The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Reviewed by Ali First published in 1985, The Handmaid’s Tale seemed to speak to the generation coming to political awareness in that decade. Back then it could be read as…
Reviewed by Ali First published in 1985, The Handmaid’s Tale seemed to speak to the generation coming to political awareness in that decade. Back then it could be read as…
Reviewed by Karen Langley Australian-born Christina Stead led a lively and picaresque life, spending parts of her time in the USA, France, Spain and the UK. Therefore, it’s safe to…
Review by Annabel I’m delighted that the vogue for republishing the best thrillers from the 1960s onwards as exemplified by the books of Lionel Davidson (see here and here!) has…
Reviewed by Rachel Fenn I was delighted to have the opportunity to revisit a novel that has long haunted me. Despite the effect it had on me the first time,…
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton Locked room murders and other similarly impossible crimes are one of the sub genres I particularly enjoy in golden age, and older, mysteries so I was…
Review by Julie Barham Vintage books have produced a new edition of possibly the best known of Bennett’s novels featuring the story of Edwin Clayhanger. It is very much more…
Reviewed by Simon One of the authors I’ve been on the look-out for, for years, is Ursula Orange – entirely the responsibility of Scott (from the Furrowed Middlebrow blog) who…
Reviewed by Harriet Last year there was a bit of a flutter in the blogging world when Edith Nesbit’s complete works popped up on Amazon for a very low price….
Review by Julie Barham I think that the overwhelming sense or atmosphere of this book is sadness. Nevertheless, it is a faithful picture of life in a town of the…
Review by Karen Langley Mention author H.P. Lovecraft to people and you’ll most likely get one of two reactions: either they’ll hail him as the progenitor of modern horror fiction…
Review by Karen Langley The title story of this collection of short pieces by James Thurber is probably his best-known work, thanks to the popular film adaptation starring Danny Kaye….
Translated by Joel Agee Reviewed by Eleanor Franzén In a mountainous Swiss canton not far from Zurich, a little girl’s body is found. She is only seven or eight, with…
Edited and translated by Michael Kandel Review by Karen Langley Polish author Stanislaw Lem is probably best known for his novel “Solaris”, a book that’s been filmed twice – once…
Reviewed by Victoria Apple Tree Yard, (now a series from the BBC), may be billed as a thriller, but like all of Louise Doughty’s novels, it’s a story with more…
Translated by Lucy Greaves Reviewed by Gill Davies Thanks to Shiny – and the publishers – I am discovering and enjoying new crime writers. The latest one is the Argentine…
Translated from the Italian by M. S. Spurr Reviewed by Hayley Anderton This is a book that really needs an introduction, or even an afterword, unfortunately it doesn’t have one….
Reviewed by Harriet The British Library Crime Classics editions started a successful trend in 2014 with their publication of J. Jefferson Farjeon’s Mystery in White, which became a runaway best-seller….
Reviewed by Julie Barham This is an actual book! Thank you to the nice people at Furrowed Middlebrow/ Dean Street Press who listened to my plea that as a 21st…
Review by Simon The launch of the Furrowed Middlebrow series from Dean Street Press, under the editorial eye of blogger and middlebrow expert Scott of Furrowed Middlebrow, is an occasion…
Reviewed by Karen Langley I suppose I’m not alone amongst readers and book bloggers in having a rather romantic view of the author, picturing them sitting in a beautiful study,…
Translated by I.P. Foote Reviewed by Karen Langley Russian literature has long had a tradition of satire stretching all the way back to Gogol, one of its best exponents. However,…
Reviewed by Basil Ransome Davies First published in 1975 – the year the NLF took Saigon and expelled the US from Vietnam – The Wrong Case is deservedly, though posthumously, reissued. It…
Reviewed by Harriet In the pantheon of detective fiction there is nothing quite like it. So writes Martin Edwards in his introduction to the British Library’s new edition of this…
Reviewed by Karen Langley There can be very few people in the reading world who haven’t heard of Arthur Conan Doyle’s celebrated detective, Sherlock Holmes; in fact, his fame has…