Royal Road to Fotheringay (Jean Plaidy)

At just six years old, Mary Stuart became Queen of Scots. At just six years old she was betrothed to the Dauphin Francois, the future King of France.

Reluctantly leaving Scotland, Mary is raised in the decadent French court in preparation to become the Queen of France. But her reign with Francois uis short-lived. Widowed at just eighteen years old, Mary is once again forced to leave her home to return to Scotland. Now a Catholic queen of a Protestant country, Mary must rule with caution and choose her next husband prudently...

If you have read Philippa Gregory's The Other Queen, this would be the best book to follow. Royal Road to Fotheringay serves as the prequel to The Other Queen. In this book, you will see the childhood life of Mary, why she became Queen of Scots at such young age and why did her mother send her to France, why didn't she stay there, why must she return to her home country Scotland? All these questions will be answered in this book.

I truly enjoyed the book from the very first page and you will know her from another point of view after you have finished. Trust me, you will love it.


490 pages
RM 42.90
Publisher: Arrow Books
Times

Malaysia Book Fest

22-31 AUGUST 2009
10am - 10pm
KLCC Convention Centre
Ticket entry: RM2
Free entrance for students 18 years or below and senior citizens age 60 and above

The Other Hand (Chris Cleave)

The back cover reads...

We don't want to tell you what happens in this book. It is a truly special story and we don't want to spoil it. Nevertheless, you need to know enough to buy it so we will just say this: This is the story nof two women. Their lives collide one fateful day, and one of them has to make a terrible choice. Two years later, they meet again--the story starts there... Once you have read it, you'll want to tell your friends about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds.

Chris Cleave, an English journalist has stepped into another line of writing, a novel. His first novel Incendiary was published in 20 countries, won the 2006 Somerset Maugham Award (among others), and was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers Prize.

The Other Hand is his second novel which receives praises such as the most powerful novel, shocking, funny, sad, a piece of art, beautifully written, totally believable, impressive, etc.

True enough, I can't stop myself from laughing out loud while reading it even at the first chapter. And once you started, you just can't stop. Believe me. The second chapter gives you a shocking bang that you just want to do nothing else but read till you finish the book. I can say the author is truly brilliant in visualization and the plot was well-written in a very unique and interesting organization on how the story unfolds. Amazing! Genius!

But one thing to be caution. Don't expect too much on the ending. I'm not saying it's not good but you need a good imagination and an open mind to embrace it. Overall, reading it is like reading a movie script where the scenarios are played automatically in your mind. Another word, it's like watching a movie. I strongly recommend it. Enjoy!


RM32.90
374 pages
Publisher: Sceptre (an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton)
Kinokuniya