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M edia images of Billie Piper, once a pop singer, now an actress, have been varied but always plentiful. From teenage pop princess to party animal to darling of the small screen, even during her ‘off’ time she has never been out of the gossip mags for long. Unlike many of her celebrity contemporaries, her book is not an opportunity to get her own back or to tell the ‘true story’ of suffering that lies behind the headlines. Instead she tells in her own words the journey of an average teenager becoming a young woman, albeit in extraordinary circumstances. Though assisted by Gay Longworth, Billie’s voice remains clear and intact, revealing a lively sense of humour and a humble ability to laugh at herself. Anyone looking for juicy morsels of celebrity gossip should bypass this offering. Billie is scrupulously discreet about mentioning other celebrities unless in positive ways. As she says of her exhusband Chris Evans, ‘this is my book, not his.’ In fact in the telling of her life from teenage fame-seeker, through pop stardom and failure, a Las Vegas marriage and a divorce, 24 year-old Billie remains thankful to the people who encouraged and supported her, regretting only the distance between herself and her family. Billie Piper Growing Pains (Hodder and Stoughton Pbk, 2007) rrp. £6.99

S everal months have passed since Peter risked his life protecting the magical starstuff in Peter and the Starcatchers, the riproaring prequel to J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan. Now, the evil ‘others’ are on its trail again and this time they have a bone-chilling shadow thief to help them. To prevent the powerful starstuff from falling into evil hands, and to save Molly from being captured by the haunting shadow, Peter must leave Neverland where he has made his home and travel back to London. Back in the real world Peter realises he no longer fits in with other boys and already Molly is growing up without him. Surprisingly for a duo, and for an American one, Barry and Pearson’s prequels stay closer to Barrie’s original quintessentially British aesthetic than other more highly publicised attempts. The adventure is fast and dangerous, the humour quirky and the magic believable. The authors retain a respect for Barrie’s work, even writing in a cameo role for the creator, offering exciting new alternatives to Neverland’s mysteries without ever distorting the original story. You can’t help but think Barrie would approve of this evolutionary storytelling. Children’s Book Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson Peter and the Shadow Thieves, illus. Greg Call (Walker Books, Hbk, 2007) rrp. £12.99.

F ans of Dan Brown’s Vatican inspired crime novels will relish Juan Gomez-Jurado’s debut novel, God’s Spy. FBI trained Detective Paola Dicanti is given the chance to flex her professional muscles when a serial killer strikes in Rome, torturing and murdering cardinals in the run-up to the papal conclave after the death of John Paul II. The narrative switches between the investigation and happenings in an American institute for paedophilic clergymen in 1995, when the killer, himself a priest, was interned there. Gomez-Jurando clearly dislikes the church as the novel centralises around prolific and institutional corruption and sexual depravity more extreme than in similar recent titles. The pace is unfortunately slow, the author devoting a lot of time to summarising the investigation at regular intervals through the mouths of his detectives, and if you find yourself asking, ‘Is it me, or is this really obvious?’ the answer is probably the latter. It is however, an easy read and stylistically very correct. As a radio and television journalist, one gets the impression Gomez-Jurando saw the likes of Brown and Bourne and thought ‘I can do that’ and did. Juan Gomez-Jurando, God’s Spy (Orion, Pbk, 2007), rrp. £9.99. Fiction

madamright	Latest page update: made by madamright , Dec 10 2007, 9:57 AM EST (about this update About This Update Edited by madamright 9 words deleted view changes - complete history)
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