The End of the Web by George Sims
Reviewed by Harriet No, the title doesn’t refer to a predicted end of the internet. This is a 1976 novel, written before such things were even invented. It’s taken from…
Separation by Sally Emerson
Reviewed by Harriet I have to admit I’d never heard of Sally Emerson before the publishers offered me a couple of their recent reprints. Though she’s till around and still…
Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee
Review by Gill Davies I am going to review two novels by Min Jin Lee (the other one is Patchinko – see here). This one was her first; it was…
The Hours Before Dawn by Celia Fremlin
Review by Harriet Soon after midnight she would wake; and again at half past two; and again at four. As the months went by, I found myself quite distracted by…
Austen-ish – A Reading List of Austen-inspired fiction
Compiled by Annabel and Elaine Perhaps more than any other author, including Dickens and the Brontës, Jane Austen has inspired other writers to use her characters and settings to write…
The Watsons – Two Endings
Reviewed by Elaine Simpson-Long I have recently read two finished versions of Austen’s The Watsons, a novel fragment which, they say, she abandoned after her father’s death in 1805. I have found it…
The Incredible Crime by Lois Austen-Leigh
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton The Incredible Crime and its author are something of a literary curiosity, Lois Austen-Leigh was the great great grand niece of Jane Austen. She almost certainly…
Teenage Writings by Jane Austen
Reviewed by Karen Langley 2017 is turning out to be something of a year of anniversaries: as well as being 100 years since the Russian Revolution took place, it’s also…
A Wreath of Roses by Elizabeth Taylor
Reviewed by Gill Davies When you were a child did you ever hunt for a lost ball among ferns and leaves and parting them quick to look … come suddenly…
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…
Letty Fox: Her Luck by Christina Stead
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…
Running Blind by Desmond Bagley
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…
My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier
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,…
Miraculous Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards
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…
Clayhanger by Arnold Bennett
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…
Tom Tiddler’s Ground by Ursula Orange
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…
The Lark by Edith Nesbit
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….
Anna of the Five Towns by Arnold Bennett
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…
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward by H.P. Lovecraft
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…
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber
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….
The Pledge, by Friedrich Dürrenmatt
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…
Mortal Engines by Stanislaw Lem
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…
Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty
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…
Death Going Down by María Angélica Bosco
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…