Book news, reviews and recommendations
Bitter Orange is Claire Fuller’s third novel and it’s the third I’ve reviewed here. Our Endless Numbered Days made it on to my books of the year list in 2015 and I included Swimming Lessons on my (then) Baileys prize wish list last year. I’m something of a fan, as you can tell, so expectations […]
Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller: A nice slice of British gothic Read More »
The press release for Sofka Zinovieff’s Putney proclaims it to be this summer’s must read which made me wonder if it might be one of those slip-your-brain-in-neutral beach reads you see piled up at the airport but that proved not to be the case at all. Instead, it’s an intelligent, subtle novel which explores the
Putney by Sofka Zinovieff: Where are the grown-ups? Read More »
In his touching Foreword to Girl, Balancing and Other Stories, Helen Dunmore’s son, Patrick Charnley, tells us that she had discussed with him the possibility of a collection of short stories to be published after her death. Charnley mined his mother’s papers and laptop, gathering together thirty-three pieces written in the two decades since Dunmore’s
Girl, Balancing by Helen Dunmore: An unexpected, very welcome treat Read More »
I was looking for a novel to get stuck into having just given up one I’d been eagerly anticipating but which proved to be disappointing. Set during the 2011 London heatwave, Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett’s debut, The Tyranny of Lost Things, neatly filled the gap. No one’s warned Harmony about the unearthly shrieks of the elderly
The Tyranny of Lost Things by Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett: Communes and how to survive them Read More »
Always a delight to open a new William Boyd and find it dedicated ‘To Susan’. Nothing to do with me, obviously, but still… Short stories are almost as welcome as a novel for me these days particularly when two of them are pleasingly lengthy. Boyd’s collection also includes seven much shorter stories but, perhaps inevitably
The Dreams of Bethany Mellmoth by William Boyd: A satisfying snack Read More »
Matthew Smith’s The Waking is published by Wundor Editions who are a mere one year old and have a tiny list. This is the kind of combination that has me reaching for the ‘no thank you’ button – accepting review copies then finding you don’t like them from the conglomerates is one thing, agreeing to
The Waking by Matthew Smith: Questions, questions… Read More »
It’s been three years since Kamila Shamsie’s last novel, A God in Every Stone, a book I confidently expected to appear on the following year’s Baileys longlist. This year’s Man Booker judges have followed suit, longlisting Home Fire which I’m sure would have appeared on my own wishlist had I read it in time. It’s
Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie: Antigone redux Read More »
The Cut is the second in the Peirene Now! series, books commissioned by the publisher’s founder, Mieke Ziervogel, in response to the questions shaping our world. The first was Olumide Popoola and Annie Holmes’ collection, breach, based on the stories they’d gathered in Calais and the now defunct ‘Jungle’ refugee camp just outside the town.
The Cut by Anthony Cartwright: A tale of two countries Read More »
There’s something irresistible about a state-of-the-nation novel, even if that nation has shifted cataclysmically since the novel was conceived. This isn’t the first book in that vein Amanda Craig has written – I remember enjoying Hearts and Minds which explored the lives of immigrants in London a few years back. Two characters from that novel
The Lie of the Land by Amanda Craig: Something nasty in the woodshed… Read More »
Coming towards the end of what felt like months of relentless electioneering, I was in need of a well turned out piece of escapism. Something I could lose myself in and forget about the world for a while. Invincible Summer looked just the ticket. It takes four friends who meet as undergraduates in 1997 and
Invincible Summer by Alice Adams: A smart beach read Read More »