The Black-Eyed Blonde by Benjamin Black
Reviewed by Harriet I thought there wasn’t much more damage that could be done to me that hadn’t already been done. You get hardened by life knocking away at you…
The Door That Led to Where by Sally Gardner
YA review by Annabel Once Sally Gardner gained enough confidence to start writing novels for older children and teens, already being a fabulous illustrator and author of some great stories…
The Lady from Zagreb by Philip Kerr
Reviewed by Linda Boa Well, after a short break, during which the ubiquitous Philip Kerr wrote Research and Prayer, Bernie Gunther has returned by popular demand for his tenth outing. To be honest, I think this…
Gretel and the Dark by Eliza Granville
Review by Hayley Anderton When I started reading this book I was a little ambivalent about it. I was attracted by the promise of a fairy tale but also wary…
Hotel Arcadia by Sunny Singh
Reviewed by Annabel Sam thought that the first shots were in her nightmares. … No, she never thought of bullets, except in her dreams. Perhaps that is why she felt…
Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper
Reviewed by Annabel To those of us living in the UK, it probably seems inconceivable that you can live a whole life without ever seeing the sea. It is this…
The Case of the Hail Mary Celeste by Malcolm Pryce
Reviewed by Victoria It is such a delightful surprise when a book you knew nothing about turns out to be a corker. I had never read any of Malcolm Pryce’s…
The Ghost Fields by Elly Griffiths
Reviewed by Harriet Ruth Galloway’s five-year-old daughter Kate is off to her first day at school. ‘Say goodbye to Daddy’, says Ruth.‘Bye, Daddy’.‘Bye, sweetheart’. Nelson takes a last picture of…
The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson
Reviewed by Harriet “Okay,” she said, and thought a moment. “Truthfully, I don’t think murder is necessarily as bad as people make it out to be. Everyone dies. What difference…
The Librarian by Mikhail Elizarov
Translated by Andrew Bromfield Reviewed by Karen Langley We all believe in the transformative power of literature; however, what would happen if books really did change us in dramatic ways, bringing strength…
Tregian’s Ground by Anne Cuneo
Translated from the French by Roland Glasser and Louise Rogers Lalaurie. Reviewed by Jean Morris The year is 1649 or thereabouts. In a verdant Swiss valley, a tall, bearded old…
Sophie and the Sibyl: A Victorian Romance by Patricia Duncker
Reviewed by Helen Parry It is 1872 and Max Duncker, handsome, young and irresponsible, is blessed with a not-too-onerous role in the publishing company he shares with his elder brother…
Sweetland by Michael Crummey
Reviewed by Victoria Moses Sweetland is an ornery, tough-skinned, self-sufficient, stubborn old man and he’s also a remarkably tenacious and vital force of life in Michael Crummey’s Robinson Crusoe-esque novel….
The Whirlpool by George Gissing
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton No matter how many classics I read it never fails to surprise me how little people, or even society, seem to change. The realism of The Whirlpool reminded…
Neverhome by Laird Hunt
Reviewed by Harriet I was strong and he was not so it was me went to war to defend the Republic. I stepped across the border out of Indiana into…
The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black (YA)
Reviewed by Bookgazing Holly Black is one of the reigning queens of modern gothic. Her novel The Coldest Girl in Coldtown presented an original, nightmarish vampire world that mixed garish tourist stops,…
Weathering by Lucy Wood
Reviewed by Judith Wilson I began reading Weathering whilst staying on a Cornish estuary within sight of the sea, on a cold, damp day. This was fortuitous as the book is set…
The River by Rumer Godden
Reviewed by Kate Gardner This novel (novella really – even bulked out with short stories, an introduction and a preface it’s still barely 200 pages) explores childhood, and specifically that…
Dry Bones in the Valley by Tom Bouman
Reviewed by Gill Davies This is a very enjoyable novel, in the American crime genre but with lots of other things going on too. It has a lively style, some…
White Hunger by Aki Ollikainen
Translated from Finnish by Emily Jeremiah and Fleur Jeremiah Reviewed by Kate Gardner I’ll warn you from the start: this is not the book to read if you’re feeling a…
Weightless by Sarah Bannan
Reviewed by Victoria Some of the most powerful stories about children and adolescents are the ones, like Lord of the Flies, that send chills down your spine. Make the children high…
The Anchoress by Robyn Cadwallader
Review by Eleanor Franzén Imagine: you’re a woman in England in 1255. With a little bit of flexibility, depending on your father’s annual income, you have two life choices. One is…
The Man in a Hurry by Paul Morand
Translated by Euan Cameron Reviewed by Karen Langley The modern world is very much based on speed, with gadgets and technology conspiring to deliver all kinds of information and media…
Three Strange Angels by Laura Kalpakian
Reviewed by Victoria. Quentin Castle, lanky, short-sighted and newly-married, has recently been promoted to junior partner at his father’s literary agency. Everyone knows this is nepotism, especially his father’s other…