All Day and a Night by Alafair Burke
Reviewed by Ann NYPD detective, Ellie Hatcher and her partner, JJ Rogan, are not best pleased when Ellie’s boyfriend, Assistant District Attorney Max Donovan, arranges that they should be ‘lent…
Reviewed by Ann NYPD detective, Ellie Hatcher and her partner, JJ Rogan, are not best pleased when Ellie’s boyfriend, Assistant District Attorney Max Donovan, arranges that they should be ‘lent…
Reviewed by Jane Carter Kate Rhodes’ first novel, Crossbones Yard, showed her to be a crime writer to watch; and this, her second novel, certainly lives up to the high expectations…
Reviewed by Jane Carter When I first read about this book, Rebecca Mascull’s debut novel, I was intrigued. It seemed that the story would bring together so many elements I love…
Reviewed by Harriet Devine “A lace handkerchief without even a monogram on it and a bloodstained knife without fingerprints or marks of any kind”, McCarthy said. “There’s nothing whatever in…
(aka Big Little Lies) Reviewed by Victoria Best There’s a ruckus going down at Pirriwee Public Kindergarten where there ought to be an ordinary fund-raising trivia night. Elderly Mrs Ponder…
Reviewed by Margaret Freeman Forty years ago Famagusta, on the east coast of Cyprus, was one of the island’s most visited and most glamorous tourist resorts with its beautiful coastline…
Reviewed by Helen Parry Not having looked, not really, not with eyes that can see. That was what his fate came down to. Having accepted the job, solemnly – Yes,…
Translated by Ann Goldstein Review by Lizzie Siddal Every recent piece about Elena Ferrante seems to begin with the question, who is she? I’m not about to do that. The…
Reviewed by Sakura Gooneratne I get up and go out through the back door. The cold air shocks my skin as I go, ‘Shoo, shoo!’ to the cat. The feline…
A New Translation by Rosamund Bartlett Written by Helen Rappaport Taking on one of the great novels of the nineteenth century is a huge challenge for any Russian translator. Even…
Reviewed by Kathleen Holly Marsh The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender is an incredibly written book by American author Leslye Walton. The novel follows the story of Ava’s life…
By David Hebblethwaite Short stories are in our bones. They are often the first fiction we read or hear: fairy tales, bedtime stories – and at school (for example), they…
Reviewed by Harriet Devine The Book of Life is indeed a mighty tome, as Dan Brown would say. I read it with great delight, but was seriously wondering all the time…
Paperback Review by Dan L. The Martian by Andy Weir took the Sci-Fi reading populace by storm with the release of the hardback. So much so, that Ridley Scott decided he…
Reviewed by Kathleen Holly Marsh Age of Iron by Angus Watson is the first book in a trilogy giving an entertaining but gripping account of what happened when Julius Caesar tried…
Reviewed by Alice Farrant Stay Up With Me by Tom Barbash is a collection of short stories set in New York City. Each explores a disconnection between parents and children, lovers or…
Reviewed by Annabel Gaskell Back in March, I went to hear McEwan talk at the Oxford Literary Festival. He read a couple of passages from the final draft of his…
Translated by Sheila Frischman Reviewed by Susan Osborne This slim, very beautiful novel is a love story, a work of aching nostalgia and a glorious celebration of language. Its gorgeous,…
Reviewed by Elaine Simpson-Long Over the last ten years or so I have tracked down and read all of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s adult writing. I had been totally unaware that…
Translated by Laurie Thompson Reviewed by Harriet Devine This book is a bit of a curiosity. When it arrived and I realised what it was, I wondered if it was…
Reviewed by Annabel Gaskell A few years ago there was a reality show series on children’s telly in the UK called Project Parent, in which kids from single parent families…
Written by Liam Roberts After an engrossing and thrilling first chapter, readers may expect a zipping crime novel full of action and intrigue, which The Spring of Kasper Meier does have in…
Translated from the Portuguese by Daniel Hahn Reviewed by Annabel In my experience, there aren’t many novels for children and young adults around in English translation, although I was pleased…
Reviewed by Harriet Devine I’m not one of those people who rush out and buy all the Booker longlisted books on principle, or even the shortlisted ones, or even the…