April Book Competition 2016

The One-in-a-Million Boy, by Monica Wood

From When God Was a Rabbit to Elizabeth Is Missing, from The Snow Child to The Shock of the Fall – a handful of exceptional novels touch almost every reader’s heart. This is one of those books. A one-in-a-million story for anyone who loves to laugh, cry, and think about how extraordinary ordinary life can be. Miss Ona Vitkus has – aside from three months in the summer of 1914 – lived unobtrusively, her secrets fiercely protected. The boy, with his passion for world records, changes all that. He is eleven. She is one hundred and four years, one hundred and thirty three days old (they are counting). And he makes her feel like she might be really special after all. Better late than never. Only it’s been two weeks now since he last visited, and she’s starting to think he’s not so different from all the rest.

Then the boy’s father comes, for some reason determined to finish his son’s good deed. And Ona must show this new stranger that not only are there odd jobs to be done, but a life’s ambition to complete.

Monica Wood is an award-winning, bestselling novelist and memoirist. Born in Maine, New England, to an Irish Catholic family, she worked as a guidance counsellor and in a nursing home before becoming a full-time writer. She is also a singer, and travelled the New England circuit singing jazz, country, pop and gospel for many years. She lives in Maine with her husband. Author Website: www.monicawood.com

The Steel Kiss, by Jefferey Deaver

Master of suspense Jeffery Deaver returns with the latest gripping thriller featuring paraplegic forensic detective Lincoln Rhyme. Amelia Sachs is hot on the trail of a killer, chasing him through a Brooklyn department store when her pursuit is fatally interrupted. An escalator gives way, forcing Sachs into the machine to help those trapped in its depths. But was it simply freak accident? Could the killer’s presence in the store just before the disaster really be a coincidence, or is there a deeper connection?

Sachs and forensic detective Lincoln Rhyme must find out, before more people die. Because machinery malfunctions every day, and in the hands of someone smart enough, every piece of technology can become a murder weapon.

Jeffery Deaver is the award-winning author of thirty-three internationally bestselling novels, including the 2011 James Bond novel Carte Blanche, and three collections of short stories. He is best known for his Lincoln Rhyme thrillers, which include the number one bestsellers The Vanished Man, The Twelfth Card and The Cold Moon, as well as The Bone Collector which was made into a feature film starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie.
Author Website: www.jefferydeaver.com

A Time to Die, by Tom Wood

It takes a bad man to hunt evil. If the assassin known only as Victor once had a moral compass, it is long since buried, along with his many victims.

Yet some men are so evil even Victor accepts they must die for reasons other than just money. One such man is Milan Rados, a former commander in the Serbian army who has escaped trial at The Hague to become a formidable criminal power. Tracking down and killing this brutal man will win Victor a reprieve for his own recent crimes on British soil.

But Victor isn’t the only one who wants Rados dead. Ana, whose family was butchered on the tyrant’s orders, will do anything to see Rados’ blood spilled on the snow of Eastern Europe. Now Victor has an unlikely ally – but an army stands between them and justice.

Tom Wood is a full-time writer born in Burton-on-Trent, who now lives in London.

After a stint as freelance editor and film-maker, his first novel, The Hunter, was an instant bestseller and introduced readers to a genuine antihero, Victor, an assassin with a purely logical view on life and whose morals are deeply questionable. Studiocanal and the director of Taken, Pierre Morel, are currently adapting The Hunter for the big screen.

Like Victor, Tom is passionate about physical sport, being both a huge boxing fan and practising Krav Maga martial arts, which has seen him sustain a number of injuries.

He has not, however, ever killed anyone.

Author Website: www.tomwoodbooks.com

Polly & The Puffin 02: The Stormy Day, by Jenny Colgan

The second children’s book featuring Polly and her puffin Neil.

Perfect for reading aloud.

The boat masts jangled louder and louder. Above their heads, black clouds gathered. Polly shivered, and then the rain started to fall: plop, plop, plop.

Polly is waiting for something important to happen. But waiting is hard. It’s even harder when it’s raining and you can’t go outside. Can Polly find enough to do to keep busy ALL day?

And what will happen when her puffin friend, Neil, decides to fly off into the storm? Perfect for bedtime stories and early readers.

Jenny Colgan is the author of numerous bestselling novels including Little Beach Street Bakery & Meet Me at the Cupcake Café.
Author Website: www.jennycolgan.com

Competition now closed.