An interesting and readable look at the opportunities sport offers

OLYMPIC gold medalist Christine Ohuruogu has joined up with writer Paul May to write a fiction for readers aged nine upwards. It tells the tale of Maxine who is crazy about sport and thrilled to be going to Camp Gold. She makes good friends and cute boys and discovers her hidden talent of running.
Soon she is training for the Nationals and is watched by Olympic champions, but then as she prepares for a tough battle ahead, she becomes the victim of pranks and sabotage.

[My daughter] was hooked by the excitement and suspense of the story, and I think she just genuinely liked it because it was about sports and something quite ‘concrete’ – a nice change from some of the more abstract books she reads about magical realms, etc

***** Literary alchemy...In the hands of Pratchett and Baxter, the possibilites are almost infinite...a story that revels in big ideas...you can sense the excitement of the authors as they toy with the labyrinthine possibilities of their premise, and it's infectious...thrillingly expansive, joyously inventive and utterly engrossing

[Pratchett] succeeds in working seamlessly with Baxter...adding a welcome shot of fun to the world of science fiction

Wonderfully rich fantasy, full of ingenuity, humour and some rather deep thoughts

Outstanding novel

Using the language of the scriptures, Markovits depicts religion’s potential for both beauty and cruelty, and the inevitability of transgression even in the most devout life

The writing is stunning, the execution flawless and the plot utterly gripping (4 stars)

An unusual, beautifully written novel

A bittersweet rumination on first love ... The language soars, full of the beauty of nature and the sadness of loss

Banville perfectly captures the spirit of adolescence, the body yearning for sexual experience, the mind blurring eroticism and emotion ... Banville is a Nabokovian artist, his prose so rich, poetic and packed with startling imagery that reading it is akin to gliding regally through a lake of praline: it's a slow, stately process, delicious and to be savoured ... This is a luminous breathtaking work

Ancient Light also bears resemblance to Lolita that extend beyond the obvious hallmark ecstatic prose..different periods of his life blending into a single meditation of breathtaking beauty and profundity on love and loss and death, the final page of which brought tears.

A beautifully written tale of youthful passion

A novel about sexual awakening and the tricks that memory plays. Banville's lushly gorgeous prose enhances a mood of brooding passion in a place of secrets

A sumptuous novel. Read it for the sentences and smarts, and for the copious sexy parts

Everything I want from a love story: sexy, convincing, baffling, funny, sad and unforgettable

Banville's exquisitely written novel unravels the deceptions of memory with wit and pathos