Book news, reviews and recommendations
Things are looking up in my part of the world with spring on the, albeit distant, horizon and some great new fiction on offer in March beginning with Charlotte Mendelson’s The Exhibitionist, seven years in the writing according to the letter that accompanied my proof. Artists Ray and Lucia Hanrahan have been together for decades. […]
Books to Look Out for in March 2022: Part One Read More »
Six Degrees of Separation is a meme hosted by Kate over at Books Are My Favourite and Best. It works like this: each month a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six others to form a chain. A book doesn’t need to be connected to all the titles on the list,
Six Degrees of Separation – No One is Talking About This to Piranesi Read More »
It’s seems an age since I reviewed Hannah Kent’s debut, Burial Rites. For a long time, it was one of my most visited posts and I’ve never been able to work out why. Despite enjoying it, I didn’t get around to The Good People but enthusiastically accepted when I was offered Devotion. Both her previous
Devotion by Hannah Kent: ‘My life was only ever a hand’s breadth’ Read More »
I was the reviews editor at Waterstone’s Books Quarterly when Louise Welsh’s The Cutting Room was published 20 years ago. I wasn’t particularly inclined to read it, not being a crime fiction fan, but of course needed to for work and what a treat I’d have missed if I hadn’t. The star of the show
The Second Cut by Louise Welsh: Rilke’s return Read More »
Part two of February’s paperback preview is something of a mixed bag, albeit an interesting one, beginning with. David Annand’s Peterdown which tells the story of a town through two people on opposing sides of a plan to redevelop it. Ellie is an architect determined to save a modernist estate shortlisted as a property to
Paperbacks to Look Out for in February 2022: Part Two Read More »
I put up my hand for Neel Patel’s Tell Me How to Be in response to the heartfelt, very personal enthusiasm of its editor. There’s such a difference between that and the hype that so often puts me off. Patel’s debut brings together a mother and her two sons one year after the sudden death
Tell Me How to Be by Neel Patel: ‘The things we most desire are not always what we need’ Read More »
If you know more about French poetry than I do which, frankly, would not be difficult, you may well recognise the title of Nathacha Appanah’s The Sky Above the Roof as a reference to Paul Verlaine’s Le Ciel, written when he was in prison. Fortunately, Geoffrey Strachan’s translator’s note helped me out, setting the tone
Fewer paperback goodies than I’d like in February’s schedules, just about enough for a two-part preview beginning with a title that’s been all over my Twitter timeline for well over a year. Caleb Azumah Nelson has had a very good year so far. Not only did Open Water win the 2021 Costa First Novel Award,
Paperbacks to Look Out for in February 2022: Part One Read More »
I was delighted to spot Lily King’s Five Tuesdays in Winter on Twitter having enjoyed both Writers & Lovers and Father of the Rain. It’s her first short story collection, comprising ten pieces many of which explore themes of love, relationships and parenthood, some with a darker edge than I remember from her novels. He
Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King: Astute observation plus a few dark surprises Read More »
It was its premise that attracted me to Sara Freeman’s Tides when it was pitched to me: a debut about a woman who flees after suffering a devastating bereavement drawn into a relationship with a man suffering his own loss, and there was mention of a spare writing style, always my favourite. I’d expected a
Tides by Sara Freeman: ‘Not feeling is a feeling too’ Read More »
February’s first instalment kicked off with a highly anticipated novel as does this one. Monica Ali’s Love Marriage sees Yasmin engaged to a fellow doctor and looking forward to a bright future. Her family’s reaction to her prospective mother-in-law’s feminism sparks revelations and a reassessment by Yasmin of her family and what her marriage might
Books to Look Out for in February 2022: Part Two Read More »