Rat's Tales Ltd

Ruth O’Leary, social media

 Benvenuto Cellini's autobiography. He was a renaissance artist and paints a vivid picture of the period in Florence and Rome, wonderfully colourful and insightful, and absolutely hilarious. An unreliable narrator if ever there was one, you'd think he single-handedly fought the siege of Rome! If you like historical novels, I would definitely recommend.

Laura Molnar, designer

 Dolores Redondo’s Baztan trilogy. It is about the investigation of numerous crimes around the Baztan Valley located in Navarra, Spain. I liked the contrast between very scientific explanations about the forensics procedures -that by the way are very well documented- mixed with mythology and legends from the north of Spain, as around that valley specially during XVII century it was said that more people believed in witches, witchery and pagan practices more than in Catholic church, creating a very mystical and threatening atmosphere. 

Tatiana Polivoda, sales

 Close Reach by Jonathan Moore. It’s set in the “roaring 50s” as an American couple sails from Southern Chile towards Antarctica and hell breaks loose when their boat gets hijacked and they’re held hostage, but the reasons WHY that happens and WHO is the pirates are so unexpected and mind twisting that I never knew what would happen on the next page! The story is a mix of excellent sailing inspired writing (the kind when a whole sailing community praises the author as a pro sailor - not sure whether he is or not), medical thriller, masterfully weaved with historical references from the events that happened not too long ago. 

Sunny, web developer & designer

  Alex Garland's Coma. A slim and uncanny book that's more a novella than a novel, for its size and singular, narrow-angled perspective seem too meagre in contrast to the enormity of the subject matter: consciousness. A dreamy first-person narrative with a narrator so unreliable you end up questioning the nature of the narrator's existence and with that, yours, like most of Garland's work in the realm of both words and film.