April in Spain by John Banville
Reviewed by Harriet Almost exactly a year ago, I reviewed John Banville’s Snow [here], an immensely enjoyable country house murder mystery. I particularly liked D.I. St John Strafford, the detective…
Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
Reviewed by Harriet ‘Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked’. So we are introduced to the leading character in Colson Whitehead’s new novel. His two most…
Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth by Wole Soyinka
Review by Anna Hollingworth “Literary lion” is one descriptor attached to Wole Soyinka. For one, there’s a mane-like quality to his hair, a kind of halo circling his face. More…
Golem Girl: A Memoir by Riva Lehrer
Reviewed by Rebecca Foster In February, the inaugural Barbellion Prize was awarded to Golem Girl, visual artist Riva Lehrer’s account of growing up with spina bifida, entering Disabled culture, and…
Stalin: the Court of the Red Tsar, by Simon Sebag Montefiore
Review by Basil Ransome Davies In Young Stalin the author studied his subject’s early career under the microscope. In this epic volume he expands his approach, while still paying attention…
The Inseparables by Simone de Beauvoir
Translated by Lauren Elkin Review by Karen Langley Simone de Beauvoir is probably best recognised nowadays for her ground-breaking feminist work The Second Sex, as well as her connections with…
Five fascinating facts about fictional asylums
By Anne Goodwin In my professional life as a clinical psychologist, I visited around a dozen of the hundred or so long-stay psychiatric hospitals in England and Wales. Since then,…
The Story of the Country House by Clive Aslet
Reviewed by Harriet My definition of the country house is this: a work of domestic architecture in a rural location, surrounded by its own land (although not necessarily a landed…
The Right Sort of Girl by Anita Rani
Review by Liz Dexter How on earth did I get to where I am today? This is no overnight success story, this is not a fairy tale, not in the…
The Transgender Issue by Shon Faye
By Liz Dexter This book is primarily concerned with explaining how society, as it is currently arranged, often makes trans people’s lives unnecessarily difficult. Yet, in posing solutions to these…
Madgermanes by Birgit Weyhe
Translated by Katy Derbyshire Review by Annabel It’s been exciting to see the variety of German books in translation coming from V&Q Books who launched in the UK last autumn….
Two nature memoirs set in the New Forest: Goshawk Summer by James Aldred & The Circling Sky by Neil Ansell
By Rebecca Foster Two recent memoirs have shone a spotlight on the fauna and management strategies of the New Forest, a place my Hampshire-raised husband and I have often visited…
The Lifeline by Hugo Charteris
By Rob Spence If you are, as I am, a child of the fifties, then one of your first televisual memories will be of the ITV series The Adventures of…
Mary Magdalene by Adriana Valerio
Translated by Wendy Wheatley Reviewed by Harriet Adriana Valerio is an Italian historian and theologian. One of the first women in Italy to be awarded a theology degree, she has…
Star Turns by Tim Walker
Review by Annabel Tim Walker’s name may ring a bell, particularly with broadsheet readers. During his career as a journalist, he has written for The Observer and The Daily Telegraph,…
A Single Rose by Muriel Barbery
Translated by Alison Anderson Review by Annabel We’re delighted to be featured in the blog tour for Muriel Barbery’s new novel today – do see the other stops on the…
The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer
Review by Hayley Anderton I’ve been reading The Black Moth along with the Georgette Heyer Readalong on Twitter, where we have very mixed feelings about it. I’m in the enjoying…
The Country of Others by Leïla Slimani
Translated by Sam Taylor Reviewed by Harriet Back in 2018 I read and reviewed Leïla Slimani’s best-selling, Goncourt-Prize-winning novel Lullaby [here]. Soon afterwards I also read her 2014 Adèle, which…
All the Names Given by Raymond Antrobus
Review by Anna Hollingsworth ”your 2am text / lit / like a dog panting / on her screen / hot rattling engine / pile / of oily pity / sticky…
Bewilderment by Richard Powers
Reviewed by Gill Davies Although he has published twelve novels since 1985, I only discovered Richard Powers through his stunning 2018 novel The Overstory that was short-listed for the Booker…
The Red Planet: A Natural History of Mars, by Simon Morden
Review by Annabel Who hasn’t been enthralled by the idea of there being ‘Life on Mars’ even if said life ends up as the first humans to visit the red…
Paradise by Kae Tempest
Review by Anna Hollingsworth Remember, this man is not our friend, he is our weapon. OK? So, we treat him like we treat any other weapon. Clean him, store him,…
The Goddess Chronicle by Natsuo Kirino
Translated by Rebecca Copeland Review by Annabel Japanese author Natsuo Kirino is primarily known for her crime novels, of which Out is the most widely known. However, she also contributed…
Your Voice Speaks Volumes: It’s Not What You Say but How You Say It, by Jane Setter
Review by Liz Dexter I would like the message of this chapter to be that we should all be more tolerant of people’s voice quality and pitch ranges. As a…