Book news, reviews and recommendations
I first noticed Ailsa McFarlane’s Highway Blue in The Observer’s ’10 Best Debuts of 2021’ feature at the beginning of the year. Inevitably, given my weakness for first novels, several titles expanded my TBR list but McFarlane’s is the first I’ve read. Highway Blue follows Anne Marie and her estranged husband Cal who are on […]
Highway Blue by Ailsa McFarlane: A startlingly good debut Read More »
Several long-trailed titles are due to be published in June including Zakiya Dalila Harris’ The Other Black Girl which has been all over my Twitter timeline for quite some time. Lots of publishing folk eager to get their hands on a proof and once you’re read the premise you’ll see why. Wagner Books’ only black
Books to Look Out For in June 2021: 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 – From Beezus and Ramona to Claudine at School Read More »
I was delighted to spot Daniela Krien’s gorgeously jacketed Love in Five Acts in my Twitter timeline towards the end of last year. I’d read the haunting Someday We’ll Tell Each Other Everything back in 2015 which feels like an age ago now – pre-Brexit, pre-Trump and pre-pandemic. Born in the GDR, Krien was a
Love in Five Acts by Daniela Krien (transl. Jamie Bulloch): Take five women Read More »
Four years ago, I started my review of Jon McGregor’s Reservoir 13 with a paean of praise for this writer who seems to excel himself with each new book. His superb new novel, Lean Fall Stand, continues that progression with its story of a man returning from his beloved Antarctica, irrevocably changed, and his wife
Lean Fall Stand by Jon McGregor: Surviving catastrophe Read More »
This second batch of May paperbacks kicks off with a favourite from last year: Nick Bradley’s The Cat and the City. Set in Tokyo, Bradley’s episodic novel follows a set of characters through their teeming city as it prepares to play host to the Olympics, each of whose lives are touched by a very particular
Paperbacks to Look Out For in May 2021: Part Two Read More »
I was attracted to Marco Missiroli’s Fidelity by its title thinking it might make an interesting companion to Sue Miller’s Monogamy which I so enjoyed last year. That and its jacket with those eyes staring so directly at the camera. Set in Milan, it spans nine years in the lives of a husband and wife,
Fidelity by Marco Missiroli (transl. Alex Valente): ‘I am happy right here’ Read More »
Lots of pre-publication brouhaha in my neck of the Twitter woods around Katherine Heiny’s Early Morning Riser which so often leads to disappointment but something about its blurb made me think it might live up to that promise so I put up my hand for a copy. Set in a small American town, always a
Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny: If you like Anne Tyler… Read More »
Some very tempting paperback goodies to look out for this May, most of which I’ve already read beginning with one that made it on to both my books of the year list last year and this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction wishlist. Megan Hunter’s gorgeously written The Harpy sees Lucy’s anger unleashed when she discovers
Paperbacks to Look Out For in May 2021: Part One Read More »
Alexis Schaitkin’s Saint X suffered more than most from the upheavals which struck last year’s schedules, appearing in print nine months or so after it was first due to be published. Truth be told I wasn’t at all sure about it when it arrived. I wondered if it might be a step too far into
Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin: Paradise lost Read More »
It was its setting and structure that attracted me to Claire Thomas’ The Performance, although that brightly coloured jacket played some part. A clever design which fits the novel well. As its title suggests, the backdrop for Thomas’ novel is a Melbourne theatre where three women are watching a performance of Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days
The Performance by Claire Thomas: A night at the theatre Read More »