Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman
Reviewed by Harriet Here on Shiny we love Laura Lippman and have posted reviews of five of her novels. All but one were standalone psychological thrillers, but Hush Hush (2015) features…
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Fair: The Life-Art of Translation by Jen Calleja
Review by Liz Dexter When we talk about women’s safety, it’s health and safety; when we talk about activist translation, we’re really talking about good translation. Jen Calleja is a…
Thirst: In search of freshwater – Wellcome Collection 2025, ed. Ellen Johl
Review by Peter Reason This slender collection of writing around the theme of freshwater is published by the Wellcome Collection to accompany its current exhibition of the same name, which…
The Penguin Maigret Capsule Collection – Maigret’s Holiday and Maigret’s Pickpocket – by Georges Simenon
Review by Annabel Starting back in 2013, Penguin began reissuing the novels of Georges Simenon in new or recent translations with distinctive photographic details on the covers. All 75 Maigrets…
Barbara isn’t Dying by Alina Bronsky
Translated by Tim Mohr Review by Annabel The main theme of this novel is not new, but Bronsky has such a refreshing take on it that I couldn’t help but…
Blue Ruin by Hari Kunzru
Reviewed by Harriet Even with the mask on, I recognized her at once. She was standing on the porch of the house at the end of the drive, her weight…
The Place of Tides by James Rebanks
Review by Liz Dexter The last humans will, like many of the first, hold to the coast, scratching a living from the sea and the shore. I imagine the last…
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
Reviewed by Rebecca Foster Kaliane Bradley has had a big year. The British-Cambodian author’s debut novel, The Ministry of Time, was longlisted for a British Book Award, the Jhalak Prize,…
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…
Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz
Reviewed by Harriet Back in 2016 I reviewed Anthony Horowitz’s hugely entertaining Magpie Murders [here], in which book-editor Susan Ryeland takes up detection when she discovers that Alan Conway, the…
Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane
Review by Peter Reason It is very unlikely that many readers of Shiny New Books have missed Robert Macfarlane’s new book. It has been reviewed in most of the major…
The Future of Gardens by Mark Lane
Review by Annabel Melville House’s ‘Futures’ series are short pocket-sized paperbacks that explore their subjects in essay format. I’ve previously reviewed two others for Shiny – The Future of Trust…
Love and Marriage in the Age of Jane Austen by Rory Muir
Reviewed by Harriet A few months after Pride and Prejudice was published, Jane Austen visited her brother Henry in London. The opening words of Rory Muir’s book might lead the…
Fair Play by Louise Hegarty
Review by Max Dunbar Mystery Night I never worked out the appeal of murder mystery nights. Sure, you get to raid the dressing-up box but the practicalities must be a…
Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gaugin by Sue Prideaux
Reviewed by Harriet Before I started this very interesting and comprehensive book, I probably knew as much about Gauguin as most people. I’d seen countless reproductions of his powerful, imaginative…
Becoming a Good Relative: Calling White Settlers Toward Truth, Healing, and Repair, by Hilary Giovale
Review by Liz Dexter I was immersed in a white settler myth that had always allowed me to perceive them [her ancestors] as innocent bystanders rather than oppressors. I’ve been…
Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito
Review by Annabel Virginia Feito’s debut novel, Mrs March, was an absolute blast. An exercise in paranoia on the part of an Upper East Side housewife, who thinks people are…
Emile Zola: Writing Modern Life by Rachel Bowlby
Reviewed by Karen Langley The My Reading series from Oxford University Press takes as its premise that the best book recommendations come from someone who cares for the work in…