On Sisters of Treason by Elizabeth Fremantle
I have always been fascinated in the forgotten lives of women in history and Sisters of Treason (the second in my Tudor trilogy) exposes the lives of three such women. The novel…
The Unknown Bridesmaid by Margaret Forster
Reviewed by Victoria Best Margaret Forster is one of those authors who have been steadily producing first class fiction for decades without ever getting much in the way of recognition…
Vita Sackville-West’s Sissinghurst by Vita Sackville-West & Sarah Raven
Reviewed by Rachel Fenn Sissinghurst is the sort of place that you can’t help but fall in love with at first sight, even if you have absolutely no interest in…
The Gospel of Loki by Joanne M. Harris
Reviewed by Annabel Gaskell I knew that Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat, had other literary strings to her bow, for a few years ago she published two volumes of fantasy for…
On Translating Boel Westin’s Biography of Tove Jansson – by translator Silvester Mazzarella
I am ashamed to admit that I lived in Helsinki (in Swedish Helsingfors), for more than twenty years during Tove Jansson’s lifetime without ever meeting her or learning very much…
The Bookshop That Floated Away by Sarah Henshaw
In early 2011 I realised the bookshop I’d been running for the last two years would probably have to close. It operated from a converted narrowboat permanently moored in a…
Black Lake by Johanna Lane
Reviewed by Danielle Simpson Johanna Lane’s debut novel, Black Lake, is the sort of story that creeps up on you. You don’t realize just how good it is until halfway through…
Tove Jansson: Life, Art, Words by Boel Westin
Translated by Silvester Mazzarella Reviewed by Simon Thomas Tove Jansson is one of my very favourite authors, and I often recommend her to friends and fellow bibliophiles. Each time, except…
The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick
Reviewed by Harriet Devine Mom liked to celebrate the little things. Like finding a forgotten wrinkled dollar in a lint-ridden coat pocket, or when there was no line in the…
The Examined Life by Stephen Grosz
Reviewed by Victoria Best Best book of the year so far is Stephen Grosz’s compilation of case stories from his thirty years as a psychotherapist, The Examined Life; How We Lose…
The Dead Beat by Doug Johnstone
Reviewed by Harriet Devine At the beginning of the The Dead Beat, Martha Fluke is visiting her father’s grave in an Edinburgh cemetery. There was a bunch of yellow carnations at…
Celia Fremlin – A Life of Crime
By Victoria Best Celia Fremlin published her first crime fiction, The Hours Before Dawn, in 1959, when she was 44 years old, and it was an instant success, winning her the Edgar…
Tristano: A Novel by Nanni Balestrini
Translated by Mike Harakis Reviewed by Helen Parry The philosophy that a text is created by the reader as well as the writer is well known and widely shared these…
The Telling Error by Sophie Hannah
Reviewed by Harriet Devine Well, Sophie Hannah has done it again. Did anyone ever have such a fiendishly fertile and convoluted imagination? This is her ninth crime novel, and she…
Longbourn by Jo Baker
Reviewed by Harriet Devine Jo Baker has had the brilliant idea of writing, not a sequel, but an account of what goes on below stairs in Pride and Prejudice. All the…
Five Fascinating Facts about Rumer Godden
Compiled by Victoria Best As an accompaniment to Harriet’s review of Rumer Godden novels An Episode of Sparrows and The Dark Horse, here are five things you might not know about the perennially popular…
An Episode of Sparrows and The Dark Horse by Rumer Godden
Reviewed by Harriet Devine Rumer Godden is a remarkable writer, and far less well known today than she deserves to be. So, Virago’s decision to reissue some of her novels…
Discovering Mary Hocking In The Back Of Another Book
Written by Ali Hope There is probably no greater joy for a book lover than to discover a new author. I found Mary Hocking nearly three years ago, in the…
The ‘Fairley Family Trilogy’ by Mary Hocking
Reviewed by Ali Hope The Fairley family trilogy by Mary Hocking has remained among her most popular novels. They were among a small number of Hockings published by Virago in…
An Interview with Jill Dawson
By Victoria Best Jill Dawson’s wonderful new novel, The Tell-Tale Heart, recounts the story of Patrick, a womanising lecturer who has recently received a heart transplant. By chance he discovers the identity…
The Tell-Tale Heart by Jill Dawson
Reviewed by Annabel Gaskell Jill Dawson’s eighth novel is certainly a tale with heart. At the centre of it is Professor and professional reprobate Patrick who, at fifty, is diagnosed…
The Smoke is Rising by Mahesh Rao
Reviewed by Sakura Gooneratne Mahesh Rao’s debut novel, The Smoke is Rising, chronicles the daily lives of Susheela, Mala and Uma in Mysore, India; three women from very different backgrounds caught…
On Writing by A.L. Kennedy
Reviewed by Simon Thomas When I first heard that A.L. Kennedy had written a book called On Writing – now out in paperback – I was intrigued and very keen to read…
The One Plus One by Jojo Moyes
Reviewed by Annabel Gaskell Commercial women’s fiction, you know – what we used to call ‘Chick-lit’, some still do, is alive and well, and the top titles are still selling…