Conville & Walsh

We are delighted to announce that Dave Goulson’s first book, A Sting in the Tale, has entered the Sunday Times non-fiction hardback list at #11.

Dave Goulson has always been obsessed with wildlife, from his childhood menagerie of exotic pets and dabbling in experimental taxidermy to his groundbreaking research into the mysterious ways of the bumblebee and his mission to protect our rarest bees.

Once commonly found in the marshes of Kent, the short-haired bumblebee now only exists in the wilds of New Zealand, the descendants of a few queen bees shipped over in the nineteenth century. Dave Goulson’s passionate drive to reintroduce it to its native land is one of the highlights of a book that includes exclusive research into these curious creatures, history’s relationship with the bumblebee and advice on how to protect it for all time.

One of the UK’s most respected conservationists and the founder of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Goulson combines Gerald Durrell-esque tales of a child’s growing passion for nature with a deep insight into the crucial importance of the bumblebee. He details the minutiae of life in their nests, sharing fascinating research into the effects intensive farming has had on our bee populations and on the potential dangers if we are to continue down this path.

If you’d like to read a copy of the book, you can buy it online or (continue reading)

We are delighted to announce that Lisa O’Donnell has won the Canada & Europe Regional Prize in this year’s Commonwealth Book Prize, for her first novel The Death of Bees.

Today is Christmas Eve. Today is my birthday. Today I am fifteen. Today I buried my parents in the backyard. Neither of them were beloved.

Marnie and her little sister Nelly have always been different. Marnie leads a life of smoking, drinking and drugs; Nelly enjoys playing the violin, eating cornflakes with Coke and reading Harry Potter. But on Christmas Eve, the sisters have to join forces and put their differences aside. And when Lennie, the old guy next door, starts to get suspicious, it’s only a matter of time before their terrible secret is discovered.

Isabel Allende said in the New York Times Book Review that The Death of Bees was the last good book she had read. Though the book’s roots are Scottish, she says it is ‘the kind of edgy, crazy and horrible story that may well happen anywhere.’

The overall winner of the Commonwealth Book Prize will be announced at a ceremony during Hay Festival on 31st May, and Lisa’s second novel, Closed Doors, is out on 4th July. You can buy both books online or in a local book shop.

We are delighted to announce that The Light Between Oceans, the debut novel by M L Stedman, is a Summer 2013 pick on the Richard and Judy Book Club. The author will also be answering readers’ questions online tomorrow, in a live chat on GoodReads.

This is a story of right and wrong, and how sometimes they look the same.

1926. Tom Sherbourne is a young lighthouse keeper on a remote island off Western Australia. The only inhabitants of Janus Rock, he and his wife Isabel live a quiet life, cocooned from the rest of the world.  One April morning a boat washes ashore carrying a dead man and a crying infant – and the path of the couple’s lives hits an unthinkable crossroads.  Only years later do they discover the devastating consequences of the decision they make that day - as the baby’s real story unfolds …

As well as being a bestseller published in nearly thirty territories, the book has recently been longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize, the Women’s Prize and the Miles Franklin Literary Award.

If you’d like to read The Light Between Oceans, you can buy a copy online or from an independent book shop near you.