Once a Monster by Robert Dinsdale
Review by David Harris Once a Monster is firmly historical fiction – it takes us back to 1861, where the narrative is very much set in the realities of the…
Introduction to Sally by Elizabeth von Arnim
Reviewed by Harriet ‘You’re really imprisoned, then’, said Carruthers, staring at her. ‘Imprisoned in your beauty’. Salvatia Pinner, always known as Sally despite her parents’ objections, is sixteen years old….
The Ghost Theatre by Mat Osman
Review by Annabel Mat Osman is best known as the bass guitarist of Suede, but he has also become a fine novelist. His first novel, The Ruins, which I reviewed…
The Circumference of the World by Lavie Tidhar
Review by David Harris Lavie Tidhar seems to be amazingly productive just now, publishing The Circumfernce of the World, an SF novel that really gets to grips with the fact that…
The Winding Stair by Jesse Norman
Review by Terence Jagger Jesse Norman has, for his first novel, cleverly selected two hugely important and influential characters to write about, whose importance is immediately obvious, but about whom many…
Binocular Vision by Edith Pearlman
Review by Gill Davies Pushkin Press first published this selection of stories in 2013, after its 2011 publication in the US. Since then, every critic and reviewer I’ve read comments…
Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead
Reviewed by Harriet A man has a hierarchy of crime, what is morally acceptable and what is not, a crook manifesto, and those who subscribe to lesser codes are cockroaches….
The Skeleton Key by Erin Kelly
Review by Hayley Anderton For those of us who can dimly remember the late 1970s there’s a good chance that Kit Williams’ Masquerade is a foundational memory. The riddles and…
Suddenly at His Residence: A Mystery in Kent by Christianna Brand
Reviewed by Harriet First published in 1946, Suddenly at his Residence is a wartime novel. You wouldn’t necessarily think so at first – the novel is very much a country…
My Men by Victoria Kielland
Translated by Damion Searls Reviewed by Harriet This extraordinary, powerful novel begins in Norway, in 1876, and it begins as it means to go on: Brynhild’s head was wrapped in…
Pipers and a Dancer, by Stella Benson
Review by Helen Parry Mrs Hinds beamed at Ipsie through pince-nez and bubbled her joy through thin lips, but Ipsie made no reply. Americans see English people always reduced to…
Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes
Review by Hayley Anderton It seems as if there’s an almost bottomless appetite for retellings of Greek myths for every age group and across ever more genres; how far are…
Prom Mom by Laura Lippman
Reviewed by Harriet Amber typed her next query into Google: Amber Glass, Joe Simpson, Prom Mom, Cad Dad. Ah, here they were, the headlines and images she had fought so…
Henry VIII – The Heart & The Crown by Alison Weir
Review by Julie Barham Many people have asked Alison Weir about writing the story of Henry to go alongside her excellent Six Tudor Queens series (Anna of Kleve – Queen…
The Beasts of Paris by Stef Penney
Reviewed by Harriet Stef Penney is not a prolific author – there were five years between each of her first three novels, and it’s been seven years since the publication…
The Last Whale by Chris Vick
Review by Peter Reason The Last Whale is a fiction book for teens and young adults that covers serious themes in an engaging story. The narrative threads together tragedy and…
Morgan is My Name by Sophie Keetch
Review by Annabel In a publishing world that has been fairly swamped by feminist retellings of the heroines and heroes of the Ancient Greek myths, much as I enjoy reading…
The Mill House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji
Translated by Ho-Ling Wong Review by Terence Jagger This is another of Yukito Ayatsuji’s homages to the British Golden Age of mystery writing, like The Decagon House Murders I reviewed…
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Review by Max Dunbar Welcome, Stranger I was born in the early eighties. My childhood was coloured by reflective screens of jumping pixels. I became fascinated by video games. There…
The Voluble Topsy by A.P. Herbert
Reviewed by Harriet First published in 1927, nearly a hundred years ago, in the satirical British magazine Punch, the letters of fictional girl-about-town Topsy to her best friend Trix actually…
Tokyo Express by Seicho Matsumoto
Translated by Jesse Kirkwood Review by Karen Langley Summer reading tastes vary, but for me there’s nothing better than settling down with a satisfying mystery novel, particularly of the Golden…
The Queen of Dirt Island by Donal Ryan
Review by Susan Osborne Opening with a beginning and an end, The Queen of Dirt Island follows four generations of women in one unconventional household, all devoted to each other…
The House on the Via Gemito by Domenico Starnone
Translated by Oonagh Stransky Review by Rob Spence The British are not receptive to literature in translation. Sure, any decent bookshop will have a smattering of foreign classics – Proust,…
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Reviewed by Harriet There’s probably a name for a sub-genre of books that echo or allude to earlier works of literature, something that has to be well done to make…