Shiny New Author: Susan Beale
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…
The Good Guy by Susan Beale
Reviewed by Victoria It’s a hot early autumn in 1964 small-town America, in the up-and-coming Elm Grove estate (featuring house types named Charmer, Enchantress and El Dorado, in order to…
Love, or Nearest Offer, Guest Post by Adèle Geras
The person who gave me the very first idea for this book was Sally Prue, a good writer and a good friend of mine. It was, I think, while my…
Love, or Nearest Offer by Adèle Geras
Reviewed by Victoria I don’t know about you, but the past month of UK politics has given me a pressing need to bury my head in soothing and reassuring fiction….
The Book of Haps edited by Kate Davies and Jen Arnall-Culliford
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton I’m a little late to the party as far as the knitting revival goes, but better late than never. I grew up in Shetland at a…
Five Fascinating Facts About… A.A. Milne
Written by Simon Thomas 1.) A.A. Milne had a famous schoolteacher. A.A. Milne’s father John ran a small boys’ school, Henley House, and one of the teachers he employed was a…
A Kind of Anger by Eric Ambler
Reviewed by Harriet ‘Unquestionably the best thriller writer ever’, says Graham Greene on the cover of this new British Library Crime Classics title, one of three they have recently published…
Thus Bad Begins by Javier Marías
Translated by Margaret Jull Costa Reviewed by Harriet As a couple, they had spotted me like one of those distant shapes on the ocean that can’t be ignored and had…
Paris Vagabond by Jean-Paul Clébert
Translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith Reviewed by Karen Langley There’s a current literary trend of reissuing lost classics, and one of the most reliable imprints which is at the vanguard is…
Ladivine by Marie Ndiaye
Translated from French by Jordan Stump Reviewed by Kate Gardner Marie Ndiaye’s latest book could be described as a surrealist family saga, perhaps even magic realist, if I’m allowed to…
Sergio Y. by Alexandre Vidal Porto
Translated by Alex Ladd Reviewed by Victoria I really love shrink lit. There’s something about the lucid and detailed focus on the interaction between patient and psychotherapist that is somehow…
The Abundance by Annie Dillard
Reviewed by Rebecca Foster Annie Dillard is one of those uncategorisable writers who poke fingers into all sorts of genres. Like Adam Gopnik, Rebecca Solnit, and Geoff Dyer (who provides…
Delta Wedding by Eudora Welty
Reviewed by Simon Delta Wedding might win the award for the most beautiful book I’ve read for this issue of Shiny New Books – as an object, I mean, though the…
Journeyman by Marc Bojanowski
Reviewed by Susan Osborne There’s something very attractive about a state of the nation novel. It offers the chance to examine a snapshot of a country, taking in the many…
The Course of Love by Alain de Botton
Reviewed by Annabel This is only Alain de Botton’s second novel in a writing career of well over over twenty years. He began with a stylish novel – Essays in Love in…
The Vanishing Futurist by Charlotte Hobson
Reviewed by Kate Gardner In many ways this is a conventional take on historical fiction: old lady recounts her youth for her daughter to read after she dies. But the…
The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood
Reviewed by Kim Forrester Australian writer Charlotte Wood has five novels to her name, but she’s never been published in the UK — until now. Fresh from winning the Indie…
The Sun King Conspiracy by Yves Jégo & Denis Lépée
Translated by Sue Dyson Reviewed by Helen Skinner This fascinating and complex historical thriller is set in 1661 at the court of France’s Sun King, Louis XIV. As the novel…
Hystopia by David Means
Reviewed by Anna Hollingsworth In an interview with The Guardian, short story writer turned novelist David Means said: ‘History is delusional. Not just an illusion, it’s a delusion.’ Means’s debut novel, Hystopia,…
My Name is Leon by Kit de Waal
Reviewed by Alice Farrant My Name is Leon by Kit de Waal is a powerful story that discusses race, mental illness, and family through the abandonment of a child. It’s the…
Pride And Pudding by Regula Ysewijn
Reviewed by Hayley Anderton Sometimes I wonder if my cookbook habit is getting out of control, and in my darkest moments I’ll even question how many of them a person…
More Was Lost by Eleanor Perényi
Reviewed by Simon If you’re anything like me, you might be unfamiliar with the political dynamics of Hungary and Czechoslovakia in the years leading up to the Second World War….
Questions for Peggy Frew about Hope Farm
Interview by Annabel Annabel: Firstly, congratulations on Hope Farm being shortlisted for the 2016 Stella Prize. This young literary prize is starting to get some notice in the UK and…
Hope Farm by Peggy Frew
Reviewed by Annabel Peggy Frew is an up and coming Australian author, and Hope Farm is her second novel. Alongside her writing, Peggy plays bass and sings in indie band Art of…