The Vagrant by Peter Newman
Reviewed by David Harris ‘The Vagrant is his name’ runs the strapline for this book. ‘He has no other.’ In fact, the titular character is never called ‘The Vagrant’ by…
Alice and the Fly by James Rice
Reviewed by Meghan Alice and the Fly opens with Greg, a very shy, awkward teen boy who is deathly afraid of Them – spiders. This fear permeates many of his thoughts, and amongst…
Glass by Alex Christofi
Reviewed by Paul Fishman Why Glass? And, for that matter, why glass? Well, first there’s the protagonist, or hero of sorts, Günther Glass. (Yes, it’s a play on words and a…
Onward Toward What We’re Going Toward by Ryan Bartelmay
Reviewed by Victoria This is a debut novel from a short story writer, and there’s a way in which you can sense the palimpsest of shorter fiction underneath the sweep…
Five Children on the Western Front by Kate Saunders
Reviewed by Harriet I hope some children today still read E. Nesbit as avidly as I did, and my own children did. I loved everything of hers, but a particular…
The Bees by Laline Paull
Reviewed by Bookgazing Click HERE for more shininess about The Bees… Flora 717 begins life as a voiceless sanitation worker, set to clean bodies and waste from her hive. She occupies the…
The Exit by Helen Fitzgerald
Reviewed by Harriet He offered to show me around, but I said I was in a hurry. I didn’t want to see old people unless somebody was paying me for…
The Shore by Sara Taylor
Reviewed by David Hebblethwaite In Sara Taylor’s debut novel, ‘the Shore’ is the name given to a group of three islands off the coast of Virginia. It’s a flat, largely…
The Happy Tree by Rosalind Murray
Reviewed by Simon Thomas Devotees of Persephone Books will know that the best thing about this reprint house is bringing to light authors whose work has long lain unjustly neglected….
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
Reviewed by Susan Osborne Set in 1977, Everything I Never Told You is the story of a family whose oldest daughter disappears one night. A few days later the police arrive with…
Someone by Alice McDermott
Paperback review by Victoria Alice McDermott is one of those writers who make you wonder how on earth they do it. Every sentence in her deceptively simple novel, Someone, is written with…
Playthings by Alex Pheby
Reviewed by Anne Goodwin “Nothing to be concerned about” Daniel Paul Schreber reassures himself in the opening paragraph of Alex Pheby’s second novel. Just an ordinary day in a middle-class…
Those Who Walk Away by Patricia Highsmith
Reviewed by Harriet. ‘The No.1 greatest crime writer’, proclaims The Times on the covers of Virago’s new reprints of some of Patricia Highsmith’s lesser known novels. That’s obviously a claim…
The Winter War by Philip Teir
Written by Victoria It feels like it’s been quite a while since I last read an engaging portrait of domestic drama from a male writer. Philip Teir’s debut novel has…
The Evolutionist: The Strange Tale of Alfred Russel Wallace by Avi Sirlin
Reviewed by Peter Hobson The Evolutionist is a novel which aims to bring an important scientist in the development of the early scientific theories of evolution to a wider audience. We…
Black Sheep by Susan Hill
Paperback review by Simon Susan Hill is the master (or perhaps that should be mistress) of many genres. She is famous for crime novels, children’s books, and a certain play/film/book/everything…
Privileged Children and The Bohemian Girl by Frances Vernon
Reviewed by Harriet Well, Faber Finds has done it again. In Issue 1 of SNB I reviewed some of their reprints of the brilliant psychological thrillers by Celia Fremlin, and they…
Tepper Isn’t Going Out by Calvin Trillin
Reviewed by Simon It is very apt that the publishing house that has just reprinted Tepper Isn’t Going Out, the quirky comic masterpiece by Calvin Trillin which was originally published in…
Miss Carter’s War by Sheila Hancock
Paperback review by Laura Marriott Miss Carter’s War opens in 1948, in smoky post war Britain, introducing us to the woman who is going to take on the world. Half French…
Pure Juliet by Stella Gibbons
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton I was aware that Vintage were publishing some newly discovered Stella Gibbons novels, but until Simon asked me to read Pure Juliet for Shiny New Books I hadn’t…
The American Lover by Rose Tremain
Written by Victoria Rose Tremain is one of those talented writers in whose hands you instantly feel safe. Here, the reader understands, there will be acts of storytelling that take…
Spy Out the Land by Jeremy Duns
Reviewed by Rob Spence Don’t read this book. Don’t, that is, unless you have read Jeremy Duns’s previous three Paul Dark spy thrillers, because this continues the story from where…
In the Twilight by Anton Chekhov
Translated by Hugh Aplin Reviewed by Karen Langley Russian author Anton Chekhov, although possibly best known for his plays like The Cherry Orchard, is also the acknowledged master of the short…
Wake by Anna Hope
Paperback review by Ali Hope Anna Hope’s remarkable novel Wake is newly out in paperback, and I urge anyone who has not read it to get themselves a copy. I read this…