A serial killer with an interest in medical experimentation, a badass forensic pathologist trying to stop him, all set against the backdrop of New Orleans – The Butcher and the Wren sounded like the perfect choice for spooky season at Brunch Book Club! 

Renowned storyteller and Morbid podcast co-host, Alaina Urquhart further develops her world-building and storytelling skills in this debut novel, showing off her extensive knowledge of serial killers and forensic science.

If you are a gender studies or sexuality studies major or perhaps you've spent years exploring your sexuality in a safe and open environment, this is likely going to be a refresher with some cool science facts thrown in. But for the rest of us... this is a jaw-dropping, science-based unveiling of understanding women's sexuality. 

Come As You Are has one critical message, in my opinion, and that is "We are all the same. We are all different. We are all normal." Emily Nagoski spends time breaking down the science of sex and sexuality, particularly biology and anatomy and how they come together, as well as our brains and how they work…

Nevada was first published nearly ten years ago in 2013, but it is only the tech, the slang, and some aspects of the drug-fuelled punk aesthetic that seem to have aged. As a novel narrated by a trans woman (Maria), its take on relationships and the long process of figuring out your sense of self still feels fresh and important today. 

The book largely manages to steer clear of cliché and many have praised Binnie for writing a trans novel that finally ‘gets it’. Here, we have a story that focuses on trans experience, but that isn’t about a character’s transition; a depiction of a trans mentorship/parenting scenario that feels realistically awkward and unrehearsed; and a road trip without the classic American resolution. 

Peach Blossom Spring starts in 1938 China, when Meilin and her four-year-old son Renshu are forced to flee their home, as war promises to devastate everything they have known. With little money but a beautiful, illustrated scroll, they escape the country and find a new home in Taiwan. Years later, Renshu is offered a place at an American university, where he becomes Henry and refuses to talk about his past.

The book covers decades of Meilin’s and Renshu’s lives, as they grow apart due to the distance that separates them and Henry’s refusal to acknowledge or talk about his past…

On the surface, The Book of Form and Emptiness is the tale of Benny Oh, a thirteen-year-old boy who begins to hear voices after the death of his father and his mother who develops a hoarding problem as a result. But dig a little deeper and you’ll find it’s actually a thesis on creativity, the nature of books, the power of love, and the hold material possessions have on us.

Ozeki makes a compelling case: "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” She argues throughout that the most dysfunctional characters in the book are in fact simply tuned into a reality that Neuro-Typicals are too stifled to comprehend…

The ‘Paper Palace,’ named for is papery walls, is the beloved Cape Cod holiday home of the Bishops. Having visited every summer for generations, the Paper Palace holds a very special place for all who call it a home away from home. One fateful August day, Elle succumbs to a decades-long yearning for a life and love she feels she’s missed. What follows is the unfolding of her life and the events that have led her to this day and a decision she must make…

The Atlas Six tells the tale of six uniquely powerful magicians invited to join a shadowy secret society to learn how to truly harness their talents. They’re promised power and wealth beyond their wildest dreams…. If they can survive the first year that is…

The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife (Orleanna) and four daughters (Rachel, Leah, Adah and Ruth May) of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it – from garden seeds to Scripture – is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa…

The Heart’s Invisible Furies opens with the dismal, unkind truth at the heart of Irish Catholicism: homophobia, misogyny, deceit, and fear. However, despite this jarring introduction, the book challenges our preconceived notions of fate, nature-versus-nurture, and what love is meant to look like…

City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert was a popular choice amongst us Brunch Book Club ladies, and I for one loved it!

Our protagonist, Vivian Morris, is sent off to New York to live with her Aunt Peg at the Lily Playhouse and takes to the theatre lifestyle a little too well! I absolutely loved this book – the colourful characters, the scandals, the heartbreaks... Gilbert created a world that feels so alive, and at the time, so fragile…

Sparks Like Stars starts in 1978 Kabul, Afghanistan and follows Sitara, a ten-year-old whose father is a high-ranking official working for President Daoud. She has a perfect life, until the night that soldiers storm the palace in a coup, killing her whole family. Sitara survives, thanks to a guard who smuggles her out of the palace and after meeting an American diplomat, she manages to escape to the US…

A witty, sexy book about two complex characters with a connection that tears them apart but makes them feel whole.

