May 24, 2022 Tell Me an Ending by Jo Harkin Reviewed by Harriet ‘What if you didn’t have to live with your worst memories?’, asks the cover of this debut novel. Anyone who’s seen…
May 19, 2022 Dear Little Corpses by Nicola Upson Reviewed by Harriet It’s the first of September 1939. Hitler has invaded Poland, and though Britain is not yet at war with Germany, there…
May 3, 2022 These Days by Lucy Caldwell Reviewed by Harriet ‘two sisters, four nights, one city’ is the subtitle of this riveting new novel by Lucy Caldwell. I don’t think I’ve…
April 26, 2022 Strange Journey by Maud Cairnes Reviewed by Harriet This is a body-swap novel – one of the first ever to be published. It’s very entertaining but also quite thought…
April 14, 2022 The Lives of the Saints by Sebastian Barry Reviewed by Harriet Anyone who knows me or reads my reviews will know that I’m a great admirer of Sebastian Barry. I’ve reviewed three…
April 5, 2022 Truly Madly by Stephen Galloway Reviewed by Harriet ‘Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier and the Romance of the Century’ is the subtitle of this joint biography by Stephen Galloway. The…
March 31, 2022 French Braid by Anne Tyler Reviewed by Harriet ‘That’s how families work. You think you’re free of them, but you’re never really free; the ripples are crimped in forever’….
March 24, 2022 Latchkey Ladies by Marjorie Grant Reviewed by Harriet These girls, buffeting with the world as they did war-work, or any work that would support them, were apt to have…
March 17, 2022 Nine Lives by Peter Swanson Reviewed by Harriet Peter Swanson is a prolific author, averaging one book a year since his debut, The Girl with a Clock for a…
February 24, 2022 Great Literary Friendships by Janet Phillips Reviewed by Harriet When you see the title of this book, you may think, as I did initially, that it was going to be…
February 10, 2022 Jane’s Country Year by Malcolm Saville Reviewed by Harriet Jane woke slowly. For a long minute she lay drowsing with her eyes shut, wondering why the bed felt so different….
January 27, 2022 The Village of Eight Graves by Seishi Yokomizo Translated by Bryan Karetnyk Reviewed by Harriet Seishi Yozomizo (1902-1991), whose works are hugely celebrated in Japan, has been described as ‘the Japanese Agatha…
December 14, 2021 Sally on the Rocks by Winifred Boggs Reviewed by Harriet This delightful novel is part of the latest batch of the British Library Women Writers series. I’ve reviewed a few of…
December 2, 2021 Lily: A Tale of Revenge by Rose Tremain Reviewed by Harriet From the first moment that we meet Lily Mortimer, we know her secret. We know it because she dreams of her…
November 25, 2021 These Precious Days by Ann Patchett Reviewed by Harriet I’m a great admirer of Ann Patchett’s novels. I read Bel Canto when it first came out and have loved her…
November 16, 2021 Adam O’Riordan answers questions on The Falling Thread Interview by Harriet As an already successful poet and short-story writer, what made you turn to the novel? Was it a sudden decision or…
November 16, 2021 The Falling Thread by Adam O’Riordan Reviewed by Harriet Unlike some of my fellow reviewers, I tend not to seize upon debut novels. Call me a fuddy-duddy, but I usually…
November 11, 2021 Which Way by Theodora Benson (Blog Tour) Reviewed by Harriet Published in 1931 and newly reissued in the British Library Women Writers Series, this is a fascinating book in a number…
November 2, 2021 Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout Reviewed by Harriet I first encountered Elizabeth Strout back in February 2017 – according to my review at the time [here] I’d spotted My…
October 19, 2021 April in Spain by John Banville Reviewed by Harriet Almost exactly a year ago, I reviewed John Banville’s Snow [here], an immensely enjoyable country house murder mystery. I particularly liked…
October 14, 2021 Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead Reviewed by Harriet ‘Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked’. So we are introduced to the leading character in Colson…
October 5, 2021 The Story of the Country House by Clive Aslet Reviewed by Harriet My definition of the country house is this: a work of domestic architecture in a rural location, surrounded by its own…
September 23, 2021 Mary Magdalene by Adriana Valerio Translated by Wendy Wheatley Reviewed by Harriet Adriana Valerio is an Italian historian and theologian. One of the first women in Italy to be…
September 16, 2021 The Country of Others by Leïla Slimani Translated by Sam Taylor Reviewed by Harriet Back in 2018 I read and reviewed Leïla Slimani’s best-selling, Goncourt-Prize-winning novel Lullaby [here]. Soon afterwards I…
August 19, 2021 The Oxford Illustrated History of Witchcraft and Magic, edited by Owen Davies Reviewed by Harriet If there’s one thing that this impressively learned and wide-ranging volume amply demonstrates, it’s that an interest in magic and witchcraft…
