June 23, 2022 One Day I Shall Astonish the World by Nina Stibbe Review by Annabel I’ve been a fan of Nina Stibbe since she first hit the literary scene in 2013 with Love, Nina, an hilarious memoir…
June 21, 2022 Cold Heaven by Brian Moore Reviewed by Harriet This is the first book I’ve read by the multi-award-winning Irish Canadian author, but on the strength of this remarkable novel…
June 9, 2022 Three by Valérie Perrin Translated by Hildegarde Serle Reviewed by Harriet My name is Virginie. I’m the same age as them. Today, out of the three, only Adrian still…
June 1, 2022 Guest Post: Sally Emerson on the themes and inspiration for her new book, ‘Perfect, Stories of the Impossible’. Back in 2017, Shiny editor Harriet reviewed a reprint of one of Sally Emerson’s novels, Separation, first published in 1992 – describing it as…
May 26, 2022 Elektra by Jennifer Saint Review by Annabel The current vogue for feminist retellings of stories from Greek and Roman myths and legends is showing no signs of slowing…
May 24, 2022 Tell Me an Ending by Jo Harkin Reviewed by Harriet ‘What if you didn’t have to live with your worst memories?’, asks the cover of this debut novel. Anyone who’s seen…
May 19, 2022 Dear Little Corpses by Nicola Upson Reviewed by Harriet It’s the first of September 1939. Hitler has invaded Poland, and though Britain is not yet at war with Germany, there…
May 17, 2022 Traitor in the Ice by K.J. Maitland Review by Julie Barham This book is a powerful, sometimes brutal historical novel set in the winter of 1607, when life seemed frozen by…
May 17, 2022 Lean Fall Stand by Jon McGregor Review by David Hebblethwaite If Jon McGregor’s name is on the front of a book, I want to read it – it’s as simple…
May 5, 2022 Even the Darkest Night, by Javier Cercas Translated by Anne Mclean Review by Michael Eaude Javier Cercas rose to literary fame two decades ago with Soldiers of Salamis (2001), a novel…
May 3, 2022 These Days by Lucy Caldwell Reviewed by Harriet ‘two sisters, four nights, one city’ is the subtitle of this riveting new novel by Lucy Caldwell. I don’t think I’ve…
April 28, 2022 Mischief Acts by Zoe Gilbert Review by Annabel At this early stage of the year, it may be a bit forward of me to suggest that I may have…
April 26, 2022 Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus Review by Annabel Sometimes the hype is true, and a publisher’s lead-title for the season really is worth the advance praise heaped on it….
April 26, 2022 Strange Journey by Maud Cairnes Reviewed by Harriet This is a body-swap novel – one of the first ever to be published. It’s very entertaining but also quite thought…
April 19, 2022 The Rabbit Factor by Antti Tuomainen Translated from the Finnish by David Hackston Review by Annabel I’m always interested in adding new Nordic authors to my reading list, which is…
April 7, 2022 The Trouble with Happiness and Other Stories by Tove Ditlevsen Translated by Michael Favala Goldman Review by Karen Langley The last few years have seen Danish author Tove Ditlevsen’s star in the ascendant following…
March 31, 2022 French Braid by Anne Tyler Reviewed by Harriet ‘That’s how families work. You think you’re free of them, but you’re never really free; the ripples are crimped in forever’….
March 29, 2022 Whatever Gets You Through the Night by Charlie Higson Review by Annabel Back in the 1990s, Higson wrote four thrillers for adults, they were dark, nasty and funny. But after them he got…
March 24, 2022 Latchkey Ladies by Marjorie Grant Reviewed by Harriet These girls, buffeting with the world as they did war-work, or any work that would support them, were apt to have…
March 22, 2022 Mother Mother by Annie Macmanus Review by Annabel You may know Annie Macmanus as ‘Annie Mac’, the fomer Radio 1 DJ. She left the station last year to pursue…
March 17, 2022 Nine Lives by Peter Swanson Reviewed by Harriet Peter Swanson is a prolific author, averaging one book a year since his debut, The Girl with a Clock for a…
March 15, 2022 The Former Boy Wonder by Robert Graham Review by Rob Spence Pete Duffy is having a mid-life crisis. His fiftieth birthday is on the horizon, and his career as a freelance…
March 10, 2022 The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett Review by Terence Hallett This is an intriguing but also frustrating book. I did wonder if the Shiny editors would allow me to write…
March 3, 2022 Two short, watery novels: Tides by Sara Freeman & The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka By Rebecca Foster Short novels can convey much truth in a low page count, ramping up the psychological intensity through pared-back scenes and a…
March 1, 2022 Into Egypt by Rosalind Brackenbury Review by Rob Spence This novel, first published nearly half a century ago, deals with matters which still, sadly, resonate today. Our protagonist is…