Eva is a bestselling erotic author and single mother to her teenage daughter, who is brilliant. Eva is intelligent, beautiful, and wildly talented. Shane is also a bestseller but of a completely different kind of book. Renowned for being a recluse, the mystery around him only makes him even more magnetic and adored by the literary world. After a chance meeting at a book event, we discover that Eva and Shane spent seven whirlwind days falling in love in June as teenagers and this one week shaped their entire lives…

I just Googled the title of Bella Mackie’s novel and am now fairly certain I’m on some sort of criminal watch list. Not to worry – I’ve learnt enough from the psychopathic but worryingly relatable main character Grace Bernard to worm my way out of any legal trouble. Tip number one seems fairly obvious: don’t write down a detailed account of your misdeeds. But then, we wouldn’t have this romp of a cynical comedy to entertain us…

Of Women and Salt tells the tale of the lives of five generations of Cuban women, jumping from present-day Miami to 19th century cigar factories in Cuba, as well as the story of a mother and daughter who have to deal with ICE detention centres. The lives of all these women are interconnected, and through their relationships and circumstances, the author discusses issues of immigration, motherhood, mother-daughter relationships, sexual violence, substance abuse and more…

I have mixed feelings about this novel, but I closed the book with an ache. With a sense that no matter what decisions or paths the characters took, hearts would be broken, lives changed, and relationships forever altered. There’s no easy path, no right way. This book embodied the messiness that is life. I’m also very aware that this book was not written for me and that the characters and the intended audience speak a language that I am not fluent in so it’s likely that what I didn’t love about the book comes from a lack of understanding from not having lived and experienced life in that way…

A story about friendship, loyalty, family, and freedom set in Baghdad. The characters felt alive and real. Despite the differences in my own background and upbringing, the author brought these characters to life. I found myself transported to another world. The busy and chaotic markets, the smells of the food and spiced air, the call to prayer. I enjoyed the descriptive scene setting.

The three characters have so much depth. The stories of Huda, Raina, and Ally intersect so beautifully. The hardworking woman, originally from the local village, who has lost her brothers and her closest friend and is forced to become an informant in order to protect her son. The struggling aristocrat who floats in upper circles and the art world while trying to pay the bills and keep her daughter safe…

Warning: if you read this book you are almost certainly going to want, nay NEED to eat a bag of salty, vinegary chips! You have been warned!

Majella, an autistic woman from Northern Ireland lives with her alcoholic (and abusive) mother and works at the local fish and chips shop. Spanning the week after the murder of her grandmother, we read in minute detail Majella’s mundane and monotonous life. The writing is broken up with timestamps and items from Majella’s list of things she likes and the much longer list of things she doesn’t…

On this very snowy day it’s only right we talk about our first book of the year.

All About Us is a cosy Christmas treat perfect for the festive season. We wanted something a little easier than our usual books, something that would see us through a very unusual Christmas but still gave us something to talk about and this certainly did that…

Casey is first and foremost a writer but in the wake of her mother’s death and the end of a tumultuous relationship she feels lost and untethered. Unsure of herself, her life and her career, she meets two very different men who offer her very different paths.

Oscar is a successful author who lost his wife and is now raising their two young boys. Then there is Silas, who is also a writer but struggling with his career like Casey. He is kind, intelligent and handsome but battling his own demons. Caught between two men, Casey slowly starts to how she is living her live and the choices that brought her to where she is. Slowly she begins to take ownership of her life…

A corker of a book for anyone looking to be their own cheerleader both professionally and personally. We are talking SELF PROMOTION PEOPLE! No longer sitting in the shadows hoping our bosses will recognise the extra mile(s) we go and the long hours we stay. Now is the time to champion ourselves, speak up in meetings and get the recognition we deserve…