Fiction Reviews

If you would prefer a searchable / sortable linear index for this category you can find one here
Cover image for Theft by Abdulrazak Gurnah

Theft by Abdulrazak Gurnah: A multi-layered exploration of postcolonialism

Theft is Abdulrazak Gurnah’s first novel since winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2021. Described as ‘one of the world’s most prominent postcolonial writers’ by the chairman of the Nobel committee, he continues to explore that theme through three young people in 1990s Zanzibar, his native country, whose lives become closely intertwined. He would

Theft by Abdulrazak Gurnah: A multi-layered exploration of postcolonialism Read More »

Cover image for Elegy, Southwest by Madeleine Watts

Elegy, Southwest by Madeleine Watts: ‘Our time, perhaps, is shorter than we think’  

I spotted Madeleine Watts’s Elegy, Southwest on social media thanks to a passionately enthusiastic post from its editor. The premise of a road novel set in the desert of the American Southwest, a landscape which I’ve visited several times and loved, made me put up my hand immediately. Watts’s novel follows Eloise and Lewis over

Elegy, Southwest by Madeleine Watts: ‘Our time, perhaps, is shorter than we think’   Read More »

Cover image for The Cafe with No Name by Robert Seethaler

The Café with No Name by Robert Seethaler (transl. Katy Derbyshire): Everyday life writ large

This is the fourth novel by Robert Seethaler I’ve reviewed on here. The first was A Whole Life which sees a man lead a simple yet rich life, leaving his alpine valley just once. After that I snapped up both The Tobacconist and The Field as soon as they appeared. All offer a slice of

The Café with No Name by Robert Seethaler (transl. Katy Derbyshire): Everyday life writ large Read More »

Cover image for The Boy from the Sea by Garrett Carr

The Boy from the Sea by Garrett Carr: ‘It wasn’t love or hate: it was a complete entanglement’

Ireland seems to be home to a limitless supply of writing talent. Knowing that an author is Irish is usually enough to persuade me to read their book whatever it’s about. Garrett Carr’s adult fiction debut, The Boy from the Sea, was helped along by a resounding endorsement from Louise Kennedy whose Trespasses was one

The Boy from the Sea by Garrett Carr: ‘It wasn’t love or hate: it was a complete entanglement’ Read More »

Cover image for Three Days in June by Anne Tyler

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler: ‘Another chance to get it right’

I was surprised to spot a novella-length book by Anne Tyler on NetGalley. It seemed like a new departure for her or perhaps I’ve missed a previous piece of her short fiction. Three Days in June follows Gail whose daughter is about to be married, beginning with the wedding rehearsal day. Boundaries; that was his

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler: ‘Another chance to get it right’ Read More »