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 book groups. 1. What sort of…
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 work has long lain unjustly neglected….
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 days later the police arrive with…
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 her deceptively simple novel, Someone, is written with…
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 an ordinary day in a middle-class…
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 known novels. That’s obviously a claim…
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 that is wonderful. What they’ve done…
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 his novels, many of which I’ve…
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, and interests color our reading, making…
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 you wanted to be an author…
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 forget it. Elegant hardbacks with embossed…
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 programmer like a cheeky and irritating…
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 Far East through a northern passage…
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 selected bibliography and an introduction. But…
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, “telling this story is the hardest…
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 writer. Philip Teir’s debut novel has…
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 evolution to a wider audience. We…
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, children’s books, and a certain play/film/book/everything…
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 psychological thrillers by Celia Fremlin, and they…
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 Trillin which was originally published in…
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 take on the world. Half French…
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 Juliet for Shiny New Books I hadn’t…
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 Georgina Frances Vernon, on 1 December…
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 be acts of storytelling that take…