Fiction Reviews Archives - Page 23 of 120

Cover image for Open Up by Thomas Morris

Open Up by Thomas Morris: Tales of lost boys and seahorses

18 August 2023 / 6 Comments

Regular readers may have noticed that when reviewing books by Irish writers, I often mention they contribute to The Stinging Fly, a Dublin-based biannual magazine which publishes short fiction. From Wendy Erskine to Nicole Flattery, Kevin Barry to Louise Kennedy whose brilliant Trespasses was shortlisted for this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction, their contributors are […]

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Cover image for Though the Bodies Fall by Noel O'Hagan

Though the Bodies Fall by Noel O’Regan: Mother’s little helper

16 August 2023 / 12 Comments

I’ve long had a penchant for Irish writing but either that’s becoming more pronounced or there are even more fine writers being published from that country. Whichever it is, that was what drew me to Noel O’Regan’s Though the Bodies Fall set on a stretch of Kerry headland which has been a suicide black spot

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Cover image for Speak to Me by Paula Cocozza

Speak to Me by Paula Cocozza: ‘There are three of us in this marriage’

11 August 2023 / 20 Comments

I’d read and enjoyed Paula Cocozza’s debut, How to Be Human, back in 2017 but it was the enthusiasm of Rebecca at Bookish Beck that persuaded me to read her second novel. It also has an appealing premise, a riff on the social media theme which has emerged in fiction over the past few years.

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Cover image for Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett: A celebration of life and love

9 August 2023 / 26 Comments

I knew there was a new Ann Patchett on the horizon but wasn’t entirely sure of its publication date so when a proof of Tom Lake turned up out of the blue I was thrilled to bits. I’m a big Patchett fan and although her lovely collection of essays, These Precious Days, had been a

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Cover image for The Fraud by Zadie Smith

Books to Look Out For in September 2023

7 August 2023 / 36 Comments

Surprisingly few titles caught my eye in September’s schedules, but there are some gems to be found starting with a big shiny one: Zadie Smith’s first historical novel, The Fraud. Set in 1873, it follows Mrs Eliza Touchet, a woman of many interests and strong opinions who, along with the rest of the nation, is

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Six Degrees of Separation – Romantic Comedy to Anatomy of a Soldier

5 August 2023 / 26 Comments

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,

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Blasts from the Past: The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break by Stephen Sherrill (2000)

4 August 2023 / 23 Comments

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 into as many hands as I could. Stephen Sherrill’s debut was much talked about just after I started work as a reviews editor. I wasn’t

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Cover image for Becoming Liz Taylor by Elizabeth Delo

Becoming Liz Taylor by Elizabeth Delo: ‘It was probably safe to dress up now’

2 August 2023 / 23 Comments

That eye-catching jacket, redolent of movie star glamour, might suggest a setting more alluring than Weston-super-Mare for Elizabeth Delo’s debut, Becoming Liz Taylor. No disrespect to any readers from the seaside resort but I have childhood memories of mud rather than the glorious sandy beaches of my hopeful imagination. Delo’s novel begins in Weston where

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Cover image for Daughters by Lucy Fricke

Five More Novels I’ve Read About Friendship

31 July 2023 / 27 Comments

Given its importance in most of our lives, friendship doesn’t seem to figure in fiction as much as might be expected, often part of characters’ backstories rather than its central focus, or perhaps that’s just the kind of fiction I read. I’ve already posted once on it but it’s a theme I’m sufficiently keen on

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Cover image for Lucky Red by Claudia Cravens

Lucky Red by Claudia Cravens: ‘Rather whore than chore’

28 July 2023 / 14 Comments

Over the past decade or so I’ve read several modern takes on westerns, the most enjoyable of which was Patrick deWitt’s The Sisters Brothers although Glenn Taylor’s The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggert and A Hanging at Cinder Bottom were also thoroughly entertaining. A couple of years ago the more sober How Much of These Hills

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My 2023 Booker Wish List

26 July 2023 / 36 Comments

Not my favourite prize but I seem unable to resist putting together a wish list for the Booker, quite possibly because I know very few will be fulfilled but I’m keen to give some more neglected titles an airing even though they’re unlikely to have been nominated let alone make the judges’ grade. To be

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