The Mess We’re In by Annie Macmanus
Review by Annabel Having very much enjoyed Annie Macmanus’ debut novel Mother Mother last year, I was really keen to read her next. The Mess We’re In is as similar…
Not Just for the Boys: Why We Need More Women in Science by Athene Donald
Review by Liz Dexter This book is written for anyone who is wondering why, in spite of decades of effort to promote change, the numbers of women pursuing careers in…
Lessons by Ian McEwan
Review by Julie Barham Ian McEwan’s output is made up of a great variety of types of novels, going from the specific to the general, and sometimes back again. He…
Best of Friends by Kamila Shamsie
Review by Susan Osborne I’ve read all Kamila Shamsie’s novels and, despite enjoying each of them, Burnt Shadows remained my favourite, but with its exploration of ‘80s Pakistan and contemporary…
Fight Night by Miriam Toews
Review by Susan Osborne Miriam Toews’ Fight Night takes the form of a letter written by nine-year-old Swiv to her father who her grandmother has told her is off fighting…
A Death in the Parish by The Reverend Richard Coles
Review by Julie Barham I often seek out what can be called “cosy crime” or at least crime novels that are not too brutal or police procedural. Richard Coles is…
Shakespeare’s First Folio: Four Centuries of an Iconic Book by Emma Smith
Review by Liz Dexter In stressing users of the First Folio, then, this book is not concerned with the discussions of how the Folio came to be published, the provenance…
Mother Tongue: The Surprising History of Women’s Words by Jenni Nuttall
Review by Liz Dexter The history of women’s words, it turns out, is full of surprises, of things which aren’t necessarily what you’d expect. Even our basics have unfamiliar beginnings….
6 Sides of Lockdown Literature
By Anne Goodwin How has the Covid pandemic affected your reading? Have you lapped up lockdown literature or have you avoided it – cliché alert – like the plague? For…
Twice Round the Clock by Billie Houston
Reviewed by Harriet It’s been a while since we reviewed a British Library Crime Classic on here, so it’s a pleasure to write about this recent one, the only novel…
River Spirit by Leila Aboulela
Review by Annabel I discovered Leila Aboulela with her previous novel Bird Summons, in which three Muslim women living in Edinburgh go on a road trip and spiritual quest to…
My Life and I, by Betty Bendell
Reviewed by Harriet One of the problems with bounding spontaneously through life, I’ve discovered, is that people do tend to react to me quite strongly. I’d like to say that…
The Kingdoms of Savannah by George Dawes Green
Review by Max Dunbar The Savannah of George Dawes Green‘s mystery novel is full of tourists. Not regular tourists. These tourists ride around in the back of a hearse. In…
The Memory of Animals by Claire Fuller
Reviewed by Rebecca Foster With five absorbing novels published in eight years, Claire Fuller has rapidly become one of the essential voices in contemporary literary fiction. Her accolades include a…