Charmed Life: The Phenomenal World of Philip Sassoon by Damian Collins
Reviewed by Liz Dexter First of all, because this is the question everyone will ask: yes, Philip Sassoon was a distant cousin of the First World War poet, Siegfried –…
Reviewed by Liz Dexter First of all, because this is the question everyone will ask: yes, Philip Sassoon was a distant cousin of the First World War poet, Siegfried –…
Post-referendum, the Shiny Eds (all Remainers) are still reeling at the Brexit vote! We thought it timely to explore our experience of European culture on the page and screen. Do…
Reviewed by Victoria When you think of all the great defining events of an ordinary life and how often they feature as the focus of a novel – growing up,…
Written by Victoria In the aftermath of the historic referendum vote on 23rd June, and before we really learn what it means for all of us, what can we read…
Reviewed by Elaine Simpson-Long We have had a few weeks of scorching weather as I write this, though it is now raining, and, of course, as it is summer we…
Reviewed by Harriet This is the third of Eric Ambler’s newly reissued novels I have read in the past few months, the other two being The Light of Day and A Kind of…
Reviewed by Victoria ‘I think it’s too easy to recount unhappy memories when you write about race,’ writes Margot Jefferson, as a refrain repeated several times across the course of…
Reviewed by Victoria ‘Our culture is one in which,’ Polly Morland writes, ‘more than ever before, we feel entitled to change our experiences and ourselves to fit with our dreams…
Reviewed by Harriet Liana was not simply an ex-girlfriend who had once upon a time broken George’s heart; she was also, as far as George still knew, a wanted criminal….
Reviewed by Harriet World is crazier and more of it than we think / Incorrigibly plural. The epigraph to this novel is by Louis MacNeice, from his poem Snow, and beautifully…
Reviewed by Gill Davies Jill Dawson is a poet and novelist who has made her reputation with carefully researched and vividly recreated historical fiction based on real people and…
Translated by Maureen Freely and Alexander Dawe Reviewed by Simon Madonna in a Fur Coat, was first published in Turkish in 1943. This translation is the first time this Turkish…
Reviewed by Victoria I do love a good cozy crime mystery and so I had high hopes for the new series by Kate Saunders, concerning her Victorian lady detective, Laetitia…
Written by Karen Langley If you’re reading Shiny New Books, there’s a good chance that you’re a person who loves books and regards them as having a significant place in…
My Aunt Sybil (sadly not the figure in black bombazine and lorgnette her name might suggest – think Gore Tex® and stout hiking shoes) on a recent visit to my…
Reviewed by Adèle Geras Full disclosure: there’s a quotation from me on the back of Rosy Thornton’s new book and I make no excuses for reviewing the latest offering from…
Translated by Antony Shugaar Reviewed by Terence Jagger This is ‘an Alligator mystery’, latest in a series featuring an independent and unlicensed private investigator, Marco Buratti, tough but not personally violent,…
Translated by Paul Norlén Reviewed by Annabel We don’t feature many children’s books here at Shiny, but occasionally new editions of much-loved childhood favourites or rediscovered classics will emerge. As…
Reviewed by Victoria This is the story of a regeneration, though one of the strangest and yet most serene that I have ever read. Samuel Browne is a grieving man;…
Translated from Arabic by Elisabeth Jaquette Reviewed by David Hebblethwaite Basma Abdel Aziz is a writer, artist and psychiatrist from Egypt, noted as a critic of government oppression. The Queue is her…
Reviewed by Helen Parry It’s seldom that I buy new books, being a skinflint with a very large existent TBR, and even rarer for me to fork out for a…
Reviewed by Annabel Eowyn Ivey’s debut novel, The Snow Child, was my favourite book of 2012; I awaited her second with great anticipation. To the Bright Edge of the World is…
Translated by Faith Evans Reviewed by Rachel Fenn Belgian writer Madeleine Bourdouxhe’s intriguing novella, originally published in 1943, has been newly translated by Faith Evans in a beautiful edition produced…
Questions by Victoria Has writing been a long-held ambition for you or is this novel something that you happened to fall into? How I wish I were the type of…