Midsummer Murder by Clifford Witting
Review by Julie Barham This novel is in some senses an extraordinary achievement. It is a sort of locked area murder mystery when that area is in full public view….
Shiny Archive Reading List #1: Birds in Fiction
Compiled by Annabel In its ninth year, Shiny New Books has passed the 2000 mark in published posts. We thought it would be good to go back through our archives…
Small Angels by Lauren Owen
Review by Julie Barham A modern Gothic novel is often a treat, especially if its narrative plays on the edge of reality and the supernatural. This novel finds space between…
Clothes Pegs by Susan Scarlett
Reviewed by Harriet This has been my first book by Susan Scarlett, but not my first book by its author. Because, if you didn’t already know, Susan Scarlett was a…
The Glass Pearls by Emeric Pressburger
Review by Karen Langley The name of Emeric Pressburger is remembered for his sterling contribution to the world of film during the 20th century. Together with Michael Powell, he was…
H.D. & Bryher: An Untold Love Story of Modernism by Susan McCabe
Review by Rob Spence 2022 is a significant year in modernist studies: it marks the publication centenary of two of the definitive examples of literary modernism, James Joyce’s Ulysses and…
The Marble Staircase by Elizabeth Fair
Reviewed by Harriet Born in 1908, Elizabeth Fair published six successful novels between 1953 and 1960. But when she submitted her seventh, The Marble Staircase, to her agent, she was…
Homesick by Jennifer Croft
Review by Annabel Jennifer Croft’s name may ring a bell with you somewhere, but with a different hat on. As the translator of Olga Togaczuk’s Flights, she was co-winner of…
Amy & Lan by Sadie Jones
Reviewed by Harriet Set in the early 2000s, this is the story of three middle-class couples who have decided to abandon city life in Bristol and make an attempt to…
Going to Church in Medieval England by Nicholas Orme
Reviewed by Liz Dexter Shortlisted for the 50th anniversary of the Wolfson History Prize, this hugely comprehensive work is by Emeritus Professor of History at Exeter University, Nicholas Orme, who…
Back to the Shops by Rachel Bowlby
Reviewed by Harriet I’m not sure what attracted me to Rachel Bowlby’s book when I spotted it in the OUP catalogue. But I’m very glad something did, as it’s proved…
Nemesis, My Friend: Journeys through turning times by Jay Griffiths
Review by Peter Reason Nemesis is usually seen as the goddess of retribution, even of revenge, of implacable justice with no mercy, the avenger of crime and punisher of hubris….
Horse by Geraldine Brooks
Reviewed by Harriet Geraldine Brooks specialises in historical fiction. I read and hugely enjoyed her first two novels: the international bestseller Year of Wonders (2002), based on the true story…
Water Over Stones by Bernardo Atxaga
Translated by Margaret Jull Costa and Thomas Bunstead Reviewed by Gill Davies In his witty alphabetical epilogue to this novel, Bernardo Atxaga states that there are “two kinds of literature,…
The Half Life of Valery K by Natasha Pulley
Review by Annabel It was wonderful to discover that Natasha Pulley had a new novel published last month, I’ve been a fan since the beginning and have reviewed her first…
A Spectre, Haunting: On The Communist Manifesto by China Miéville
Review by Karen Langley It’s hard to think of a book or political system more reviled nowadays than The Communist Manifesto and the various regimes it spawned. A political tract…
The Facemaker: One Surgeon’s Battle to Mend the Disfigured Soldiers of World War I, by Lindsey Fitzharris
Review by Annabel Lindsey Fitzharris is an American with a doctorate from Oxford in the History of Science, Medicine and Technology, and a post-doc fellowship from the Wellcome Trust. Her…
I Used to Live Here Once by Miranda Seymour
Reviewed by Harriet I discovered Jean Rhys in my twenties, and raced through her three great 1930s novels, After Leaving Mr Mackenzie, Voyage in the Dark, and Good Morning Midnight…
One Day I Shall Astonish the World by Nina Stibbe
Review by Annabel I’ve been a fan of Nina Stibbe since she first hit the literary scene in 2013 with Love, Nina, an hilarious memoir of her years nannying for the…
Letters to Gwen John by Celia Paul
Reviewed by Karen Langley In recent years, artist Gwen John’s star has risen, with her work nowadays receiving much more acclaim than that of her brother Augustus. However, this was…
Cold Heaven by Brian Moore
Reviewed by Harriet This is the first book I’ve read by the multi-award-winning Irish Canadian author, but on the strength of this remarkable novel I’ve really been missing out. Published…
Good Pop, Bad Pop: An Inventory by Jarvis Cocker
Review by Annabel Since he first came into the public eye, Jarvis Cocker has always presented a delightful, non-conformist approach to life – droll and at times laconic, at other…
Brave Hearted: The Dramatic Story of Women of the American West, by Katie Hickman
Reviewed by Harriet Back in 2020 I reviewed Katie Hickman’s previous book, She-Merchants, Buccaneers and Gentlewomen, a fascinating account of the earliest British women to visit India. Their stories were…
Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong
Review by Anna Hollingsworth War, identity, cultural outsiderness, exploitation, love, family and belonging (or more often not) were at the core of Ocean Vuong’s previous works, his debut poetry collection…