You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz
Reviewed by Harriet Devine I don’t have much time for endorsements on book covers, and generally they tend to irritate me, especially when they say, ‘if you like x you’ll…
The Ruby Slippers by Keir Alexander
Reviewed by Harriet Devine She stinks. It has to be said. Stinks to high heaven. No, worse, stinks like death. This is not just a smell, an unpleasant odour to…
Four Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Romanov Grand Duchesses by Helen Rappaport
Reviewed by Harriet Devine On 17 July 1918, four young women walked down twenty-three steps into the cellar of a house in Ekaterinburg. The eldest was twenty-two, the youngest only…
The Outcast Dead by Elly Griffiths
Reviewed by Harriet Devine I’ve been a fan of Elly Griffiths’ Ruth Galloway series since the first novel, Crossing Places, appeared in 2009. The Outcast Dead is the sixth in the series, and…
Money by Émile Zola
Translated by Valerie Minogue Reviewed by Harriet Devine ‘It’s very difficult to write a novel about money. It’s cold, icy, lacking in interest’. So said Zola in an interview in…
The Love-Charm of Bombs by Lara Feigel
Reviewed by Harriet Devine For the past couple of years, I have been fascinated by the events of WW2, and have found myself drawn again and again to novels written…
Sebastian Barry on The Temporary Gentleman
Sebastian Barry fills in some of the background to his latest novel, which Harriet reviewed here. Questions by Shiny Editor, Harriet. 1. The Temporary Gentleman takes place mainly in Ireland and Africa. What…
The Temporary Gentleman by Sebastian Barry
Reviewed by Harriet Devine A lark, a single bird with her dowdy plumage, burst up from her cup of sand just in front of me and like a needle flashing…
Appointment with Yesterday and With No Crying by Celia Fremlin
Reviewed by Harriet Devine. Why on earth have we not heard of Celia Fremlin? Well, I certainly hadn’t until recently, and having discovered her brilliant ‘novels of domestic suspense’ through…