The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald
Translated by Alice Menzies Reviewed by Danielle Katarina Bivald’s The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend is a ‘long cool sip of lemonade while lying in a hammock on a sunny day’ sort…
The Honours by Tim Clare
Reviewed by Eleanor Franzén It’s rare for any book, let alone a book marketed as literary fiction for adults, to open with a thirteen-year-old girl lying flat on her stomach…
10:04 by Ben Lerner
Paperback review by Susan Osborne Ben Lerner’s first novel, Leaving the Atocha Station, was much talked about on publication – 10:04 is his second and it’s narrated by a writer whose first novel was…
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami
Translated by Philip Gabriel Reviewed by Tony Malone Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage is the story of thirty-six-year-old train station designer Tsukuru Tazaki, a native of Nagoya…
The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle (YA)
Reviewed by Bookgazing Every October, Cara’s family is beset by accidents big and small. The family all refer to this month as ‘the accident season’ and try to take extra…
The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge (YA)
Reviewed by Ana Grilo “Have you read Frances Hardinge?” I’ve made several false starts with this review because I don’t know what to write. How do I describe The Lie Tree?…
The Infidel Stain by M J Carter
Reviewed by Gill Davies The Infidel Stain is the second novel by M J Carter featuring the unusual detective duo of Jeremiah Blake and Captain William Avery. In the first novel, The…
The Festival of Insignificance by Milan Kundera
Reviewed by Simon Kundera’s latest – and, so it seems in discussion of the novel, potentially last – novel was published last year in French, and has now been translated…
The Evening Chorus by Helen Humphreys
Reviewed by Danielle Helen Humphreys writes some of the most lyrical prose I have come across. I’m slowly reading my way through her work, some of it read in pre-blogging…
Seacrow Island, and Mio, My Son by Astrid Lindgren
Reviewed by Lory Widmer Hess If you’ve been lucky enough to spend summers as a child in a special place, you know that they carry a most particular magic. The…
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Reviewed by Rebecca Foster Believe the hype from America, where Hanya Yanagihara’s second novel was released in March: this is sure to be one of the books of the year,…
The Dying Season by Martin Walker
Reviewed by Linda Boa Ahh! Just look at that cover of a beautiful French country town in the sunset; small enough so everyone knows everyone else who matters. That’s where…
Jellyfish by Janice Galloway
Reviewed by David Hebblethwaite Janice Galloway’s new short story collection takes as its starting point an observation by David Lodge: “Literature is mostly about having sex and not much about…
The Crooked House by Christobel Kent
Reviewed by Victoria Hands up who remembers Jeremy Bamber, the White House Farm murderer? This was back in 1985, when I was 16 and the case made a notable impact…
Inside the Head of Bruno Schulz by Maxim Biller
Translated by Anthea Bell Reviewed by Karen Langley Polish-Jewish author and artist Bruno Schulz lived a short and strange life, culminating in a tragic and pointless death at the hands…
Peking Picnic by Ann Bridge
Reviewed by Claire Hayes From its opening sentence, Peking Picnic evokes an exquisite sense of time and place – or rather of two places. For Laura Leroy, wife of a British attaché…
The Artificial Anatomy of Parks by Kat Gordon
Reviewed by Victoria It’s been ages since I read a good, old-fashioned family story, and although Kat Gordon’s debut novel wears the veneer of contemporary culture, set partly in a…
Death of Anton by Alan Melville
Having really loved Alan Melville’s Quick Curtain, it didn’t take much to convince me that I wanted to try another of his detective novels, also published in the British Library Crime…
Sidney Chambers and the Forgiveness of Sins by James Runcie
Reviewed by Victoria Since I last reviewed a volume of Sidney Chambers stories, the first television series of the clerical detective’s cases has aired. This has undoubtedly brought Grantchester and its inmates…
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
Reviewed by David Harris The first thing to say about this book – and it’s the first thing you will notice – is that it’s long. Massive. An 861 page…
Orient by Christopher Bollen
Reviewed by Alice Farrant Orient, murder mystery come introspective character novel, is Christopher Bollen’s second literary offering. Set on the North Fork of Long Island in the town of Orient,…
Vain Shadow by Jane Hervey
Reviewed by Anna Barber Now they would be able to afford a big house, a swimming pool, maids, a car….“I hope he didn’t have any pain,” she said. In Vain Shadow,…
The Studio Crime by Ianthe Jerrold
Reviewed by Harriet Published in 1929, this is the first of only two crime novels written by Ianthe Jerrold. The descendent of a celebrated literary family, she became a member…
Riders by Jilly Cooper
Reviewed by Annabel Can you believe that it is thirty years since Jilly Cooper introduced us to Rutshire and her best-selling doorstop of sex and showjumping? Her publishers, Corgi, have…