhood campsite in Dorset. Two women fight their way from Ambleside to Grasmere on the first day of the zombie apocalypse. A man takes part in the Chippenham scarecrow trail. With a human-looking scarecrow on his front garden, he’s surprised one night when it’s missing and is then interrupted by a knock at the door. Two new friends pay a visit to Sally in the Woods in their hometown of Bath, only to discover the woods hold more than just a creepy ghost story.

The Man on the Roof at Midnight by Eric Woods

A trilogy of three novellas, this paranormal thriller asks the question: what would you do if you were awakened at the same time every night by the sound of footsteps on your roof?
Dr. Owen Drake recently suffered a tragedy so painful that he picked up his entire life and ran away from the memories. Now, Owen is in a new city with a new job as a psychology professor at a reputable university. He also has a new home that sits on a lake, but the area is eerily quiet. The lake is calm. The neighbors are mysterious.

But then there are the nights… and the thundering noises above … that wake him every night at the same time…

Get the entire trilogy but be sure to fall asleep before you hear the footsteps!

If you would like to submit a title to be considered for my next indie books feature, please use this form.

Previous issues: Summer 25, Autumn 25, Winter 25.

First published in Japan, 2020. English translation by Alison Watts published by Penguin, 2023.

I have to admit that most of the stories weren’t quite spooky enough or had vague meanings, but they did have an impact. After being annoyed by some aspects of the writing style in Johnson’s novel Everything Under, I wondered if this book would be similar, but as the stories are mainly narrated without dialogue, it didn’t bother me. I used the word ‘unsettling’ in my review of the novel, too. The Hotel was commissioned and originally broadcast for radio, so I don’t know if it worked better for the format, but nonetheless, the book is worth reading.

Published by Jonathan Cape, 2024.

It started off with an intriguing premise. Two teenagers were in love, but the girl suddenly vanished. Many years later, the man, who has always thought about her, goes on a quest to find her. Her self in the real world was a shadow, but her real self is in a strange city surrounded by walls. I liked the book until about a third of the way through and then I became bored with it. Nothing was really happening and the narrator kept on repeating himself. The last Murakami I read was Killing Commendatore and that one was much too long, but a better read than this.

The City and Its Uncertain Walls was like putting the ingredients for a cake into a bowl, but not mixing and baking them. The ideas and images were there, with unsatisfactory results.

First published in Japan, 2023. English edition translated by Philip Gabriel, 2024.

The first section of the book is a biography of Lady Elizabeth Hurnshaw, the ‘lady botanist’ whose illustrations these are supposed to be. In the 17th century, she and her son found themselves in a fantastical place called Amarant, or Atlantis. The line between flora and fauna was blurred. Moreover, there was a plant that could give immortality to two people in true love. Elizabeth married the king, but she accompanied her son back to England so he could choose whether to take his rightful place at Hurnshaw House. They were denounced as sorcerers. Before her brother-in-law could do away with them, they vanished and were not heard of since. Hundreds of years later, Una Woodruff and a writer called Morticia Adams discovered Elizabeth’s notebooks and have curated them into this book!

Some of the illustrations are sketches, with parts of the plants and their growth stages labelled. Others are colourful paintings, sometimes with mythical creatures or marvellous buildings behind the plants. My favourites are the dragon vine, dillocorn (a merger of armadilloes and sweetcorn!), a tiger lily with actual tiger faces, and a sunflower whose seeds are ladybirds. It’s really a coffee table book or collector’s item, rather than a story book, as it’s mostly illustrations.

Published by Dragon’s World, 1981.

The most interesting thing about the book was the invisible yellow raincoat which the protagonist constantly wears, which prevents her from getting close to others and explains her skin conditions. She works in a frozen foods warehouse and being frozen refers to her emotional state. I felt there were messages in the book but they were expressed in a confusing way. The ending was weak because it’s an epilogue by the professor who taught her Latin. On balance I liked the book because it was memorable but I wouldn’t be very keen on reading more from this author.

First published in Japan, 2023. English translation by Yuki Tejima published by Harvill, 2025.

The story follows an actress, Greta, whose career is on a downward slope. She was famous, with her husband and daughter, for a series of adverts for the Maple Gold brand of coffee. Her family is now falling apart and she wishes it could be like the old days. When she gets an invitation to a magical coffee shop where the concoctions send her mind to an alternative reality, she has to choose between a too-perfect life or accepting her own life, patching things up with her family and sorting out her career. The grass is always greener, literally. I wasn’t convinced about Greta’s character and she came across as too timid to be an actress. Also I’m not sure why it was mentioned several times that she had to wear a bra in bed. Just once is enough? I liked her daughter Lottie, though, who seemed very credible.

In summary, this book will appeal to coffee addicts who like gentle reads and are not particular about the writing style. I preferred The Book Share, which is the other novel I’ve read by this author.

Published in 2025 by Aria.