January 18, 2022 A Will to Kill by R.V. Raman Review by Max Dunbar Slayer Rules: R V Raman’s A Will to Kill Mysteries are hard to write, and hard to review. Because of…
January 18, 2022 The Invisible Host by Gwen Bristow & Bruce Manning Review by Elaine Simpson-Long When this book arrived and I saw the names of the two authors, Gwen Bristow and Bruce Manning, my first…
December 14, 2021 Skylark by Alice O’Keefe Review by Max Dunbar The Arrow of Hope Dorothy Parker’s ‘Unfortunate Coincidence’ goes like this: By the time you swear you’re his,Shivering and sighing,And…
December 14, 2021 Sally on the Rocks by Winifred Boggs Reviewed by Harriet This delightful novel is part of the latest batch of the British Library Women Writers series. I’ve reviewed a few of…
December 2, 2021 Lily: A Tale of Revenge by Rose Tremain Reviewed by Harriet From the first moment that we meet Lily Mortimer, we know her secret. We know it because she dreams of her…
November 30, 2021 The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki Review by Anna Hollingsworth Imagine if a book began to narrate your story to you. What kind of voice would that be? Would it…
November 30, 2021 Are We Having Fun Yet? By Lucy Mangan Review by Annabel Those of you who’ve read journalist and author Lucy Mangan’s ‘memoir of childhood reading’, Bookworm, (which Liz reviewed here) will rejoice…
November 23, 2021 The Swift and the Harrier by Minette Walters Reviewed by Julie Barham This is an historical novel with much to recommend it, and as it is created by a world famous crime…
November 18, 2021 Peaces by Helen Oyeyemi Review by Simon Thomas As a place to be trapped, a train has a good precedent. Whether Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express,…
November 18, 2021 Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro Translated by Frances Riddle Reviewed by David Hebblethwaite Claudia Piñeiro is an author from Argentina who, so far, has mostly been published in English…
November 16, 2021 The Falling Thread by Adam O’Riordan Reviewed by Harriet Unlike some of my fellow reviewers, I tend not to seize upon debut novels. Call me a fuddy-duddy, but I usually…
November 11, 2021 Which Way by Theodora Benson (Blog Tour) Reviewed by Harriet Published in 1931 and newly reissued in the British Library Women Writers Series, this is a fascinating book in a number…
November 9, 2021 Silverview by John le Carré Reviewed by Basil Ransome-Davies John le Carré, eh? Can’t do credible working-class dialogue, draws sympathetic female characters but rather abstractly, plots convoluted and full…
November 4, 2021 Oldladyvoice by Elisa Victoria Translated by Charlotte Whittle Review by Anna Hollingsworth When I pick up a book with a child narrator, it’s always with trepidation. I won’t…
November 2, 2021 Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout Reviewed by Harriet I first encountered Elizabeth Strout back in February 2017 – according to my review at the time [here] I’d spotted My…
October 28, 2021 The Drowned City by K.J. Maitland Review by Julie Barham A world turned upside down is the subject of this vivid historical novel set in an English city: politically a…
October 21, 2021 The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles Review by Annabel Amor Towles’s first novel, Rules of Civility, was published in 2011 when he was in his mid-forties. It was such a…
October 21, 2021 Trust, by Domenico Starnone Translated by Jhumpa Lahiri Reviewed by Basil Ransome-Davis My initial recommendation for any readers of this novel would be to turn to Jhumpa Lahiri’s…
October 19, 2021 April in Spain by John Banville Reviewed by Harriet Almost exactly a year ago, I reviewed John Banville’s Snow [here], an immensely enjoyable country house murder mystery. I particularly liked…
October 14, 2021 Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead Reviewed by Harriet ‘Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked’. So we are introduced to the leading character in Colson…
October 14, 2021 Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth by Wole Soyinka Review by Anna Hollingworth “Literary lion” is one descriptor attached to Wole Soyinka. For one, there’s a mane-like quality to his hair, a kind…
October 7, 2021 The Inseparables by Simone de Beauvoir Translated by Lauren Elkin Review by Karen Langley Simone de Beauvoir is probably best recognised nowadays for her ground-breaking feminist work The Second Sex,…
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 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 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…
