I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, published by Vintage, £7.99

Classic story, which I re-read recently, about a family who are living in a castle but with no cash. Told through the eyes of 17-year-old Cassandra, the middle child with an older sister and a school age younger brother, there is much ‘make do and mend’ and hunger.

Rose, the older sister, strikes up a relationship with the family in the ‘big house’ but it is perhaps because she is tempted by the wealth and luxury in which the other family live. The father has written one successful novel, but seems unable to work after a brief spell in prison and their stepmother, Topaz, is an artist and, although enthusiastic, is not very practical.

The whole family are dazzled by the neighbours in the ‘big house’, their landlords. The book is a ‘coming of age’ novel about young love, obsession, and surviving penury in a bygone age. It is timeless and although often considered a young adult novel absolutely deserves to be more widely read.

Men of Letters by Duncan Barrett, published by AA, £8.99

A fascinating book about the Post Office Rifles, a brigade in World War One that trained in Abbots Langley. In wartime the mail takes on a huge significance and the letters and parcels that were sent to the Western Front arrived in two days, often containing perishable food. Telling the story of one Brigade, whilst still telling the story of the war, makes the unimaginable more comprehensible.

The Lie by Helen Dunmore, published by Random House, £7.99

Two boys, living in different circumstances, but friends because their mothers are mistress and maid, are both in the army in 1916 in the trenches of the Western Front. The maid’s son, Daniel, is the teller of the story as he tries to return to civilian life in 1920’s Cornwall. Sometimes as he moves in his thoughts back to the war, it seems more real to him than the present day. The other boy, Frederick, has been killed by a shell. Daniel offers help to an elderly blind woman and assumes ownership of her rundown cottage on her death. But can he live with the terrible, unforeseen consequences of a lie? This book captures vividly how our thoughts randomly wander about, although we can usually work out the connections when we try. The book flicks between reality and Daniel’s haunted consciousness. Compelling!

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri, published by Bloomsbury, £8.99

This is a haunting story about two brothers brought up in the outskirts of Calcutta, in the Lowland, where the hyacinth ponds flood in the rains and dry up in the dry season.

One of the brothers becomes a rebel and joins the Naxalite movement which has consequences for himself and his family that reverberate down the ages.

The other brother emigrates to the United States once he is grown up and although they are far apart his older brother casts a long shadow over his life. It is a story of families, loyalty and duty and sheds light on the riots that swept India.

The author has won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and this book was shortlisted for the Man Booker in 2013.

The Moth, edited by Catherine Burns, published by Profile Books, £12.99

The Moth is the name for a live storytelling of true events. Started in New York by George Dawes Green, the first one happened in London recently.

There is a story of a doctor who treated Mother Theresa and how he was flown to India as well as an astronaut who did a spacewalk to mend the Hubble Space Telescope.

Not all the people are famous, many are just ordinary folk who have had some sort of extraordinary event happen to them.