Spotlight on Publishers: Handheld Press
Harriet talks to Kate Macdonald Harriet: Thanks for agreeing to do this for us Kate. Can you tell us a bit about the genesis of Handheld Press and what prompted…
Kingdoms of Elfin by Sylvia Townsend Warner
Reviewed by Harriet Do you believe in fairies? Probably at a young age most people would say they did. And together with an idea implanted by popular books and paintings,…
The Lady and the Little Fox Fur by Violette Leduc
Translated by Derek Coltman Review by Karen Langley There’s been a buzz recently about Penguin’s (re?) launch of their European Writers series, with the first two books by Mercè Rodoreda…
Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami
Translated by Philip Gabriel and Ted Goossen Review by Rob Spence The strap line chosen by the publishers for the cover of this massive novel is instructive: “None of us…
Transcription by Kate Atkinson
Reviewed by Harriet ‘Don’t let your imagination run away with you, Miss Armstrong. You have an unfortunate tendency to do that. Iris isn’t real’. But how can she not be?…
Books do furnish a Painting by Jamie Camplin & Maria Ranauro
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton Thames and Hudson have got form for publishing tempting books that combine art and literature – Eric Karpeles Paintings in Proust: a visual companion to In…
The Second Rider by Alex Beer
Translated by Tim Mohr Review by Gill Davies The Second Rider is the first novel in a projected new series by the Austrian writer, Alex Beer. It is set in…
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiography by Eric Idle
Reviewed by Annabel Eric Idle is perhaps the most elusive of the Pythons. He’s the one who wrote on his own, the one whose characters are full of banter, ‘Nudge…
Hippie by Paulo Coelho
Review by Anna Hollingsworth Hippie is the newest addition to Coelho’s bibliography, but to say that it is something new from Coelho would be lying. Coelho’s previous autobiographical novels are…
Irreplaceable: A History of England in 100 Places edited by Philip Wilkinson
Reviewed by Harriet This attractive and informative volume does exactly what the title promises. It’s divided into ten sections: Science and Discovery; Travel and Tourism; Homes and Gardens; Sport and…
Performing Hamlet by Jonathan Croall
Reviewed by Harriet Back in 2015 I wrote a review for Shiny of Jonathan Croall’s Performing King Lear, a wonderfully well-researched survey of performances of this great and challenging play….
Death of the Vazir-Mukhtar by Yuri Tynianov
Translated by Susan Causey, Translation editor Vera Tsareva-Brauner Review by Karen Langley Recent years have seen a large number of works by Russian authors newly translated into the English language;…
Time’s Convert by Deborah Harkness
Reviewed by Harriet Have you ever wondered how the children of a witch and a vampire might turn out? Well, wonder no longer as you can now see them in…
Viking Britain: A History by Thomas Williams
Review by Liz Dexter Williams opens this wonderful, absorbing book with a big statement about how the Vikings are not afforded the same respect as, say, the Romans, having become…