Susan Osborne

Cover image for The Wanderers by Meg Howery

A Snapshot of My Reading #6

This month’s snapshot includes a novel about three astronauts preparing to travel to Mars, a short story collection from an Irish national literary treasure and a memoir about living alone and unattached well into old age. The novel I’m reading is Meg Howrey’s The Wanderers which I bought having loved They’re Going to Love You,

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Cover image for Drayton and Mackenzie

Drayton and Mackenzie by Alexander Starritt: The odd couple

I’ve had several successes with Swift Press, notably Ben Shattuck’s The History of Sound, one of last year’s favourites, enough to keep an eye on their upcoming titles. Alexander Starritt’s Drayton and Mackenzie is very different. Opening in the early 2000s, it follows James Drayton and Roland Mackenzie whose chance meeting a couple of years

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Cover image for Births, Deaths, Marriges by Laura Barnett

Births, Deaths & Marriages by Laura Barnett: A celebration of friendship

It’s ten years since I reviewed Laura Barnett’s The Versions of Us which, rereading my review, I obviously enjoyed but never got around to reading anything else by her. She writes absorbing, well turned-out fiction, tending towards the commercial end of the scale. Her new novel follows a group of six friends over the year

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