March 31, 2020 Grown Ups by Marian Keyes Reviewed by Laura Marriott We start at a dinner party. If you groan inwardly at the very thought of a family dinner party then…
October 15, 2019 Inheritance by Jenny Eclair Review by Laura Marriott “Beginnings, middles and ends; Peggy, Serena, Natasha and Bel. This is the room that binds them, this is how consequences…
August 27, 2019 Belfast Stories, edited by Paul McVeigh & Laura Frank Review by Laura Marriott In Donegall Square, in the centre of Belfast, Lisa is working in the Welcome Centre. Tourists flock in searching for…
June 6, 2019 Being Various: New Irish Short Stories, ed. Lucy Caldwell Review by Laura Marriott Ireland is going through a golden age of writing: that has never been more apparent. I wanted to capture something…
September 14, 2017 The Brazilian by Rosie Millard Reviewed by Laura Marriott The Brazilian opens in a London beauty salon where the middle class and nearly middle aged (although she would be furious…
August 8, 2017 Listening In by Jenny Eclair Review by Laura Marriott Listening In is a collection of 24 short stories from comedian and writer Jenny Eclair. Her last literary outing was the…
July 27, 2017 Holding by Graham Norton Paperback review by Laura Marriott The first thing one does after finishing Holding is breathe a sigh of relief. When a well-known personality branches into fiction…
June 15, 2017 No Cunning Plan: My Story by Tony Robinson Review by Laura Marriott Like many people I first came to know Tony Robinson through his role as Baldrick on Blackadder, before following him…
December 8, 2016 The Temptation of Elizabeth Tudor by Elizabeth Norton Reviewed by Laura Marriott The Temptation of Elizabeth Tudor concerns itself with the potential marriage between the teenage Elizabeth Tudor and Thomas Seymour. The book…
June 14, 2016 Tremarnock: The Love, Lives and Secrets of a Cornish Village by Emma Burstall Reviewed by Laura Marriott Tremarnock is a picture perfect Cornish fishing village, largely untouched by gentrification, poverty or seasonal tourism. It is here that…
June 9, 2016 Down the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny by Holly Madison Reviewed by Laura Marriott “I always thought it would be classy to not kiss and tell … but after a while you just get…
April 6, 2016 Citizens by Kevin Curran Reviewed by Laura Marriott As Ireland commemorates the events surrounding the 1916 Easter Rising this timely novel teases out what this event means to…
January 19, 2016 Dublin Seven by Frankie Gaffney Reviewed by Laura Marriott On a small crossroads near the bottom of Manor Street, one of the main through ways in Dublin 7, there…
December 3, 2015 After You by Jojo Moyes Reviewed by Laura Marriott “Don’t think of me too often … Just live well. Just live. Love, Will” After You is the sequel to the much…
October 30, 2015 Us by David Nicholls Paperback review by Laura Marriott Us is David Nicholls’ fourth novel and the follow up to 2009’s surprise hit One Day. Nicholls is an award winning…
October 15, 2015 Moving by Jenny Eclair Reviewed by Laura Marriott Moving is the latest literary offering from Jenny Eclair. It is the fourth novel from the comedian, who has published three…
January 28, 2015 Miss Carter’s War by Sheila Hancock Paperback review by Laura Marriott Miss Carter’s War opens in 1948, in smoky post war Britain, introducing us to the woman who is going to…
January 16, 2015 The Woman Who Stole My Life by Marian Keyes Reviewed by Laura Marriott Meet Stella Sweeney, a Dublin wife, mother and beautician in her early forties. Stella’s chaotic but seemingly content life is…
