The Little Lady Agency - Hester Browne

While I liked this amusing story of a girl who starts an agency to help British men be less like Tom from Four Weddings and a Funeral, the litmus test was Mrs Universal, who read it three times while I struggled through A Few Kind Words. I was looking for the book last night, only to discover that she’s lent it to her best friend – thus proving that it has passed the true test of chick-lit comfort reading.

The Little Lady Agency

Hester Browne

Hodder & Stoughton paperbacks, ₤5.99

A few Kind Words and a Loaded gun - Razor Smith

When the cover features the author with one hand around his baby, and the other around a gun, you are going to judge the book by it. What starts as a tale of redemption, with Razor feeling pangs of conscience during an armed robbery, quickly becomes a hard-man’s boast book, leaving you wondering just how reformed he really is. Along the not always pleasant journey, you gain some insights into crime, criminality and the appalling recent history of the British prison system. The book’s most valuable lesson is that learning to read and write broadened Razor’s horizons and improved his options for the future, even while he was locked in a cell.

A few Kind Words and a Loaded gun

Razor Smith

Penguin, ₤7.99