January 31, 2015 The Eds Discuss: Book Groups Love them or loathe them, we’ve all been in one! The editors discuss the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to…
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 30, 2015 Someone by Alice McDermott Paperback review by Victoria Alice McDermott is one of those writers who make you wonder how on earth they do it. Every sentence in…
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 Spotlight on Publishers: Notting Hill Editions An Interview with Notting Hill Editions Written by Victoria Best If you’ve ever seen a book by Notting Hill Editions, you’re not likely to…
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 The Winter War by Philip Teir Written by Victoria It feels like it’s been quite a while since I last read an engaging portrait of domestic drama from a male…
January 29, 2015 The Evolutionist: The Strange Tale of Alfred Russel Wallace by Avi Sirlin Reviewed by Peter Hobson The Evolutionist is a novel which aims to bring an important scientist in the development of the early scientific theories of…
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 Miss Carter’s War by Sheila Hancock Paperback review by Laura Marriott Miss Carter’s War opens in 1948, in smoky post war Britain, introducing us to the woman who is going to…
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 28, 2015 Biographical Notes: Frances Vernon Written by Harriet The life of Frances Vernon, whose six novels have just been reprinted by Faber Finds, makes for sad reading. Born, as…
January 28, 2015 The American Lover by Rose Tremain Written by Victoria Rose Tremain is one of those talented writers in whose hands you instantly feel safe. Here, the reader understands, there will…
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…
