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Fiction

Table for Two by Amor Towles

Review by Annabel Until this year Towles has delighted his readers with novels of increasing thickness including A Gentleman in Moscow and The Lincoln Highway, both of which I adored,…

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Shiny New Books August 29, 2024
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Fiction Reprint

Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton

Reviewed by Harriet The spring night drew them into its deepening embrace. The ripples of the lake had gradually widened and faded into a silken smoothness, and high above the mountains the…

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Shiny New Books August 27, 2024
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History & Politics, Feminism, Sociology Non Fiction

The King’s Loot: The Greatest Royal Jewellery Heist in History by Richard Wallace

Reviewed by Elaine Simpson-Long   It is always misleading to read the serialisation of a book in the newspapers. The paper in question will always focus on the more sensational aspects…

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Shiny New Books August 22, 2024
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Fiction

Kala by Colin Walsh

Review by Annabel Kala was the literary thriller to be seen reading last summer when first published. A high-profile debut from a young Irish author, I saw many favourable reviews…

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Shiny New Books August 21, 2024
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Art & Design, Craft & Photography Non Fiction

All That Glitters: A Story of Friendship, Fraud and Fine Art by Orlando Whitfield

Reviewed by Harriet This is the second book about fraud I’ve reviewed this year, the first being Joseph Hone’s impressive The Book Forger. Obviously, as you can tell from the…

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Shiny New Books August 20, 2024
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Ecology & Environment, Natural World History & Politics, Feminism, Sociology Non Fiction Travel & the World

Our Island Stories: Country Walks Through Colonial Britain by Corinne Fowler

In expanding and resourcing public understandings of the countryside’s colonial past, we can tell our islands’ stories and address colonial legacies from a position of knowledge rather than fear. Corinne…

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Shiny New Books August 13, 2024
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History & Politics, Feminism, Sociology Non Fiction Travel & the World

Airplane Mode: Travels in the Ruins of Tourism by Shahnaz Habib

Review by Liz Dexter How intrepid you are as a traveler depends, at least partly, on how entitled you feel to travel. On whether there’s an army base nearby with…

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Shiny New Books August 8, 2024
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Fiction

The Trap by Ava Glass

Reviewed by Harriet Ava Glass has been proclaimed as the new queen of spy fiction.  I’m not in a position to judge this, as The Trap is the first of…

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Shiny New Books August 2, 2024
3 1086 1
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Fiction

The Dark Side of the Sky by Francesco Dimitri

Review by Max Dunbar The question The Dark Side of the Sky asks is simple and fascinating. Can an apocalyptic cult ever be right? The Bastion of Southern Italy is not, on…

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Shiny New Books August 1, 2024
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BookBuzz Interview, Q&A

Interview with Kate Macdonald of Handheld Press

Interview by Harriet Harriet: Hi Kate – thanks for agreeing to do this. We know you’re working on a memoir of your Handheld days, so this will be a special…

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Shiny New Books July 30, 2024
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Fiction Reprint

The Gulls Fly Inland by Sylvia Thompson

Reviewed by Harriet October 3rd 1939 Inaction is difficult to bear. Since I am forced into inaction, here, I shall write. Not, as I have written in peace-time, brief things…

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Shiny New Books July 30, 2024
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Ecology & Environment, Natural World Essays Non Fiction

Cairn by Kathleen Jamie 

Review by Peter Reason I am sitting under the old apple tree in our Orchard on a sunny summer afternoon, looking over the meadow grass swaying in the light breeze,…

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Shiny New Books July 25, 2024
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Biography & Memoir, Diaries Entertainment, Media Non Fiction

The Blues Brothers by Daniel De Visé

An Epic Friendship, the Rise of Improv and the Making of an American Film Classic Review by Annabel Full disclosure: I saw The Blues Brothers on the first day of…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books July 23, 2024
3 1772 2
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History & Politics, Feminism, Sociology Non Fiction Travel & the World

A Ride Across America by Simon Parker

Review by Liz Dexter Fascinatingly, many of the small towns I found along the way seemed to be stuck in a time warp. I cycled past rusted 1940s Studebakers and…

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Shiny New Books July 18, 2024
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Non Fiction Science & Technology

It’s a Gas by Mark Miodownik

Review by Annabel Ever since his first two books, Stuff Matters (2012) and Liquid (2018), I’ve been waiting for Miodownik to complete his states of matter trilogy with a book…

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Shiny New Books July 16, 2024
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Fiction Reprint

Tatting and Mandolinata by Faith Compton Mackenzie

Reviewed by Harriet This intriguing title indicates the presence of two separate works by Faith Compton Mackenzie, of whom you’ve probably never heard. The name will ring a bell though,…

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Shiny New Books July 11, 2024
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Non Fiction Science & Technology

The Future of Energy by Richard Black

Review by Annabel Back in March, Shiny took part in the blogtour for Melville House’s initial books in its ‘Futures’ series. The first books in the series of small format…

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Shiny New Books July 8, 2024
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Biography & Memoir, Diaries Non Fiction

All Before Me: A Search for Belonging in Wordsworth’s Lake District by Esther Rutter

Review by Simon Thomas In the past decade, a trend has developed where the lines between biography and autobiography, between non-fiction and memoir, have collapsed in on themselves. The author…

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Shiny New Books July 4, 2024
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Biography & Memoir, Diaries History & Politics, Feminism, Sociology Non Fiction

Parallel Lives by Maryam Diener

Review by Karen Langley When most people think of the high profile spies of the 20th century, names like Burgess, McLean and of course Kim Philby are probably the first…

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Shiny New Books June 27, 2024
2 1499 2
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Biography & Memoir, Diaries Non Fiction

Completely Kafka by Nicolas Mahler

Translated by Alexander Booth Review by Karen Langley 2024 is the centenary of the death of author Franz Kafka and the year has seen a flurry of interest focusing on…

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Shiny New Books June 20, 2024
3 2393 4
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Fiction

The House of Silence by Edith Nesbit

Reviewed by Harriet Here at Shiny, I’m proud to say, we have now covered every aspect of Edith Nesbit’s wonderful fiction writing. Best known to most people as a writer…

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Shiny New Books June 18, 2024
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History & Politics, Feminism, Sociology Non Fiction

Queen Victoria and her Prime Ministers – a personal history, by Anne Somerset

Reviewed by Elaine Simpson-Long Queen Elizabeth II had fifteen prime ministers during her reign. Queen Victoria had fourteen. The weekly meetings between Queen Elizabeth and her prime minister were one…

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Shiny New Books June 13, 2024
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Ecology & Environment, Natural World Non Fiction

Deep Water: The World in the Ocean, by James Bradley

Review by Peter Reason James Bradley, the Australian novelist and essayist, chooses an apt epigraph from Arthur C. Clarke for his book: ‘How inappropriate to call this planet “Earth”, when…

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Shiny New Books June 11, 2024
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Books About Books, Publishing Non Fiction

The Book Forger by Joseph Hone

Reviewed by Harriet ‘Thomas James Wise (1859-1937) was a bibliophile and thief’, says Wikipedia. He was indeed. As Joseph Hone puts it in this fascinating exploration of  ‘the most sensational…

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Shiny New Books June 6, 2024
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