July 6, 2021 Dreaming of Rose: A Biographer’s Journal, by Sarah LeFanu Review by Helen Parry Reconstructing anyone’s life poses enormous difficulties, for however copious the evidence of letters, diaries, journals, and eye-witness accounts, the problem…
June 3, 2021 Inventory of a Life Mislaid: An Unreliable Memoir, by Marina Warner Review by Helen Parry In spring 1944 the English officer Esmond Warner attended a party in Bari hosted by a widow, Signora Terzulli, and…
April 22, 2021 A Virtual Image by Rosalind Brackenbury Reviewed by Helen Parry Until Michael Walmer reissued her first novel, A Day to Remember to Forget, I had never heard of Rosalind Brackenbury….
October 13, 2020 Reviewer’s Choice: A Day to Remember to Forget by Rosalind Brackenbury While Shiny New Books concentrates on the new, we enjoyed giving some of our reviewers room to share previously published – ie: ‘not Shiny…
July 14, 2020 The King of Elfland’s Daughter by Lord Dunsany Review by Helen Parry I first read The King of Elfland’s Daughter five years ago, but this ‘fine, strange, almost forgotten novel’, as Neil…
May 23, 2019 Berg by Ann Quin Review by Helen Parry Until a couple of months ago, I had never heard of Ann Quin. However, I then read that the independent…
March 28, 2019 Forms of Enchantment: Writings on Art & Artists by Marina Warner Review by Helen Parry Although Marina Warner is perhaps best known (and deservedly) for her magnificent work on fairy tales, she has long been…
June 5, 2018 The Sing of the Shore, by Lucy Wood Review by Helen Parry I have been a fan of Lucy Wood’s writing since reading her début collection of short stories, Diving Belles, and…
November 28, 2017 La Belle Sauvage: The Book of Dust, Volume I, by Philip Pullman Reviewed by Helen Parry First of all, is it as good as everyone says it is? Yes, it really is. The plot is compelling…
September 7, 2017 The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter, by Theodora Goss Reviewed by Helen Parry I’m very fond of Theodora Goss’s short stories, so when I saw that she was publishing a novel I was…
July 11, 2017 Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved and Died in the 1940s by Anne Sebba Reviewed by Helen Parry Among the many people Anne Sebba interviewed for this book was the playwright Jean-Claude Grumberg. During the German occupation of…
May 17, 2017 Q&A with Anne Sebba, author of Les Parisiennes Helen: Hello Anne! Let me first say that I was bowled over by Les Parisiennes – it’s a real tour de force of narrative…
April 18, 2017 A House in Flanders, by Michael Jenkins Reviewed by Helen Parry In the extreme northern part of France lies the plain of Flanders, a great fertile expanse rolling inland from the…
December 8, 2016 Fairy tales: A Reading List Selected by Helen Parry Christmas is traditionally a time of magic. Even if you’re no longer quite certain that Father C pops down the…
October 20, 2016 Flâneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Venice, Tokyo and London, by Lauren Elkin Reviewed by Helen Parry ‘I think people are made of the places not only where they’ve been raised, but that they’ve loved; I think…
August 4, 2016 The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry Reviewed by Helen Parry It’s seldom that I buy new books, being a skinflint with a very large existent TBR, and even rarer for…
October 31, 2015 The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales, second edition, edited by Jack Zipes Reviewed by Helen Parry I’ve always loved the Oxford Companions, ever since I first encountered the Companion to English Literature about twenty-five years ago. They’re very…
April 29, 2015 Victorian Fairy Tales, edited by Michael Newton Reviewed by Helen Parry The sun was now set, and the darkness coming on, but the child thought of no danger but the bears…
April 23, 2015 Science in Wonderland: The Scientific Fairy Tales of Victorian Britain by Melanie Keene Reviewed by Helen Parry Thomas Gradgrind is the famously awful teacher from Hard Times. His philosophy: ‘Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys…
April 22, 2015 Sophie and the Sibyl: A Victorian Romance by Patricia Duncker Reviewed by Helen Parry It is 1872 and Max Duncker, handsome, young and irresponsible, is blessed with a not-too-onerous role in the publishing company…
October 21, 2014 Once Upon a Time: A Short History of Fairy Tale by Marina Warner Reviewed by Helen Parry Is it fair to claim that Marina Warner is the reigning British queen of fairy tales? I believe so. Her…
October 10, 2014 The Portrait by Willem Jan Otten Reviewed by Helen Parry Not having looked, not really, not with eyes that can see. That was what his fate came down to. Having…
July 28, 2014 The True & Splendid History of the Harristown Sisters by Michelle Lovric Reviewed by Helen Parry We Swineys were the hairiest girls in Harristown, Kildare, and the hairiest you’d find anywhere in Ireland from Priesthaggard to…
July 10, 2014 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’….
April 25, 2014 Tristano: A Novel by Nanni Balestrini Translated by Mike Harakis Reviewed by Helen Parry The philosophy that a text is created by the reader as well as the writer is…
