River's Reach by Christina Green

Published by Hale, £18.99

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SET in the countryside of 19th century Devon, this romantic fiction is brought to life by its backdrop of well-researched social issues and bright descriptions of landscape.

The novel follows Rose Adams, an idealistic teacher, as she searches for a better life.

The plot moves along easily enough with sufficient mystery to keep the reader interested in the characters, none more so than the enigmatic artist Laurence Vane.

Rose struggles against class prejudice, a violent father and local tensions on her pathway to a predictable, yet satisfying ending.

River's Reach is an entertaining read with intrigue and romance made more accessible to the less sentimental by the novel's emphasis on its setting.

The characters tend to lean towards stereotypes — the straight-laced schoolmaster and snooty lady of the house are examples.

But the plot shapes them into more rounded personalities as it develops, adding twists to the narrative and its subjects.

Christina Green's latest romance is worth a read, warmed by its frequent references to the social relations of the time and livened by a gripping plot.

Fans of the author won't be disappointed by River's Reach.

Two Little Boys by Duncan Sarkies

Paperback published by John Murray, £11.99, available now

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NIGE and Deano have been best mates for 15 years and they've shared everything — smokes, girlfriends, a toasted sandwich maker and a flat.

So it's only logical that when Nige accidentally runs over and kills a Norwegian backpacker that he calls on Deano to help. The trouble is, Deano is still smarting from the fact that Nige has a new best mate, Gav, and he's not thinking as straight as he should be.

It might sound dark and twisted, but Two Little Boys is a laugh out loud romp.

Duncan Sarkies, best known in his native New Zealand as a scriptwriter and playwright who has also written episodes of the cult Flight Of The Conchords series, has a brilliant ear for dialogue and an innate sense of timing. Somehow he's managed to make his first novel funny, chilling and incredibly touching in one foul swoop. Don't read it in public unless you don't mind guffawing in front of strangers.

The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews

Hardback published by Faber and Faber, £12.99, available now

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TAKING a road trip fuelled by gasoline and diner dinners, is the all-American version of journeying towards enlightenment.

Using a narrative vehicle which apparently never gets old, Miriam Toews, shows us just how much easier, and more interesting, it is for quirky, poor people to bond, when they're on the move.

When Paris-based Hattie gets a call from her 11-year-old niece, Thebes, she returns home. Having learned that her sister is in a psychiatric ward, she hatches a plan to find the children's long-lost father.

Fans of the 2006 film Little Miss Sunshine will love this book, which brings colour and humanity to the lives of the 'sub-prime' generation. Filled for the most part with emotional energy and memorable writing, this novel suffers the fate of most road-trip stories, a flabby middle. Still the ending is worth the wait.

I See You Everywhere by Julia Glass

Hardback published by Hutchinson, £18.99, available now

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LOUISA Jardine and her sister Clem are polar opposites: one an intellectual art magazine editor in New York and the other a free-spirited biologist, travelling to remote areas of the world to study wildlife.

Their first-person narratives weave around each other throughout the book, describing the girls' lives and the times they collide — usually through a relative's death or some trauma. There's the usual sibling jealousy over parental love and who will inherit their aunt's treasured possessions. But they also care for each other, though they rarely express it and have painfully enigmatic conversations.

It's a difficult book to read. Just when you think you are getting to know one of the sisters at a certain time in their life, you're transported to another time and a different sister's perspective. Each character is frustratingly re-introduced in a new way. The sections seem arbitrary and incongruous and after the ultimate tragedy, there's no real sense of conclusion. Perhaps you never knew either sister and maybe you don't care.