Entertainment | Literature: Off the Shelf Festival of Words, Sheffield (ft. Jenni Murray and Stephen McGann)

Over the past month, I've attended a variety of talks across Sheffield as part of the Off the Shelf Festival of Words. The festival invites authors of newly released books to come and talk about their latest work and this year has included the likes of Mark Haddon, Robert Webb and Brian Blessed to name but a few. The festival encompassed both fiction and non-fiction, although the events I attended were mostly about books of a non-fictional, specifically historical nature.

Entertainment | Book Review: 'The Penguin Lessons' by Tom Michell

"The penguin, meanwhile, was quite unperturbed by the dramatic appearance of the hound, and continued sniffing some wayside buttercups that had caught his attention"

The Penguin Lessons tells Tom Michell's true story of his time in 1970s Argentina as a twenty-something schoolteacher with a pet penguin, Juan Salvado. Having rescued Juan Salvado from a terrible oil spill, the pair form an unbreakable bond of friendship and what follows is a wonderfully charming tale.

Entertainment | Book Review: 'All That She Can See' by Carrie Hope Fletcher (spoiler-free)

All That She Can See's protagonist, Cherry Redgrave has the gift of being able to see people's bad feelings physically manifesting as monsters that follow the characters around. Although Cherry uses this power for good - baking cakes with positive feelings in them to help people - other characters she encounters are not so benevolent.

Entertainment | Book Review: 'On the Other Side' by Carrie Hope Fletcher (spoiler-free)

This novel follows the story of Evie Snow who, upon entering the afterlife in her old age, finds that her soul is too heavy to pass from the afterlife's 'waiting room' into her own personal heaven. Her journey to unburden her soul takes the reader through several flashbacks to reveal the story of Evie's life of love and sacrifice.

Entertainment | Book Review: 'The Butterfly Garden' by Dot Hutchison

Trigger warning: mentions of rape and other sexual violence, general violence, murder and death in general

A concept not for the faint-hearted, this novel follows a girl kidnapped to live in a 'Butterfly Garden', a secret greenhouse, owned by a wealthy man who calls himself The Gardener. Once there, he tattoos his new butterfly's back with wings and keeps them as his own. The novel has its downfalls, but is still quite the page-turner.

Entertainment | Book Review: 'After Auschwitz' by Eva Schloss

After Auschwitz details the life of Eva Schloss (whose mother, widowed by the Holocaust, later married Otto Frank, the widowed father of Anne Frank) throughout her time before, during and after her imprisonment at Auschwitz. The book covers topics of trauma, family life and hope, whilst also engaging in several discussions of historical legacies and public memories of Anne Frank, the Holocaust and the Second World War more broadly.