Paperbacks

Aficionados will already be familiar with the McCabe sisters Pip, Fen and Cat heroines of three of North's previous bestsellers. This time the sisters are settled in their relationships, although inevitably things aren't always as rosy as they might seem. With motherhood the focus of their lives, they begin to wonder about their own mother, who abandoned them as babies, leaving them to be brought up by their eccentric uncle Django. As his 70th birthday approaches, the celebration is shaken by a string of unexpected revelations. North's books are shelved under 'chick-lit', but her thought-provoking novels are far from the stereotypical girl-meets-boy'. From imperfect heroines to sympathetic villains, her characters couldn't be more real, whether they take centre stage or a single-line cameo.

Tourism, Nirpal Singh Dhaliwal (Vintage, £7.99)

An overwhelming sense of a life unfulfilled is the predominant theme of this startling debut novel. Set in the summer of 2002, Dhaliwal's story revolves around Bhupinder Puppy' Singh Johal, a layabout and occasional journalist/writer whose only real passion appears to be sex. Puppy's cyclical quest for fulfilment sees him flitting from friend to friend. Just like him, they are constantly searching for some meaning in their lives. But when he meets Sophie, a fashion journalist and part-time model, he begins to see a different side to London, where money talks far louder than words. The only problem is that all Puppy really wants is Sarupa, the girl who is engaged to Sophie's cousin. Often coarse and brutally honest, Tourism is a fascinating examination of race and greed.

From China With Love: A Long Road To Motherhood, Emily Buchanan, (John Wiley, £14.99)

Broadcast journalist Emily Buchanan describes the story of her adoption of Jade Lin, who had been left on the steps of an orphanage in a small town in Inner Mongolia. Three years later, they took charge of another, very different baby named Rose. Buchanan cleverly weaves into the diary factual stories from her career as BBC World Affairs Correspondent and discusses the politics of adoption and the secret world of child abandonment.