Universality by Natasha Brown
Review by Annabel It’s been a four-year wait for this, Natasha Brown’s second novel. Her first, Assembly, was stunning, winning many plaudits. It’s a moving and beautifully written novella told…
Cloistered: My Years as a Nun by Catherine Coldstream
Reviewed by Harriet In my mind I am still running. Running towards the road. Running, running, running. The darkness is fresh around me, the air slicing across my face in…
Conversations with Rilke by Maurice Betz
Translated by Will Stone Review by Karen Langley Aside from his verses, Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke is probably best known to the English-speaking world for his prose work, The…
Bird School: A beginner in the wood by Adam Nicolson
Review by Peter Reason ‘The first time I met a bird close-up, it was dead. A raven.’ From this grab-your-attention first line and the evocative description of this encounter, I…
The Alienation Effect: How Central European Émigrés Transformed the British Twentieth Century by Owen Hatherley
Review by Karen Langley The interwar period of the early 20th century saw a massive amount of emigration from Central Europe, as those vulnerable to the extremist governments of a…
The Strange Case of Jane O by Karen Thompson Walker
Reviewed by Harriet If like many people you saw this title and thought of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde you’d probably be thinking this will be a psychological thriller, and…
Murder at Gull’s Nest: Nora Breen Investigates by Jess Kidd
Review by Annabel Although Irish author Jess Kidd has written four previous well-received novels, and I even own copies of two of them, I’ve not managed to read her until…