Reviewed by Liz Dexter Before: Phone on bedside table, checked for the time whenever I woke up and checked for emails / Facebook updates if I woke sufficiently; a “quick”…
Interview by Annabel Narcissim for Beginners is Martine McDonagh’s third novel, reviewed by Annabel here. Annabel: How did you find the whole Unbound experience? (see our Spotlight on Publishers chat with Unbound…
Reviewed by Annabel In the interest of full disclosure, Martine and I have never met, but we are Facebook friends after I reviewed her first two novels. Narcissism for Beginners…
Reviewed by Annabel Old Soho ain’t what it used to be. The former centre of London’s seedier side has been largely poshed up, gentrified and made chic for new money…
Review by Annabel There are two types of historical fiction. Those which are set during a particular period with imagined protagonists which may feature real people of the time in…
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 Alice Farrant The number of women my brother Matthew killed as far as I can reckon it, is one hundred and six. When her husband dies Alice is…
Reviewed by Alice Farrant Akin’s father has died and Yejide is coming home. Set against a backdrop of political turmoil, Stay With Me is a powerful commentary on motherhood, love,…
Review by Hayley Anderton From the moment I discovered Molly Keane it was love, not just for the quality of her writing, the unflattering but compelling sharpness of her observations,…
Reviewed by Harriet You will have only one story… You’ll write your one story many ways. Don’t ever worry about story. You will have only one. This advice, given to…
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….
Review by Annabel Jeff Arnott’s novels are moving back in time – He started in the 1960s and 1970s with his Long Firm trilogy, then he moved back to WWII…
Reviewed by Eleanor Franzén The New York Times Book Review runs a regular feature called ‘By the Book’, a kind of questionnaire for celebrated authors about their reading habits. Recently,…
Reviewed by Terence Jagger Lagos is not the capital of Nigeria – that is planned, concrete, unexciting Abuja, in the middle of the country but without a past or much…
Review by Annabel Ladybird, now owned by Penguin Random House, have been going from strength to strength recently with their series of satires on modern life for adults, tackling subjects…
São Paulo is the capital of South America. What a city: rich in culture, dripping with cash, undermined by political corruption, marked by a rich / poor disparity which fuels…
Review by Annabel Joe Thomas lived and taught in São Paulo, the most populous city in the Americas and Southern Hemisphere, for ten years. His observations and experience of living…
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…
Reviewed by Harriet Subtitled ‘A History of Women and Desire’, this book explores the fields of literature, film and popular romance. Ranging from the early nineteenth century to the present…
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…
Reviewed by Judith Wilson It was early January when I requested Christopher Somerville’s new walking book for review. I was simultaneously intrigued by its title, The January Man, and by…
Review by Annabel Literary noir, in its general sense of typifying dark, cynical and unpleasant crime novels, (as opposed to the classic interpretation of hardboiled style novels where the protagonist…
Translated by Adriana Hunter Reviewed by Terence Jagger “To the east, bare earth as far as the eye can see. To the west, hills … then on the horizon, mountains. …
