Thirteen Guests by J Jefferson Farjeon
Reviewed by Harriet Every station has its special voice. Some are of grit. Some are of sand. Some are of milk cans. Some are of rock muffled by tunnel smoke….
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Shiny New Books
Renishaw Hall: The Story of the Sitwells by Desmond Seward
Reviewed by Ali Hope I read very few non-fiction books these days, but this was a book that ticked a number of boxes for me. I do like books about…
The Serial Garden: The Complete Armitage Stories, by Joan Aiken
Reviewed by Lory Widmer Hess For over sixty years – starting about age sixteen and continuing right up until her death in 2004 – storyteller extraordinaire Joan Aiken wrote tales…
Worktown by David Hall
Reviewed by Harriet The Astonishing Story of the Project that Launched Mass-Observation So screams the cover of this book. I’m always a bit wary of cover blurbs, and I must…
Moving by Jenny Eclair
Reviewed by Laura Marriott Moving is the latest literary offering from Jenny Eclair. It is the fourth novel from the comedian, who has published three other successful novels; Camberwell Beauty, Having a Lovely…
The 101 Greatest Plays from Antiquity to the Present, by Michael Billington
Reviewed by Harriet As the longest-serving British theatre critic, a biographer, and a teacher and lecturer at several world-class universities, Michael Billington has some claim to being able to select…
Spotlight on Young Adult Fiction – Autumn 2015
By Memory Scarlett and Jenny Young adult fiction seems unstoppable these days, with its ever-increasing bookshop floor space and arbitrary, balkanized genre divisions. It’s clear that good YA fiction is…
Let Me Tell You by Shirley Jackson
Reviewed by Simon This is the third Shiny New Books issue in which I’ve had the privilege of writing about Shirley Jackson’s works – and, indeed, I’ve bolstered out those…
Interview with Sam Mills, Editorial Director of Dodo Ink
Interview by Victoria The founders of Dodo Ink are a blogger/reviewer, a novelist and a digital publishing specialist – such an intriguing combination. How did you all come together and decide…
Not on Fire, But Burning by Greg Hrbek
Reviewed by Annabel The prologue of this novel set in the near future begins in some style. College student Skyler Wakefield opted to stay and work as a babysitter for…
Murder on Sea by Julie Wassmer
Reviewed by Victoria Earlier this year I read the first in the Whitstable Pearl series by Julie Wassmer and enjoyed it. It featured an intriguing new sleuth, Pearl Nolan. A…
The Shiny Poetry Competition
It’s not just Man Booker prize season, the publication date of Issue 7 of Shiny New Books coincides (deliberately) with National Poetry Day 2015, on and it’s the 21st Birthday of…
The Miner by Natsume Soseki
In a new translation by Jay Rubin Reviewed by David Hebblethwaite Shiny new publisher: Aardvark Bureau, the new Gallic Books imprint headed up by Scott Pack, formerly publisher at The…
Belonging by Umi Sinha
Reviewed by Victoria Not only was this novel one of the most gripping, engrossing, heart-in-mouth novels I’ve read in 2015, it wins hands-down the most beautiful cover of the year,…
The Living and the Dead in Winsford by Håkan Nesser
Translated by Laurie Thompson Reviewed by Gill Davies Håkan Nesser is a successful, award-winning Swedish crime writer best known for the Van Veeteren series of police novels, a few of which…
Keel Songs – A short story by Angela Young
Natalie’s Diary: Fife, Scotland: February 8th Duncan asked me to sing to him this afternoon. I was struggling to keep our little dinghy on course. I had to shout for…
The End of Vandalism by Tom Drury
Reviewed by Annabel Tom Drury is the author of a trio of exquisite observational dramas following the everyday life of the inhabitants of Grouse County, Iowa, a location which epitomises…
A Game for all the Family by Sophie Hannah
Reviewed by Harriet My name is Justine Merrison and I do Nothing. With a capital N. Not a single thing. When I tell people I enjoy crime novels, they often…
Kauthar by Meike Ziervogel
Reviewed by Annabel Many of you will recognise Meike Ziervogel as the founder of Peirene Press; we’ve reviewed several of their novella length books in Shiny New Books (here and here for example)….
Q&A with Kathleen Benner Duble about Madame Tussaud’s Apprentice
Questions by Jenny Your fascination with Madame Tussaud is obvious. What led to your decision not to set the book from her perspective, but rather from the perspective of an invented street…
Suspense with Style: The Novels of Mary Stewart
Written by Lory Widmer Hess “The whole affair began so very quietly.” With the first line of her first novel, Mary Stewart already proclaimed herself a sublimely intelligent storyteller, saying…
Interview with David Bradley, winner of the NHE Essay Prize 2015
Ingrid Wassenaar met up with David Bradley, winner of the second Notting Hill Editions Essay Prize for his essay ‘A Eulogy for Nigger’ for a conversation. Tell me your story! Well, what…
An extract from the NHE Essay Prize winner
From ‘A Eulogy for Nigger’ by David Bradley DETROIT. Hundreds of onlookers cheered . . . as the National Association for the Advancement of … People put to rest a…
The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud
Translated by John Cullen Reviewed by Victoria In a bar in Oran, Algeria, a lone man sits drinking. He draws his companion – the reader – into his strange and…