Beatrice and Benedick by Marina Fiorato
Reviewed by Annabel Gaskell In tackling on one of Shakespeare’s most popular pairings in her latest novel, Marina Fiorato is taking a big risk. The sparring partners who…
During the Reign of the Queen of Persia by Joan Chase
Reviewed by Danielle Simpson Quite often the best reading experiences I have, or at least the most memorable ones, are stories that are in some way challenging or difficult. This…
Domestic Manners of the Americans by Frances Trollope
Reviewed by Harriet Devine No author of the present day has been at once so much read, so much admired and so much abused. So wrote the New Monthly Review…
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
Reviewed by Simon Thomas When we did a piece on the Booker longlist recently, I cheerfully said that I hadn’t read any of them – as always seems to be the case,…
Hotel Florida: Truth, Love and Death in the Spanish Civil War by Amanda Vaill
Reviewed by Harriet Devine The Spanish Civil War (1936-39), a messy, bloody conflict in which Spanish Republicans fought to save their country from the forces of Fascism, foreshadowed the Second…
The Conquest of Plassans by Émile Zola
Translated by Helen Constantine Reviewed by Harriet Devine In issue 1 of SNB, I reviewed Zola’s Money, and Victoria wrote a fascinating article about his “racy, sordid books” for the BookBuzz section. Money was the…
A.A. Milne: His Life by Ann Thwaite
Review by Simon Thomas What do you know about A. A. Milne? Your answer might be a little different if you’ve read our Five Fascinating Facts – or, indeed, if you’ve followed…
The Valley by Richard Benson
Reviewed by Victoria Best The best kind of non-fiction, I think, shows us how supposedly ‘average’ ordinary lives are really quite extraordinary. In the author’s foreward to his outstanding book…
After Me Comes the Flood by Sarah Perry
Reviewed by Victoria Best John Cole is an antiquarian bookseller who has grown tired of his life and tired of his self. One long, hot summer, towards the end of…
An Encyclopaedia of Myself by Jonathan Meades
Reviewed by Eric Karl Anderson For several decades, Jonathan Meades has been a well-established writer, cultural critic of primarily food & architecture and broadcaster in Britain. He has such a…
Women of the World by Helen McCarthy
Reviewed by Victoria Best When I was sitting my A levels back in 1987, my school thought itself very advanced because it gave us all a careers questionnaire to fill…
The Dance of Love by Angela Young
Reviewed by Simon Thomas In the first issue of Shiny New Books we had a lovely piece by Angela Young about the genesis of her novel The Dance of Love. We were thus…
All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld
Reviewed by David Hebblethwaite She may only be on her second novel, but Evie Wyld is already gathering considerable acclaim. Her debut, 2009’s After the Fire, a Still Small Voice,…
The Blue Room by Hanne Ørstavik
Translated by Deborah Dawkin Reviewed by Hayley Anderton I read the press release for The Blue Room (published in Norwegian in 1999, and now published by Periene Press in a translation by…
All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews
Review by Victoria Best At the funeral service of an aunt who has died unexpectedly, our narrator, Yolandi, notices a toddler creep up to the urn on the dias and…
Never Mind the World Cup, Let’s Read Around Brazil!
A survey of some Brazilian novels in translation by Annabel Gaskell, with help from Stuart Allen I don’t know about you, but I’m distinctly underwhelmed by the World Cup, and…
City of Endless Night by Milo M. Hastings
Reviewed by Simon Thomas My heart would normally sink at any blurb which began ‘The year is 2151.’ I am perfectly willing to concede that the fault is with me…
A God in Every Stone by Kamila Shamsie
Reviewed by Rowland Jones There was an immediate appeal in reading the dust jacket. The novel was bound for The Street of Storytellers in Peshawar. For a reader it sounded…
A Curious Career by Lynn Barber
Reviewed by Annabel Gaskell Some readers will have seen the rather excellent film An Education, based upon an episode in veteran journalist Lynn Barber’s life as a teenager where she fell…
An Appetite for Violets by Martine Bailey
Reviewed by Danielle Simpson Martine Bailey’s debut novel, An Appetite for Violets, is a deliciously inventive story in more ways than one. Let me set the opening scene for you. Imagine…
Charlotte Mew and Her Friends by Penelope Fitzgerald
Reviewed by Simon Thomas I’m going to be honest, when I picked up a biography a little-known turn-of-the-century poet, I wasn’t expecting it to be a page turner. I’d never read…
The Unexpected Professor by John Carey
Reviewed by Rob Spence John Carey has had a long and distinguished career in academia, and this autobiography records his journey from childhood in the war to his current position…
The Baklava Club by Jason Goodwin
Reviewed by Helen Parry ‘I’ve been complaining,’ Yashim said, ‘how Istanbul is overrun with foreigners these days. As if it was ever any different’. It’s 1842, and three Italian exiles…
Solo by William Boyd
Reviewed by Falaise Although Octopussy was the last James Bond film to reveal the name of its sequel in the end credits, the iconic phrase, “James Bond will return” continues to appear…