The Sister Bells Trilogy by Lars Mytting
Translated by Deborah Dawkin Reviewed by Harriet They were joined from the hip down. But that was all. They breathed, cried, and were lively…. They grew, laughed a lot, and…
Interview with Lars Mytting, author of The Sister Bells Trilogy
Interview by Harriet Lars Mytting is an award-winning Norwegian author. His surprise non-fiction bestseller Norwegian Wood has sold more than 700000 copies worldwide, and his novel The Sixteen Trees of…
Introducing Mrs Collins by Rachel Parris
Reviewed by Harriet Anyone who’s ever read (or watched) Pride and Prejudice will know that Mrs Collins is Elizabeth’s ‘intimate’ friend Charlotte Lucas, ‘a sensible, intelligent young woman, about twenty-seven’….
The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective by Sara Lodge
Reviewed by Harriet As an erstwhile recipient of review copies of the British Library Crime Classics series, I was aware that two novels were published in 1864 featuring female detectives:…
The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith
Reviewed by Harriet If you should care to do so, you could do a search on Shiny for reviews of novels by Robert Galbraith (aka J K Rowling). You’ll find four,…
Wild for Austen by Devoney Looser
Reviewed by Harriet ‘A Rebellious, Subversive and Untamed Jane’ promises the subtitle of this new book by Austen scholar Looser. I wonder how many people still think of Austen as…
Electric Spark: The Enigma of Muriel Spark by Frances Wilson
Reviewed by Harriet It has always been my intention to practice the arts of pretence and counterfeit on the reader. So wrote Muriel Spark in an unpublished Author’s Note to…
Long Island by Colm Tóibín
Reviewed by Harriet Many people will be familiar with Colm Tóibín’s 2009 novel Brooklyn, or at least with the awarding-winning 2015 film adaptation. Set in 1950s Enniscorthy, County Wexford, it…
Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman
Reviewed by Harriet Here on Shiny we love Laura Lippman and have posted reviews of five of her novels. All but one were standalone psychological thrillers, but Hush Hush (2015) features…
Blue Ruin by Hari Kunzru
Reviewed by Harriet Even with the mask on, I recognized her at once. She was standing on the porch of the house at the end of the drive, her weight…
Cloistered: My Years as a Nun by Catherine Coldstream
Reviewed by Harriet In my mind I am still running. Running towards the road. Running, running, running. The darkness is fresh around me, the air slicing across my face in…
The Strange Case of Jane O by Karen Thompson Walker
Reviewed by Harriet If like many people you saw this title and thought of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde you’d probably be thinking this will be a psychological thriller, and…
Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz
Reviewed by Harriet Back in 2016 I reviewed Anthony Horowitz’s hugely entertaining Magpie Murders [here], in which book-editor Susan Ryeland takes up detection when she discovers that Alan Conway, the…
Love and Marriage in the Age of Jane Austen by Rory Muir
Reviewed by Harriet A few months after Pride and Prejudice was published, Jane Austen visited her brother Henry in London. The opening words of Rory Muir’s book might lead the…
Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gaugin by Sue Prideaux
Reviewed by Harriet Before I started this very interesting and comprehensive book, I probably knew as much about Gauguin as most people. I’d seen countless reproductions of his powerful, imaginative…
The Golden Road by William Dalrymple
Reviewed by Harriet India has always had a great attraction for me. I didn’t manage to go there until I was in my thirties, but I’ve visited countless times since…
The Dancer from the Dance by Janet Burroway
Reviewed by Harriet I had never heard of Janet Burroway until Mike Walmer recently republished her 1965 novel, The Dancer from the Dance. It was the second of her eight…
Three Days in June by Anne Tyler
Reviewed by Harriet ‘You know I’m not a huge cat fan. I’ve always thought they were cold-hearted’. ‘Cats are not cold-hearted’, I said. ‘They’re only protecting their dignity in case…
The Handheld Diaries by Kate Macdonald
Reviewed by Harriet, 4 Feb 2025 Christoph says, ‘Kate, you should really set up your own publishing house.’ Many of Shiny’s regular readers will have read the wonderful books published…
The Drowned by John Banville
Reviewed by Harriet, 14 Jan 2025 When John Banville announced that he was going to give up writing the multi-award-winning literary fiction for which he had been celebrated for decades,…
Shakespeare’s Borrowed Feathers by Darren Freebury-Jones
Reviewed by Harriet, 7 Jan 2025 When I was young, I spent several summers in Stratford-upon-Avon. My parents were working at the theatre there, so I was fortunate to be…
The Sequel by Jean Hanff Korelitz
Reviewed by Harriet Sequels can be very enticing when the initial book has done well. Readers want to know what happens to a character they’ve connected with. So says a…
Lady Living Alone by Norah Lofts
Reviewed by Harriet In the year 1932, Miss Penelope Shadow published a book which instantly became a best seller. It was her fourth book and not, in her opinion, markedly…
Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson
Reviewed by Harriet He had spent a good two weeks being sensible and mature, and then he bought a Land Rover Defender instead. It was a rugged, blokey kind of…