The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again by M. John Harrison
Review by Karen Langley M. John Harrison has been described as one of the UK’s best-kept secrets, a hidden jewel in the literary crown of this country. Considered by many…
Grave’s End by William Shaw
Review by Annabel William Shaw, former award-winning music journalist has, in recent years, become one of the UK’s must-read crime authors. Although he’d already written a well-received detective series set…
My Summer Reading: Swamplandia by Karen Russell
Members of the Shiny reviewing team share previously published books from their shelves that they’re reading this summer… Review by Laura Tisdall Thirteen-year-old Ava Bigtree’s world is falling apart. After…
Rolling Fields by David Trueba
Translated from Spanish by Rahul Bery Reviewed by Michael Eaude Too often, reviews are distorted because they are written by someone who knows and likes the author’s work. One of…
All Adults Here by Emma Straub
Reviewed by Ann For the second time in a matter of weeks I’ve read a book that I wouldn’t normally have picked up simply because it was well recommended by…
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
Reviewed by Harriet Grief fills the room up of my absent child,Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me, Puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words,Remembers me of…
The King of Elfland’s Daughter by Lord Dunsany
Review by Helen Parry I first read The King of Elfland’s Daughter five years ago, but this ‘fine, strange, almost forgotten novel’, as Neil Gaiman puts it in his introduction,…
The Coral Merchant: Essential Stories by Joseph Roth
Review by Eleanor Updegraff Translated by Ruth Martin Austrian author Joseph Roth is best known – if indeed he is known at all – for his sometimes relatively lengthy novels…
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
Paperback Review by Liz Dexter This Sunday Times bestseller, which was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and Longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, has been touted as…
Chitambo by Hagar Olsson
Translated by Sarah Death Reviewed by Karen Langley When we think of Nordic fiction nowadays, we’re probably inevitably aware of the preponderance of Scandi-crime; it not only seems to have…
Crisis by Karin Boye
Translated by Amanda Doxtater Reviewed by Karen Langley When we think of Nordic fiction nowadays, we’re probably inevitably aware of the preponderance of Scandi-crime; it not only seems to have…
This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Reviewed by Harriet It’s been many years since I read anything by Scott Fitzgerald, but he used to be a favourite of mine. So when I saw that OUP was…
Westwind by Ian Rankin
Paperback review by Rob Spence It comes as a bit of a shock to realise that Ian Rankin has now published well over thirty novels since his début in 1986,…
The End of Me by Alfred Hayes
Reviewed by Annabel Hayes, who was born in London but emigrated to the US as a child, first came to attention as a poet before WWII. He then served in…
The Inugami Curse by Seishi Yokomizo
Translated by Yumiko Yamazaki Review by Terence Jagger This Japanese detective thriller is set in the 1940s and so is relatively ‘modern’, but only in that calendar sense: in style…
Pomeranski by Gerald Jacobs
Review by Annabel Gerald Jacobs is literary editor of the Jewish Chronicle. He grew up in and around Brixton in the 1950s and 1960s, and Pomeranski, his second novel, is…
The Great Homecoming by Anna Kim
Translated by Jamie Lee Searle Review by Eleanor Updegraff Ever since Han Kang and translator Deborah Smith won the 2016 Man Booker International Prize for The Vegetarian, there has been…
The Mystery of Henri Pick by David Foenkinos
Translated by Sam Taylor Reviewed by Harriet Back in 1977, Marilyn French’s The Women’s Room was published. On the cover was the bold (and possibly correct) statement that ‘This novel…
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
Review by Annabel If you enjoy a contemporary horror novel laced with style and humour, you need look no further than the work of Grady Hendrix. I discovered him with…
Chatterton Square by E H Young
Reviewed by Harriet When the British Library announced the first three titles in their new Women Writers series, I was delighted see that one of them was Chatterton Square. I…
The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld
Reviewed by Rebecca Foster Evie Wyld’s third novel has the most stunning opening I’ve encountered in a long time. In under a page and a half, it describes a six-year-old…
How It Was by Janet Ellis
Paperback review by Annabel I had been reading and loving the late Clive James’ last book, an anthology of his writing on Philip Larkin (reviewed here by Karen), when up…
The Bell in the Lake by Lars Mytting
Translated by Deborah Dawkin Review by Harriet Lars Mytting, a Norwegian author, has had great acclaim for his two previous books – the non-fiction Norwegian Wood, a surprise bestseller about…
The Lost Future of Pepperharrow by Natasha Pulley
Review by Annabel Natasha Pulley’s 2015 debut novel, The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, which I reviewed for Shiny here, is still one of the best first novels I’ve read. Set…