in partnership with the expert booksellers at Sevenoaks Bookshop, winners of the independent book shop of the year 2021
As summer sinks into September, time to sink into a good book and a long hot soak with the Soak Sunday Book Club. This week’s book list was curated with the Midnight Storm range in mind. An enticing and captivating blend of activated charcoal, basil and ginger, the mysterious scent and dark aesthetic makes for the perfect pairing to suspenseful, psychological fiction.
Indulge in storytelling, self-care and escapism with Soak Sunday...
My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
A darkly comedic tale about how blood is thicker – and more difficult to get out the carpet- than water.
When Korede's dinner is interrupted one night by a distress call from her sister, Ayoola, she knows what's expected of her: bleach, rubber gloves, nerves of steel and a strong stomach. This'll be the third boyfriend Ayoola's dispatched in "self-defence" and the third mess that her lethal little sibling has left Korede to clear away…
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
A stirring, terrifying and melancholic fable that shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out.
This is what he remembers, as he sits by the ocean at the end of the lane:
A dead man on the back seat of the car, and warm milk at the farmhouse.
An ancient little girl, and an old woman who saw the moon being made.
A beautiful housekeeper with a monstrous smile.
And dark forces woken that were best left undisturbed.
They are memories hard to believe, waiting at the edge of things. The recollections of a man who thought he was lost but is now, perhaps, remembering a time when he was saved...
Mrs Mohr Goes Missing by Maryla Szymiczkowa
A evocative marriage of comedy and crime, inspired Agatha Christie, this vivid tale recreates life in turn-of-the-century Poland, confronting a range of issues from class prejudice to women's rights.
Cracow, 1893. Desperate to relieve her boredom and improve her social standing, Zofia Turbotynska decides to organise a charity raffle. In a bid to recruit the patronage of elderly aristocratic ladies, she visits Helcel House, a retirement home run by nuns.
But when two of the residents are found dead, Zofia discovers that her real talents lie in solving mysteries.
Magpie Lane by Lucy Atkins
Roaming Oxford’s secret passages and hidden graveyards, this spellbinding, creepy and superbly absorbing tale explores the true meaning of family and what it is to be denied one.
When the eight-year-old daughter of an Oxford College Master vanishes in the middle of the night, police turn to the Scottish nanny, Dee, for answers.
As Dee looks back over her time in the Master's Lodging - an eerie and ancient house - a picture of a high achieving but dysfunctional family emerges: Nick, the fiercely intelligent and powerful father; his beautiful Danish wife Mariah, pregnant with their child; and the lost little girl, Felicity, almost mute, seeing ghosts, grieving her dead mother.
But is Dee telling the whole story? Is her growing friendship with the eccentric house historian, Linklater, any cause for concern? And most of all, why is Felicity silent?
