The team at Hexham bookshop Cogito books have been working behind the scenes to keep readers entertained during lockdown.

And here, they recommend their top five titles to sustain readers young and old throughout the coming weeks.

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, by Charlie Mackesy

This book should be compulsory reading for absolutely everyone. It follows a young boy and his animal friends on a gentle journey of self-discovery. Charlie Mackesy has combined his gorgeous illustrations with emotionally direct prose which taps into a well of kindness we think we’d all like to see more of in the world.

The Offing, by Benjamin Myers

Suffocated by the prospect of a life down the pit, a sixteen-year-old miner’s son leaves his Durham village and takes to the road. We follow Robert Appleyard through a shining post-war summer as he lives hand-to-mouth, alert to the natural world. Stumbling across a house by the sea, he meets the enigmatic – and much older – Dulcie. This is a quietly profound book about friendship, social mobility and the power of language.

Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens

Steeped in the natural history of the North Carolina marshes, this book will have the sound of cicadas ringing in your ears. As a girl, Kya is abandoned by her family and left to fend for herself. She grows up exploring the marsh around her; its waterways, its creatures, its secrets, until a body is discovered close to her home and she becomes a suspect.

Girl, Woman, Other, by Bernardine Evaristo

Shining a spotlight on 12 interconnected characters in turn, Evaristo reveals a polyphony of voices, each ringing with their own truth of what it means to be black, British and born female. Despite (or perhaps because of) its eclectic range of perspectives, this is a book which will grab you by the heart, and succeed in doing so 12 times over.

Wanted! Ralfy Rabbit, Book Burglar, by Emily Mackenzie

Ralfy loves reading so much that he starts burrowing up into people’s houses at night and stealing their books! But when Arthur notices his favourite book is missing, he sets out to track down the mystery book burglar.