January 30, 2015 The Happy Tree by Rosalind Murray Reviewed by Simon Thomas Devotees of Persephone Books will know that the best thing about this reprint house is bringing to light authors whose…
January 30, 2015 Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng Reviewed by Susan Osborne Set in 1977, Everything I Never Told You is the story of a family whose oldest daughter disappears one night. A few…
January 29, 2015 Playthings by Alex Pheby Reviewed by Anne Goodwin “Nothing to be concerned about” Daniel Paul Schreber reassures himself in the opening paragraph of Alex Pheby’s second novel. Just…
January 29, 2015 Those Who Walk Away by Patricia Highsmith Reviewed by Harriet. ‘The No.1 greatest crime writer’, proclaims The Times on the covers of Virago’s new reprints of some of Patricia Highsmith’s lesser…
January 29, 2015 My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell Reviewed by Simon Slightly Foxed Editions often introduce me to books I know nothing about – hidden gems waiting to be unearthed – and…
January 29, 2015 Where I’m Reading From by Tim Parks Reviewed by Annabel Many of us who are booklovers enjoy nothing more than reading a book about books. I’m familiar with Tim Parks through…
January 29, 2015 The Road to Middlemarch: My Life with George Eliot by Rebecca Mead Reviewed by Lory Widmer Hess No two readers can really read the same book. The nuances generated by our particular set of experiences, associations,…
January 29, 2015 Shiny New Author: An interview with Frances Vick In the second of our series where we interview new authors, Annabel talks to Frances Vick, author of Chinaski. A. When did you first realise…
January 29, 2015 Not My Father’s Son by Alan Cumming Written by Victoria Best My abiding memory of Alan Cumming is from the Bond movie, Goldeneye, in which he plays his character of Machiavellian computer…
January 29, 2015 Merchant Adventurers by James Evans Reviewed by Liz Dexter In the mid-1500s, three ships set off from London to seek a passage to the famed untold riches of the…
January 29, 2015 The Waves by Virginia Woolf Reviewed by Stefanie Hollmichel Oxford World Classics has produced a terrific reissue of Virginia Woolf’s novel The Waves. There are helpful endnotes, biographical information, a…
January 29, 2015 Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward Reviewed by Rebecca Hussey Jesmyn Ward’s memoir Men We Reaped is a difficult book, but a necessary and compelling one. As Ward says in the book’s prologue,…
January 29, 2015 Black Sheep by Susan Hill Paperback review by Simon Susan Hill is the master (or perhaps that should be mistress) of many genres. She is famous for crime novels,…
January 28, 2015 Privileged Children and The Bohemian Girl by Frances Vernon Reviewed by Harriet Well, Faber Finds has done it again. In Issue 1 of SNB I reviewed some of their reprints of the brilliant…
January 28, 2015 Tepper Isn’t Going Out by Calvin Trillin Reviewed by Simon It is very apt that the publishing house that has just reprinted Tepper Isn’t Going Out, the quirky comic masterpiece by Calvin…
January 28, 2015 Pure Juliet by Stella Gibbons Reviewed by Hayley Anderton I was aware that Vintage were publishing some newly discovered Stella Gibbons novels, but until Simon asked me to read Pure…
January 27, 2015 Spy Out the Land by Jeremy Duns Reviewed by Rob Spence Don’t read this book. Don’t, that is, unless you have read Jeremy Duns’s previous three Paul Dark spy thrillers, because…
January 27, 2015 In the Twilight by Anton Chekhov Translated by Hugh Aplin Reviewed by Karen Langley Russian author Anton Chekhov, although possibly best known for his plays like The Cherry Orchard, is also…
January 27, 2015 The Poet’s Tale: Chaucer and the Year that Made the Canterbury Tales by Paul Strohm Written by Victoria So what’s a medieval historian to do with a figure like Chaucer? A man who still exerts a fascination over his…
January 27, 2015 Five Fascinating Facts About… Virginia Woolf Written by Simon Thomas We’re featuring a few Virginia Woolf titles in this issue, so it seemed a good time to turn attention to…
January 27, 2015 A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf Reviewed by Simon There are plenty of copies of Virginia Woolf’s famous feminist essay A Room of One’s Own available, new and second hand, but I…
January 27, 2015 Taking Command by David Richards Reviewed by Terence Jagger This was an unusual read for me, as I know the author pretty well, having worked alongside him for a…
January 27, 2015 In These Times: Living in Britain Through Napoleon’s Wars by Jenny Uglow Reviewed by Jenny Jenny Uglow has delved into the diaries and letters of an abundance of ordinary people — farmers, soldiers, artisans, and their…
January 27, 2015 Bilbao–NewYork–Bilbao by Kirmen Uribe Translated from the Basque by Elizabeth Macklin Reviewed by David Hebblethwaite Bilbao – New York – Bilbao is Kirmen Uribe’s first novel; it won the…
January 26, 2015 Heir to a Prophecy by Mercedes Rochelle Written by Helen Skinner “Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.” In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, these are the words spoken by the three witches to…
