September 30, 2021 The Transgender Issue by Shon Faye By Liz Dexter This book is primarily concerned with explaining how society, as it is currently arranged, often makes trans people’s lives unnecessarily difficult….
September 30, 2021 Madgermanes by Birgit Weyhe Translated by Katy Derbyshire Review by Annabel It’s been exciting to see the variety of German books in translation coming from V&Q Books who…
September 28, 2021 Two nature memoirs set in the New Forest: Goshawk Summer by James Aldred & The Circling Sky by Neil Ansell By Rebecca Foster Two recent memoirs have shone a spotlight on the fauna and management strategies of the New Forest, a place my Hampshire-raised…
September 28, 2021 The Lifeline by Hugo Charteris By Rob Spence If you are, as I am, a child of the fifties, then one of your first televisual memories will be of…
September 23, 2021 Mary Magdalene by Adriana Valerio Translated by Wendy Wheatley Reviewed by Harriet Adriana Valerio is an Italian historian and theologian. One of the first women in Italy to be…
September 23, 2021 Star Turns by Tim Walker Review by Annabel Tim Walker’s name may ring a bell, particularly with broadsheet readers. During his career as a journalist, he has written for…
September 21, 2021 A Single Rose by Muriel Barbery Translated by Alison Anderson Review by Annabel We’re delighted to be featured in the blog tour for Muriel Barbery’s new novel today – do…
September 21, 2021 The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer Review by Hayley Anderton I’ve been reading The Black Moth along with the Georgette Heyer Readalong on Twitter, where we have very mixed feelings…
September 16, 2021 The Country of Others by Leïla Slimani Translated by Sam Taylor Reviewed by Harriet Back in 2018 I read and reviewed Leïla Slimani’s best-selling, Goncourt-Prize-winning novel Lullaby [here]. Soon afterwards I…
September 16, 2021 All the Names Given by Raymond Antrobus Review by Anna Hollingsworth ”your 2am text / lit / like a dog panting / on her screen / hot rattling engine / pile…
September 14, 2021 Bewilderment by Richard Powers Reviewed by Gill Davies Although he has published twelve novels since 1985, I only discovered Richard Powers through his stunning 2018 novel The Overstory…
September 14, 2021 The Red Planet: A Natural History of Mars, by Simon Morden Review by Annabel Who hasn’t been enthralled by the idea of there being ‘Life on Mars’ even if said life ends up as the…
September 9, 2021 Paradise by Kae Tempest Review by Anna Hollingsworth Remember, this man is not our friend, he is our weapon. OK? So, we treat him like we treat any…
September 9, 2021 The Goddess Chronicle by Natsuo Kirino Translated by Rebecca Copeland Review by Annabel Japanese author Natsuo Kirino is primarily known for her crime novels, of which Out is the most…
September 7, 2021 Your Voice Speaks Volumes: It’s Not What You Say but How You Say It, by Jane Setter Review by Liz Dexter I would like the message of this chapter to be that we should all be more tolerant of people’s voice…
September 7, 2021 Young Stalin, by Simon Sebag Montefiore Review by Basil Ransome-Davies No one expects an approving biography of Joseph Stalin any more than they do the Spanish Inquisition. He is a…
September 2, 2021 Frontline by Dr Hilary Jones Review by Julie Barham Medical knowledge and techniques were vastly increased during and immediately after the First World War, as the loss of so…
September 2, 2021 Dead Famous by Greg Jenner Review by Basil Ransome-Davies Andy Warhol (if it was he, who disowned the soft impeachment) was kidding when he said that in the future…