This is a story about a school-teacher, Mr Chipping, who his students fondly call Mr Chips. He's the beloved Latin teacher at a quiet boys' school in England called Brookfield. When the book opens, we meet him as an old man, living in rooms across the road from his beloved school, still organising his days by the school bell, inviting the new boys, and some of the older ones over to tea, and keeping up with the goings on at the school...

The novel tells the story of Brian, a solitary middle-aged man living a carefully ordered life in London. He works at the Camden Council, eats lunch at the same cafe every day, and returns to his quiet flat every evening. His general approach to life can be summed up as, "Keep watch. Stick to routine. Protect against surprises." However, despite his preference for solitude, he does yearn for a bit more, as he enters his forties.

Published in 1980, this slim novel (at just over a 100 pages) is perfect for a quiet afternoon. But believe me, you will want it to last longer, and to read slower, to soak it all in...

Laurie Colwin is a novelist who liked to cook, and to write about food, which she does even in her novels. She wrote five popular novels, three collections of short stories, and two collections of essays about food and life in the kitchen...

Some books are hard to summarise. A novel about astronomy, religion, friendship and unrequited love, Enlightenment by Sarah Perry is all of these things. What will stay with me though is the atmosphere of the bleak Essex landscape, Perry’s beautiful and unhurried telling of a complex tale, and the character of the protagonist, Thomas Hart...