May/June Northern Life Book Club

Inspired by our buffeted coastlines and the intimacy of our rural towns, we’ve journeyed from the moors to the Pennines in search of the best new reads. Discover poetry, prose and biography, including the latest novel from the author of The Gallows Pole, to the gothic Foxash.

FOXASH BY KATE WORSLEY

Born in Preston, Lancashire, this is Kate Worsley’s second novel. Combining a gothic sensibility with a visceral, unsettling sense of place, Foxash is a deeply original novel of quiet and powerful menace, of the real hardships of rural life, and the myths and folklore that seep into ordinary lives – with surprising consequences.
£18.99. Published by Tinder Press

THE TRUE STORY OF THE YORKSHIRE HORSEMAN BY COOPER WILSON

Right out of God’s Own County, The True Story of The Yorkshire Horseman lifts the lid on the life of a man who has a rare psychic gift of being able to understand and help solve horses’ problems. While many Yorkshiremen may claim superior knowledge of horses, Cooper goes one step further and communicates with horses to understand what is wrong, what should be done and to put them back in good health and fitness.
£9.99. Published by Great Northern Books

THE SHADOW CABINET BY JUNO DAWSON

Born in Bradford and raised in Bingley, this is the second installment of Juno Dawson’s irresistible fantasy trilogy – a group of childhood friends and witches must choose between what is right and what is easy if they have any hope of keeping their coven–and their world–from tearing apart forever.
£16.99. Published by HarperVoyager. 8th June 2023

A PEN DIPPED IN POISON BY J.M. HALL

J.M. Hall’s second novel is the perfect page turning, guess-who cosy crime, set in the author’s hometown in Yorkshire. Featuring a host of charming and loveable protagonists, this novel is written with wonderful warmth and wit – fans of Agatha Christie and Midsomer Murders will be hooked from the very first page.
£8.99. Published by Avon Books. Out now.

THE SIXPENNY ORPHAN BY GLENDA YOUNG

Glenda Young credits her local library in the village of Ryhope, where she grew up, for giving her a love of books. She still lives close by in Sunderland and often gets her ideas for her stories on long bike rides along the coast. The Sixpenny Orphan is an emotional and heart-warming tale of the strength of sisterhood.
£7.99 Published by Headline. 11th May 2023

CUDDY BY BENJAMIN MYERS

In our last edition of Northern Life, Durham author Benjamin Myers dropped in for a chat and we discovered his new novel Cuddy. A bold and experimental retelling of the story of the hermit St. Cuthbert, unofficial patron saint of the North of England. The book incorporates poetry, prose, play, diary and real
historical accounts to create a novel like no other.
£14. Published by Bloomsbury. Out Now.

WHITE GHOSTS BY KATIE HALE

White Ghosts, the debut collection by Cumbrian poet and novelist Katie Hale, traces maternal lines, and the legacies of slavery and whiteness interwoven into the fabric of America, through revealing, unflinching poems. Travelling deep into an intimate history that spans both sides of the Atlantic, Hale unravels the language haunting those narratives we choose to tell in official versions – through museum labels and civic statues – and in handed-down stories.
£10.99. Published by Nine Arches Press. Out now.

NorthernLife May/June 23