Five Windows by D.E. Stevenson
Reviewed by Claire I first read the 1953 novel Five Windows back in 2013, when I was devouring several D.E. Stevenson books per month. It instantly became one of my favourites, classed…
The Edwardians by Vita Sackville-West
Reviewed by Simon While Vita Sackville-West is today best remembered as having (probably) been the lover of Virginia Woolf, and as the mind behind the garden at Sissinghurst, she was…
For Two Thousand Years by Mihail Sebastian
Translated by Philip Ó Ceallaigh Reviewed by Sakura Gooneratne I’ve been beaten and the world doesn’t stand still for such things. Published in 1934 when he was only 27, Mihail…
Jezebel’s Daughter by Wilkie Collins
Reviewed by Karen Langley Victorian author Wilkie Collins is probably best known nowadays for The Woman in White, The Moonstone, and being best buddies with Dickens. However, a quick glance at his Wikipedia…
His Monkey Wife by John Collier
Reviewed by Simon When I told people that I was writing about bestiality during my DPhil, they were a little surprised that it got a look-in amongst the charming middlebrow…
Death on the Riviera by John Bude
Reviewed by Simon I’ve got all the John Bude reprints that have appeared in the British Library Crime Classics series, and have given several to other people, but Death on the…
Cut Me In by Ed McBain
Reviewed by Annabel Ed McBain (aka Evan Hunter, although that wasn’t his original name either) was a prolific author, writing over eighty novels. These included over fifty ‘87th Precinct’ books; with…
84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
Reviewed by Simon Slightly Foxed Editions – and I never tire of saying how beautiful they are – offer two different, wonderful things to the world. Either they are an…
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Reviewed by Annabel The anticipation of re-reading a book first read and enjoyed as a child always gives me a feeling of mild discomfort. Can it work on an adult…
The Roar of Morning by Tip Marugg
Translated by Paul Vincent Reviewed by Karen Langley Silvio Alberto ‘Tip’ Marugg is an author new to me, and one who has quite a small body of work. Of Dutch-Antillean…
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe & Dracula by Bram Stoker
Reviewed by Harriet I suspect that neither of these two great classics has ever been out of print since their respective first appearances in 1719 and 1897, and a quick…
Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín
Paperback review by Judith Wilson I read Brooklyn when it was originally published by Viking in 2009; it was the first novel I’d encountered by Irish-born Colm Tóibín, and I’ve since devoured The…
Murder of a Lady by Anthony Wynne
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton I do love the British Library Crime Classics series. It feels like it goes from strength to strength, or maybe it’s that this past year’s offerings…
Death on the Riviera by John Bude
Reviewed by Simon I’ve got all the John Bude reprints that have appeared in the British Library Crime Classics series, and have given several to other people, but Death on the…
Silent Nights: Christmas Mysteries, ed. Martin Edwards
Reviewed by Harriet Christmas is a mysterious, as well as magical, time of year. Strange things can happen, and this helps to explain the hallowed tradition of telling ghost stories…
The House of Elrig by Gavin Maxwell
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton I discovered Gavin Maxwell’s books when newly exiled from a rural Scottish childhood. The first of his books that I found was Harpoon at a Venture. Drawn…
The Z Murders by J Jefferson Farjeon
Reviewed by Harriet Golden Age crime has always been popular, and each of the so-called queens – Sayers, Christie, Allingham, March, Tey – has her loyal followers. But in the…
The Maiden Dinosaur by Janet McNeill
Reviewed by Julie B “Barbara Pym…Elizabeth Taylor…” exalted company for any author’s novel, and when I noticed these names on the front of this book I must admit I was…
Swing Hammer Swing! by Jeff Torrington
Reviewed by Noreen Masud What a city was Glasgow! It was really more into vaudeville than it was into violence, a fact seldom appreciated. There’s a wealth of Scottish fiction…
The Crystal Beads Murder by Annie Haynes
Reviewed by Lyn Baines It struck me while I was reading this book that one of the differences between the Golden Age murder mystery and a lot of modern detective novels…
Summer by Edith Wharton
Reviewed by Harriet I suppose most people who know about Edith Wharton think of her as a writer whose subject was the social elite – think of The House of Mirth,…
Sylvia Townsend Warner: A Biography by Claire Harman
Reviewed by Simon This marks the third biography I’ve reviewed in Shiny New Books that is about a major figure in my doctoral thesis – three out of three of…
Caroline, and Narcissa by Richmal Crompton
By Elaine Simpson-Long As a long time fan of the adult novels of Richmal Crompton, I was delighted to hear that Bello, the digital print arm of Pan Macmillan, is…
Letters to the Sphinx by Oscar Wilde
Reviewed by Simon This is the reason that small reprint publishers exist. Who else would print this attractive slim volume – only 63 pages – and bring back into print…