October 27, 2016 The Gradual by Christopher Priest Reviewed by David Harris This was the first of Christopher Priest’s books that I’d read. While I gather from other reviews that it’s particularly…
October 27, 2016 The Captain with the Whiskers by Benedict Kiely Reviewed by Julie Barham When the old captain died the family went strange and it wasn’t with grief, and if you want to know…
October 27, 2016 Loose Canon: the extraordinary songs of Clive James and Pete Atkin by Ian Shircore Review by Rob Spence It’s now over forty years since I discovered the songs of Pete Atkin and Clive James. In a wonderful series…
October 25, 2016 The Girl in Green by Derek D. Miller Reviewed by Gill Davies In the past, I have hesitated to read a novel that uses dreadful contemporary events as its plot and thematic…
October 25, 2016 Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Reviewed by Simon It might seem strange to include a novel in the reprints section that is only 13 years old – but Chimamanda…
October 20, 2016 Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh Paperback review by Naomi Eileen might ‘look like a girl you’d expect to see on a city bus, reading some clothbound book from the…
October 20, 2016 The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope Reviewed by Harriet Nevertheless a certain class of dishonesty, dishonesty magnificent in its proportions, and climbing into high places, has become at the same…
October 20, 2016 The Age of Bowie by Paul Morley Reviewed by Annabel When the world woke up on January 10th to hear that David Bowie had died just two days after Blackstar was…
October 20, 2016 Spotlight on Publishers: NYRB Q & A with Edwin Frank, Editorial Director at NYRB The Eds at Shiny are all great fans of NYRB books. Can you tell…
October 20, 2016 Grand Hotel by Vicki Baum Translated by Basil Creighton / revised by Margot Bettauer Dembo Reviewed by Karen Langley Being known as the author of one successful book can…
October 20, 2016 Flâneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Venice, Tokyo and London, by Lauren Elkin Reviewed by Helen Parry ‘I think people are made of the places not only where they’ve been raised, but that they’ve loved; I think…
October 19, 2016 Secret Lives: Real Women in Fiction Written by Ann Kennedy Smith A Quiet Life by Natasha Walter (Borough Press, 2016), Mrs Engels by Gavin McCrea (Scribe, 2016) I spend a lot of my…
October 19, 2016 About My Mother by Tahar Ben Jelloun Translated by Ros Schwartz & Lulu Norman Reviewed by Alice Farrant About My Mother is the story of a Lalla Fatma, written down by…
October 18, 2016 Where Roses Never Die by Gunnar Staalesen Translated by Don Bartlett Reviewed by Gill Davies Where Roses Never Die is my first Gunnar Staalesen novel. Staalesen is Norwegian and he has been…
October 18, 2016 Revenger by Alastair Reynolds Reviewed by David Harris Alastair Reynolds has a reputation as a prolific writer of SF and made waves a few years ago when he…
October 18, 2016 The Men’s Club by Leonard Michaels Reviewed by Simon There have been quite a few reprints, in recent years, from the interwar period and thereabouts. We are familiar with Golden…
October 18, 2016 The Methods of Sergeant Cluff by Gil North Reviewed by Harriet The rain wept on him from the eyes of the trees. The winter afternoon waned to its close. He withdrew into…
October 18, 2016 Paulina & Fran by Rachel B. Glaser Reviewed by Susan Osborne Female friendship is a frequent theme in fiction, or at least what’s often dubbed as ‘women’s fiction’. It can be…
October 18, 2016 Diary of the Dark Years 1940 – 1944 by Jean Guéhenno Translated and annotated by David Ball Review by Terence Jagger This is a sombre book, the diary of a thoughtful but determined man – …
October 16, 2016 How Sarah Waters Won Over the Reading World By Victoria Best The press release for Sarah Waters’ new novel, The Paying Guests, describes it as ‘the most anticipated book of 2014’ and for…
October 16, 2016 Q&A with Samantha Norman Samantha was interviewed by Harriet H: Hi Samantha – thanks for agreeing to answer some questions. I very much enjoyed Winter Siege, and wondered if…
October 13, 2016 Caught in the Revolution by Helen Rappaport Reviewed by Rob Spence We seem to have a glut of popular historians at the moment. Simon Schama, Tom Holland, Peter Frankopan, Lara Feigel,…
October 13, 2016 French Rhapsody by Antoine Laurain Translated by Jane Aitken and Emily Boyce Reviewed by Annabel I experienced the sheer joy of reading French author Antoine Laurain earlier this summer…
October 13, 2016 Paris Street Tales edited by Helen Constantine Reviewed by Harriet I live in rural France, and visit Paris from time to time, generally rather briefly. I’m beginning to get the hang…
October 13, 2016 Nothing Short of Dying by Erik Storey Reviewed by Basil Ransome-Davies Erik Storey’s début novel, which bids to inaugurate a series, comes garlanded with approving quotes from established authors Lee Child…
