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Fiction

The Drowned by John Banville

Reviewed by Harriet, 14 Jan 2025 When John Banville announced that he was going to give up writing the multi-award-winning literary fiction for which he had been celebrated for decades,…

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Shiny New Books January 14, 2025
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Fiction Reprint

Pictures on the Wall by Hugo Charteris

Review by Rob Spence, 9 Jan 2025 This book, by the strangely neglected author of a number of novels in the fifties and sixties, is another welcome publication from the…

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Shiny New Books January 9, 2025
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Fiction

The Sequel by Jean Hanff Korelitz

Reviewed by Harriet Sequels can be very enticing when the initial book has done well. Readers want to know what happens to a character they’ve connected with. So says a…

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Shiny New Books November 28, 2024
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Fiction Reprint

Lady Living Alone by Norah Lofts

Reviewed by Harriet In the year 1932, Miss Penelope Shadow published a book which instantly became a best seller. It was her fourth book and not, in her opinion, markedly…

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Shiny New Books November 26, 2024
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Fiction

Karla’s Choice by Nick Harkaway

Review by Annabel When it was announced that Nick Harkaway, one of the lateJohn Le Carré’s sons, was going to write another Smiley novel, I rubbed my hands with glee….

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Shiny New Books November 19, 2024
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Fiction Translated

Mammoth by Eva Baltasar

Translated by Julia Sanches Review by Michael Eaude Ice and Fire Mammoth is the third novel in Eva Baltasar’s big-selling trilogy, each featuring young women in search of love with…

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Shiny New Books November 14, 2024
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Fiction

Midnight in Vienna – Jane Thynne

Reviewed by Elaine Simpson-Long Several years ago I was sent a copy of Black Roses by this author, the first in her Clara Vine series. Clara is an Anglo-German actress…

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Shiny New Books November 12, 2024
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Fiction Uncategorized

The Unfinished Harauld Hughes by Richard Ayoade

Review by Annabel Underneath the comic, often socially awkward, character exterior of Richard Ayoade lives a real intellectual and talented writer, who puts on a clever act to fool us…

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Shiny New Books November 7, 2024
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Anthology Fiction Humour

Dickens: The Funny Bits, compiled by R.J. Cruikshank

Review by Karen Langley Victorian novelist Charles Dickens is an iconic figure; known for his chunky novels, filled with vivid characters, social commentary and campaigning, he’s also occasionally dismissed because…

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Shiny New Books November 5, 2024
2 1621 4
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Fiction

Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson

Reviewed by Harriet He had spent a good two weeks being sensible and mature, and then he bought a Land Rover Defender instead. It was a rugged, blokey kind of…

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Shiny New Books October 31, 2024
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Fiction Translated

Dear Dickhead by Virginie Despentes

Translated by Frank Wynne Review by Annabel I would never have predicted that Virginie Despentes, creator/director of the 2000 rape-revenge novel and film Baise-moi, author of the superb ‘State of…

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Shiny New Books October 24, 2024
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Fiction

Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout

Reviewed by Harriet I discovered the wonderful Elizabeth Strout back in 2017, when I reviewed My Name is Lucy Barton for Shiny. Since then I’ve reviewed another four of her…

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Shiny New Books October 23, 2024
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Fiction

Gabriel’s Moon by William Boyd

Reviewed by Harriet  William Boyd’s latest novel has been almost overwhelmingly greeted with admiration and praise. ‘A Spy Story to rival Restless’ is the Guardian’s headline, harking back to Boyd’s…

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Shiny New Books October 10, 2024
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Fiction

Rare Singles by Benjamin Myers

Review by Annabel Myers is one of those British authors who writes something totally different every time he puts pen to paper, with the exception that almost all of his…

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Shiny New Books September 26, 2024
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Fiction

The Watermark by Sam Mills

Reviewed by Harriet Sam Mills is not a prolific writer, but her books are well worth waiting for.  In 2012 she published The Quiddity of Will Self, which she described…

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Shiny New Books September 25, 2024
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Anthology Fiction

Warsaw Tales, selected and translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones

Review by Rob Spence The only time I have been in Warsaw was in 1988, before the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union. …

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Shiny New Books September 18, 2024
2 1540 1
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Fiction

Table for Two by Amor Towles

Review by Annabel Until this year Towles has delighted his readers with novels of increasing thickness including A Gentleman in Moscow and The Lincoln Highway, both of which I adored,…

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Shiny New Books August 29, 2024
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Fiction Reprint

Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton

Reviewed by Harriet The spring night drew them into its deepening embrace. The ripples of the lake had gradually widened and faded into a silken smoothness, and high above the mountains the…

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Shiny New Books August 27, 2024
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Fiction

Kala by Colin Walsh

Review by Annabel Kala was the literary thriller to be seen reading last summer when first published. A high-profile debut from a young Irish author, I saw many favourable reviews…

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Shiny New Books August 21, 2024
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Fiction

The Trap by Ava Glass

Reviewed by Harriet Ava Glass has been proclaimed as the new queen of spy fiction.  I’m not in a position to judge this, as The Trap is the first of…

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Shiny New Books August 2, 2024
3 1092 1
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Fiction

The Dark Side of the Sky by Francesco Dimitri

Review by Max Dunbar The question The Dark Side of the Sky asks is simple and fascinating. Can an apocalyptic cult ever be right? The Bastion of Southern Italy is not, on…

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Shiny New Books August 1, 2024
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Fiction Reprint

The Gulls Fly Inland by Sylvia Thompson

Reviewed by Harriet October 3rd 1939 Inaction is difficult to bear. Since I am forced into inaction, here, I shall write. Not, as I have written in peace-time, brief things…

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Shiny New Books July 30, 2024
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Fiction Reprint

Tatting and Mandolinata by Faith Compton Mackenzie

Reviewed by Harriet This intriguing title indicates the presence of two separate works by Faith Compton Mackenzie, of whom you’ve probably never heard. The name will ring a bell though,…

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Shiny New Books July 11, 2024
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Fiction

The House of Silence by Edith Nesbit

Reviewed by Harriet Here at Shiny, I’m proud to say, we have now covered every aspect of Edith Nesbit’s wonderful fiction writing. Best known to most people as a writer…

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Shiny New Books June 18, 2024
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