August 20, 2019 Anna of Kleve – Queen of Secrets by Alison Weir Review by Julie Barham It is well known that Henry VIII had six wives – and none more mysterious than the one that he…
May 30, 2019 Lux by Elizabeth Cook Reviewed by Julie Barham This is an immensely profound book. It encompasses huge themes – birth and death, self imposed exile and imprisonment, the…
September 27, 2018 I Am Heathcliff – Stories Inspired by Wuthering Heights, curated by Kate Mosse Review by Julie Barham It is never easy to review a collection of short stories, especially one by such a diverse selection of authors…
August 30, 2018 The King’s Witch by Tracy Borman Reviewed by Julie Barham This is the debut novel written by Tracy Borman, who is a popular historian and Curator of Historic Royal Palaces….
June 21, 2018 White King: The Tragedy of Charles I by Leanda de Lisle Review by Julie Barham This is a book that in many ways reads like a novel. That said, it is also a non- fiction…
June 19, 2018 Old Baggage by Lissa Evans Reviewed by Julie Barham There are some books which are so good that I struggle to find words to suggest how much I appreciate…
June 12, 2018 Vocations by Gerald O’Donovan Reviewed by Julie Barham This Irish novel, originally published in 1921, reprinted by Handheld Press, is a tremendously engaging read. Dealing with the fates…
December 14, 2017 The Runagates Club by John Buchan Reviewed by Julie Barham This is a splendid book for all those who revel in the scary, the heroic and the unusual. Anyone familiar…
November 23, 2017 A Hundred Tiny Threads by Judith Barrow Reviewed by Julie Barham I received a review copy of this book from Honno Press, the Welsh Women’s Press, as I was intrigued by…
September 21, 2017 Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen Reviewed by Julie Barham The inevitable question is, do we need a new edition of one of Austen’s books? Well, on the evidence of…
May 11, 2017 Clayhanger by Arnold Bennett Review by Julie Barham Vintage books have produced a new edition of possibly the best known of Bennett’s novels featuring the story of Edwin…
April 6, 2017 Anna of the Five Towns by Arnold Bennett Review by Julie Barham I think that the overwhelming sense or atmosphere of this book is sadness. Nevertheless, it is a faithful picture of…
December 13, 2016 Bewildering Cares by Winifred Peck Reviewed by Julie Barham This is an actual book! Thank you to the nice people at Furrowed Middlebrow/ Dean Street Press who listened to…
December 6, 2016 Ghost Stories by E.F.Benson Reviewed by Julie Barham An historical entertainment? When I was first asked to read E.F.Benson’s Ghost Stories, I was a little concerned as I have…
October 27, 2016 The Captain with the Whiskers by Benedict Kiely Reviewed by Julie Barham When the old captain died the family went strange and it wasn’t with grief, and if you want to know…
December 8, 2015 The Maiden Dinosaur by Janet McNeill Reviewed by Julie B “Barbara Pym…Elizabeth Taylor…” exalted company for any author’s novel, and when I noticed these names on the front of this…
December 3, 2015 Paradise by A.L. Kennedy Reviewed by Julie Barham It is probably a good thing to sometimes read outside our comfort zone. For me, Paradise was such a book. It is…
October 16, 2015 The Trick is to Keep Breathing by Janet Galloway Reviewed by Julie Barham If a picture of mind numbing grief was to be fictionalised, this is the novel to read. This is a…
