Take your pick from our best new reads of the week with efforts from Gary Barlow – and also see what our Mirror Book Club readers think of our latest picks …..
After The End
Clare Mackintosh
How far would you go to keep your child alive?
This is the horrendous question that faces parents Max and Pip whose three-year-old son Dylan has been treated for an aggressive brain tumour, leaving him with brain damage.
When the tumour starts to grow, treatment options diminish, and Max and Pip face an impossible decision – a decision they can’t agree on.
The heartbreaking consequences of their choices play out in the second half of the novel where Mackintosh explores what could happen after two different outcomes.
The bestselling author of I Let You Go shows that in these devastating, complex situations, there is no right answer, says Mernie Gilmore
Sphere, £12.99
In My Life: A Music Memoir
Alan Johnson
The former Labour Home Secretary looks back nostalgically on the music which inspired him and formed the soundtrack to his life.
He recalls listening to Bing Crosby as a child, humming Elvis Costello tracks on his rounds as a postman, and his lifelong devotion to The Beatles whom he loved from the start. An evocative social history, says Caroline Sanderson.
Corgi, £8.99
Swan Song
Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott
This spellbinding novel tells the story of Truman Capote, author of Breakfast At Tiffany’s, and the glamorous socialite swans who surrounded him. Then Capote overstepped the mark and revealed in print the stories they had confided in private.
He was immediately ostracised, and Swan Song captures the drink, drugs and regret that tarnished the end of his life, says Eithne Farry
Windmill, £8.99
A Better Me
Gary Barlow
This reveals a vulnerable side to the star who picks up his life story with the aftermath of Take That’s 1996 break-up when his career hit the skids.
But he also recalls the all-conquering 2006 reunion and his glittering career highs.
And Barlow is frank about his battle with his weight and the heartbreaking full-term birth of his stillborn daughter in 2012, says Paul Rees.
Blink, £8.99
Now We Shall Be Entirely Free
Andrew Miller
It’s 1809 and, near death, Captain John Lacroix is transported home from the campaign against Napoleon in Spain.
The mystery of what happened there hangs over the story as he regains health and takes a solitary trip to the Hebrides, unaware of two men on his trail seeking vengeance.
Dark intrigue and sweet romance, says Allan Hunter
Sceptre, £8.99
