Fiction Reviews

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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

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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

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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

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Cover image for Confessions by Catherine Airey

Confessions by Catherine Airey: Choose your own adventure

Despite its door-stopping proportions I couldn’t resist Catherine Airey’s much trumpeted debut with its promise of an involving tale of two Irish sisters, one of whom emigrates to New York to take up an art school scholarship ticking two of my literary boxes. Máire and Rósín’s stories span decades beginning in the 1970s when they’re

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Cover image for Ask Me Again by Clare Sestanovich

Ask Me Again by Clare Sestanovich: More questions than answers

I remember Clare Sestanovich’s short story collection, Objects of Desire, being much praised when it was published which is what made me want to read her first novel, Ask Me Again. It begins with sixteen-year-old Eva meeting James in a Brooklyn hospital waiting room where her parents are anxiously sitting at her comatose grandmother’s bedside,

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