January 29, 2016 The Good Liar by Nicholas Searle Reviewed by Gill Davies This is Nicholas Searle’s first novel. He apparently began it while a student of the on-line Curtis Brown Creative Writing…
January 28, 2016 Make Room For Me: Organising a Literary Conference Written by Noreen Masud ‘The times will just have to enlarge themselves to make room for me, won’t they, and for everybody else.’ (Stevie…
January 27, 2016 Katherine Carlyle by Rupert Thomson Reviewed by Eleanor Franzén Are there ghosts at either end of life? It’s not uncommon, from time to time, to feel as though everything…
January 27, 2016 Sophia by Michael Bible Reviewed by Annabel There are only 105 pages to this short novel, making it a novella really, but it sure does pack a punch….
January 27, 2016 Jezebel’s Daughter by Wilkie Collins Reviewed by Karen Langley Victorian author Wilkie Collins is probably best known nowadays for The Woman in White, The Moonstone, and being best buddies with Dickens. However,…
January 26, 2016 Us Conductors by Sean Michaels Reviewed by Susan Osborne Curiously, Us, Conductors is not the only novel published in January to feature the theremin, the musical instrument whose strange haunting sound…
January 26, 2016 The American by Nadia Dalbuono Reviewed by Linda Boa Following The Few, the first in this series, The American sees our lone wolf detective, Leone Scamarcio, take on a case…
January 26, 2016 Unicorn: The Poetry of Angela Carter, with an Essay by Rosemary Hill Reviewed by Harriet I was a slow starter where Angela Carter was concerned. I was given what I now think of as her masterpiece, Nights…
January 26, 2016 His Monkey Wife by John Collier Reviewed by Simon When I told people that I was writing about bestiality during my DPhil, they were a little surprised that it got…
January 26, 2016 Death on the Riviera by John Bude Reviewed by Simon I’ve got all the John Bude reprints that have appeared in the British Library Crime Classics series, and have given several…
January 26, 2016 Spotlight on Publishers: Dean Street Press Q & A with Rupert Heath Will you tell me a little about the genesis of Dean Street Press? What prompted you to start the…
January 26, 2016 Cut Me In by Ed McBain Reviewed by Annabel Ed McBain (aka Evan Hunter, although that wasn’t his original name either) was a prolific author, writing over eighty novels. These…
January 26, 2016 Reading Manchester By Rob Spence After the recent Budget, the Treasury published a document outlining the government’s plans for regional spending. In among the references to…
January 26, 2016 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff Reviewed by Simon Slightly Foxed Editions – and I never tire of saying how beautiful they are – offer two different, wonderful things to…
January 25, 2016 Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson Reviewed by Annabel The anticipation of re-reading a book first read and enjoyed as a child always gives me a feeling of mild discomfort….
January 25, 2016 The Prison Book Club by Ann Walmsley Reviewed by Victoria The Prison Book Club was one of those books that I had high hopes for, being mildly fascinated by what goes on…
January 22, 2016 The Last of the Bowmans by J. Paul Henderson Reviewed by Annabel Do you remember how the wonderful TV series Six Feet Under began? In the opening scene, one of the key characters, Nathaniel Fisher…
January 22, 2016 The Roar of Morning by Tip Marugg Translated by Paul Vincent Reviewed by Karen Langley Silvio Alberto ‘Tip’ Marugg is an author new to me, and one who has quite a…
January 22, 2016 The Making of the Modern Refugee by Peter Gatrell Reviewed by Terence Jagger ‘Refugees have only been allowed a walk-on part in most histories of the twentieth century, and even then as subjects…
January 22, 2016 The Quality of Silence by Rosamund Lupton Paperback review by Judith Wilson This book arrived with impeccable timing: I was tired of unseasonably warm UK temperatures and longing for a December…
January 22, 2016 The Last of the Bowmans and Black Humour by J Paul Henderson As he stops off at Shiny New Books on his book tour, we asked J Paul Henderson, author of The Last of the Bowmans (reviewed here), to explore…
January 21, 2016 The Little Red Chairs by Edna O’Brien Reviewed by Karen Heenan-Davies When Edna O’Brien released her memoir Country Girl in 2012, there was intense speculation that this would be her swansong. She is after…
January 21, 2016 The Invisible Guardian by Dolores Redondo Translated by Isabelle Kaufeler Reviewed by Marina Sofia The Baztan valley in the Pyrenees in the north-east of Spain is misty, rainy and remote….
January 21, 2016 Dry Season by Gabriela Babnik Translated by Rawley Grau Reviewed by Chelsea McGill Ana, a 62-year-old graphic designer from Slovenia, has run away to a completely foreign place –…
January 21, 2016 American Housewife by Helen Ellis Reviewed by Linda Boa This slim collection of a dozen stories by American novelist and short story writer Helen Ellis is something of a…
