Book news, reviews and recommendations
I’d not read anything by Benjamin Wood when Seascraper was pitched to me. It’s his fourth book but this is his first novella, beautifully packaged with a cover that fits it well. Set sometime in the 1950s, it takes place over a single day which sees Thomas Flett lifted out of his hardscrabble life for […]
Seascraper by Benjamin Wood: Vividly atmospheric Read More »
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
Drayton and Mackenzie by Alexander Starritt: The odd couple Read More »
I liked the premise of Hal Ebbott’s debut and the starry endorsements from the likes of Miranda Cowley and Cate Lombardo suggested that it might appeal at a time when I was after a bit of quality easy reading. Beginning with a weekend when two wealthy New York couples celebrate a birthday in the country,
Among Friends by Hal Ebbott: A curate’s egg Read More »
This is the latest in a series of occasional posts featuring books I read years ago about which I was wildly enthusiastic at the time, wanting to press a copy in as many hands as I could. This is an unusual one for me. As regular readers know, I rarely read thrillers but there was
Blasts from the Past: Los Alamos by Joseph Kanon (1997) Read More »
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
Births, Deaths & Marriages by Laura Barnett: A celebration of friendship Read More »
Just as I enjoy a good road movie, I love a well turned out road novel. Lots of time for reflection, meeting new characters and maybe a bit of vivid landscape description. Beginning with one that’s named after a road, and a very famous one too, below are five novels that take their readers along
Five Road Novels I’ve Read Read More »
I’d been so impressed by Wendy Erskine’s quietly brilliant short story collection, Dance Move, that I jumped at the chance to read her debut novel. Set in Belfast, The Benefactors follows the fallout from the rape of a young woman by three boys she’d thought were her friends. Being with their mum felt like when
The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine: Family first Read More »
I couldn’t resist Thirst Trap given how many debuts from young Irish women have hit the spot for me in recent years. Gráinne O’Hare’s novel is about three friends on the cusp of thirty living in the same house they shared with a fourth, killed in a car accident a year before. ‘Lidl,’ Cate said, almost
Thirst Trap by Gráinne O’Hare: Arrested development Read More »
This is the latest in a series of occasional posts featuring books I read years ago about which I was wildly enthusiastic at the time, wanting to press a copy in as many hands as I could. This is the second novel by Tim Murphy I’ve featured in this series. I’m not sure I’ve done
Blasts from the Past: Correspondents by Tim Murphy (2019) Read More »
Lee Cole’s Groundskeeping was one of my books of the year back in 2022 raising my expectations for his second. Fulfillment sees two half-brothers returning to Kentucky, one with his hopes dashed and in debt, the other married and apparently successful, teaching for a term at a local university. For anyone discomfited by that extra
Fulfillment by Lee Cole: ‘Despair and Late Capitalism’ or ‘The Hero’s Journey’ Read More »
I was delighted when Sarah Moss’s Ripeness popped through my letter box. It’s the eighth book by her I’ve reviewed on this blog, starting way back in 2013 with her Icelandic memoir, Names for the Sea. This new one sees a woman in her seventies remembering the months she spent in Italy as a seventeen-year-old
Ripeness by Sarah Moss: ‘Life has no form, you don’t get to choose.’ Read More »