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…
February 24, 2022 Two debut novels: Brown Girls, & Black Cake Review by Liz Dexter I’d like to introduce you to two astoundingly accomplished debut novels, so well done that you would not think they…
February 22, 2022 little scratch by Rebecca Watson Review by Anna Hollingsworth When a novel comes with praise like ”daringly experimental” and “dazzlingly original”, my eyebrow tends to go up. Really? “Original”…
February 17, 2022 Out of the Dark by David Gaffney Review by Basil Ransome-Davies The title echoes that of Out of the Past, a canonical film noir that ends uncompromisingly in a double catastrophe…
February 10, 2022 Jane’s Country Year by Malcolm Saville Reviewed by Harriet Jane woke slowly. For a long minute she lay drowsing with her eyes shut, wondering why the bed felt so different….
February 3, 2022 Longing and Other Stories by Jun’ichiro Tanizaki Translated by Anthony H Chambers and Paul McCarthy Review by Anna Hollingsworth In the UK, readers know their Murakamis and convenience store women. Jun’ichiro…
February 1, 2022 My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson Review by Max Dunbar The House of Tradition The grand houses of American history attract plenty of visitors wanting to learn about the Civil…
January 27, 2022 The Second Cut by Louise Welsh Review by Gill Davies Louise Welsh has published eight novels. The only one I had read prior to this was The Cutting Room (2002),…
January 27, 2022 The Village of Eight Graves by Seishi Yokomizo Translated by Bryan Karetnyk Reviewed by Harriet Seishi Yozomizo (1902-1991), whose works are hugely celebrated in Japan, has been described as ‘the Japanese Agatha…
January 25, 2022 A Fatal Crossing by Tom Hindle Review by Terence Jagger This is a modern murder mystery, but is set in 1924 and is explicitly in the grand manner of the…
January 25, 2022 Ariadne by Jennifer Saint Review by Annabel Over recent years, I have been much enjoying the current vogue for the retelling of ancient myths and ancient history, especially…
January 20, 2022 To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara Reviewed by Anna Hollingsworth We like to see history as going forward, progressing towards something better; it’s comforting to think that humankind is improving…
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…
