Reviewed by Elaine Simpson-Long The Lost Prince is not one of Burnett’s well known titles. The Little Princess and The Secret Garden are those that spring to mind when this author’s name is mentioned and The…
Reviewed by Denise Kong The Emperor Waltz is a long (over 600 pages), complex and astonishing read. If you like David Mitchell, Alan Hollinghurst or Donna Tartt, you’ll probably like The Emperor…
Reviewed by Simon Thomas Edith Olivier’s The Love Child (1927) was her first novel, and easily her best. Although rediscovered as a ‘modern classic’ in 1981 by Virago, it has not been…
Reviewed by Jodie Robson Over the last few weeks I’ve been rediscovering an almost forgotten aspect of childhood in the company of two very exciting young men: Phillip D’Aubigny, Knight…
Reviewed by Stefanie. Mind Change: How Digital Technologies Are Leaving Their Mark on Our Brains, Susan Greenfield has provided us with an even-keeled examination of the intersection of digital technology…
Reviewed by Max Dunbar Milan Kundera wrote that ‘The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.’ Winston Smith, of course, worked as an editor in…
Reviewed by Elaine Simpson-Long Having enjoyed Daisy Goodwin’s first novel, The Last Duchess and enjoyed it greatly I was looking forward to her second, The Fortune Hunter, and even more so when I…
Review by Jane Carter I must confess that until quite recently I had never heard of Una L Silberrad, but now that this lovely book has fallen into my hands…
Reviewed by Frances Ambler Billionaires don’t just slip off the radar. Well, so you’d think. Huguette Clark, one of America’s wealthiest women, almost succeeded in doing exactly that. However, as Empty…
Reviewed by Harriet Devine I think I must have been about seven or eight when I was given this book for Christmas. I doubt if it can have been the…
Reviewed by Simon Nobody loves a good reprint better than I do, and so I was quite excited to see a series from Vintage called ‘Vintage Movie Classics’, wherein they…
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton I was initially attracted to this book by it’s absolutely stunning cover (I have a soft spot for William Nicholson so enjoyed the homage) which in…
Reviewed by Harriet One of the most important distinctions made by Judith Flanders in this fascinating book is that between the concepts of house and home. While a house is…
Reviewed by Rowland Jones Our narrator, Jim Hawkins… Ah, Jim Hawkins as of Treasure Island you may ask? Well, yes and no. This is Jim Hawkins the son, who has also been…
Reviewed by Simon Thomas The Ladies of Lyndon, Margaret Kennedy’s first novel, was published in 1923, while the one which followed in 1924 – The Constant Nymph – was an enormous bestseller,…
Reviewed by Simon Thomas One of the more unusual novelists being reprinted at the moment is Stella Benson. Her work is issued by Michael Walmer, a one-man publishing house that…
Reviewed by Victoria Best ‘My father’s wife died. My mother said we should drive down to his place and see what might be in it for us.’ So begins this…
Reviewed by Rebecca Hussey The immediate effect of reading Peter Mendelsund’s What We See When We Read was to make me want to pick up a novel right away and start thinking…
Reviewed by Ann In many respects, How the Light Gets In, Louise Penny’s previous novel about Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, tied up a plethora of loose ends. Throughout the earlier books in…
Reviewed by Simon If you’ve ever wondered what sort of prose Catherine Morland might have read before she ventured to Northanger Abbey, then look no further than Horace Walpole’s The Castle of…
Reviewed by Jane Carter My mother, when she was a very small girl, was given a beautiful copy of The Happy Prince and Other Stories by Oscar Wilde. She loved that book,…
Reviewed by Susan Osborne This is the first year that the Man Booker Prize has been opened up to include entries from the U.S.A. Out of a longlist of thirteen,…
Translated by Adriana Hunter Reviewed by Bookgazing. At the beginning of Under the Tripoli Sky, the book’s young narrator, Hadachinou, is subject to a bris; a ritual Jewish circumcision. The bris…
Reviewed by Harriet Devine There is one characteristic which may be safely said to belong to nearly all happily married couples – that of desiring to see equally happy marriages…
