Confessions by Catherine Airey
Review by Max Dunbar The Whole Wild World The problem with talking about books you enjoy is that you don’t want to go too far into a story for fear…
The Last of the Aldinis by George Sand
Translated by George Burnham Ives Review by Rob Spence Opposite the title page of this new edition of George Sand’s novel is a list of her works of fiction. It…
Shiny Prize Season 2025: Dylan Thomas Award longlist – Pity by Andrew McMillan & The Coin by Yasmin Zaher
The Swansea University Dylan Thomas Award has now been running since 2006. It honours young writers, so entering writers must be 39 or under (the age Dylan Thomas died). This…
Shiny Prize Season 2025: Nero debut fiction winner – Wild Houses by Colin Barrett
Review by Annabel When originally published early last year, this debut novel, from another up-and-coming Irish author, garnered rave reviews. It was longlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize, although I…
The Proof of My Innocence by Jonathan Coe
Review by David Harris, 29 January 2025 Reading a review this weekend of a new TV series set in the 80s, I found myself agreeing with the writer’s point that…
Abandonment by Erminia Dell’Oro
Translated by Oonagh Stransky Review by Annabel Such is my woeful lack of knowledge of African history, I had no idea that Eritrea had been colonized by Italy in the…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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….
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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. …
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,…
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…