July 23, 2014 Decompression by Juli Zeh Translated by John Cullen Reviewed by David Hebblethwaite In diving, decompression is the gradual reduction of ambient pressure as a diver returns to the…
July 23, 2014 Death in Pont-Aven by Jean-Luc Bannalec Translated by Sorcha McDonagh Reviewed by Harriet Devine Hooray for Hesperus, who sent me this book for review back in the early spring. I…
July 23, 2014 The Strange Stories of Robert Aickman Reviewed by Annabel Gaskell 2014 marks the centenary of the birth of Robert Aickman, an author who once encountered demands that you read more…
July 23, 2014 The Eds discuss… the Man Booker longlist and literary prizes in general By the Shiny New Books Editors The four SNB Editors had a round robin e-mail discussion about our reactions to the announcement of the…
July 23, 2014 The Disinherited by Robert Sackville-West Reviewed by Victoria Best When Jerry Seinfeld remarked that ‘There is no such thing as fun for all the family’, he could have had…
July 22, 2014 Fallout by Sadie Jones Reviewed by Victoria Best I love novels about life on the stage, though they are a relatively rare genre. Noel Streatfeild’s Ballet Shoes was one of…
July 22, 2014 The Listener by Tove Jansson Translated by Thomas Teal Reviewed by Simon Thomas It’s always interesting to see the genesis of a favourite writer. In Issue 1 of Shiny…
July 22, 2014 The Snow Queen by Michael Cunningham Reviewed by Claire Boyle The Snow Queen by Michael Cunningham is like a snow scene uninterrupted by footprints, beautiful to look at and perfect in…
July 22, 2014 The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman Reviewed by Jodie Robson I was not happy as a child, although from time to time I was content. I lived in books more…
July 22, 2014 The Headmaster’s Wife by Thomas Christopher Greene Reviewed by Victoria Best I do love a book with a really good jaw-dropping twist, and goodness me does The Headmaster’s Wife have one of those….
July 22, 2014 The Cemetery of Swallows by Mallock Translated by Stephen Rendall Reviewed by Falaise The Cemetery of Swallows is a recent addition to Europa Editions’ excellent World Noir imprint, which, as you…
July 22, 2014 The Accidental Universe by Alan Lightman Reviewed by Annabel Gaskell My first encounter with Alan Lightman was through his 1992 novel Einstein’s Dreams, a fictional account of the scientist during the…
July 21, 2014 The Legs of Izolda Morgan by Bruno Jasieński Translated by Soren A. Gauger and Guy Torr Reviewed by Karen Langley The boundaries and allegiances in Europe moved and blurred continually during the…
July 21, 2014 Shakespeare & Me, edited by Susannah Carson Reviewed by Simon Thomas A few years ago, I very much enjoyed A Truth Universally Acknowledged, an anthology of writers and readers celebrating Jane Austen,…
July 18, 2014 The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman Reviewed by Terence Jagger This is a famous and fascinating book, and I think anyone interested in the Great War, or the wider question…
July 18, 2014 The Unwitting by Ellen Feldman Reviewed by Victoria Best It is November 1963 and Nell Benjamin is annoyed with her husband, Charlie. The previous evening, they had guests round,…
July 18, 2014 Q&A with Mike Ripley Questions by Harriet Devine Harriet: I really enjoyed reading Mr Campion’s Farewell, and, as a lifetime fan of Allingham, I wasn’t sure if I would….
July 18, 2014 Mr Campion’s Farewell by Mike Ripley Reviewed by Harriet Devine I think I was about eleven when my mother, responding to my cry that I had nothing to read, gave…
July 18, 2014 Over the Ocean by Erica Fischer Translated by Andrew Brown Reviewed by Jean Morris The media were full of the D-Day commemorations as I read this book – stories of…
July 17, 2014 In the Light of What We Know by Zia Haider Rahman Reviewed by Victoria Best Many years ago, when I was teaching literature at Cambridge University, my good friend Kathryn and I used to laugh…
July 17, 2014 The Path Through The Trees by Christopher Milne Reviewed by Claire When you are the inspiration for one of the most famous and best-loved children’s books of all time, how do you…
July 17, 2014 Expo 58 by Jonathan Coe Reviewed by Annabel Gaskell The Festival of Britain back in 1951 and subsequent World Expos were before my time but I am finding that…
July 17, 2014 One Summer: America 1927 by Bill Bryson Reviewed by Harriet Devine If I were to make a list of things I probably wouldn’t want to read a book about, aeroplanes, cars, baseball…
July 17, 2014 Pleasures and Landscapes by Sybille Bedford Reviewed by Simon Thomas Are you ready to be transported back to postwar Europe? Although this collection of essays was first published as Pleasures and…
July 17, 2014 Jonathan Smith on his book Wilfred and Eileen Written by Jonathan Smith Wilfred and Eileen was well received in the literary pages in 1976. The novel was dramatized on Radio 4 in 1983…
