January 28, 2021 Right After the Weather by Carol Anshaw Paperback review by Susan Osborne Set in Carol Anshaw’s home town of Chicago in the months before and after the 2016 election, Right After…
April 2, 2020 The Language of Birds by Jill Dawson Reviewed by Susan Osborne, 2 April 2020 I’m a fan of Jill Dawson’s writing. Her last novel, The Crime Writer, was a wonderful piece…
February 11, 2020 It Would be Night in Caracas by Karina Sainz Borgo Translated by Elizabeth Bryer Reviewed by Susan Osborne Venezuelan writer Karina Sainz Borgo’s It Would Be Night in Caracas is one of three novels…
August 22, 2019 Flames by Robbie Arnott Review by Susan Osborne Tasmanian writer Robbie Arnott’s Flames is not an easy book to write about. It’s quite some way out of my…
August 6, 2019 Putney by Sofka Zinovieff Review by Susan Osborne Sofka Zinovieff’s Putney is a subtle novel which explores the fallout of sexual abuse all wrapped up in an engrossing…
March 21, 2019 Happy Little Bluebirds by Louise Levene Reviewed by Susan Osborne Louise Levene’s last novel, The Following Girls, was a pitch-perfect satire on ‘70s schoolgirl life whose period detail rang more…
March 7, 2019 All Among the Barley by Melissa Harrison Reviewed by Susan Osborne Both Melissa Harrison’s previous novels are notable for their vividly evocative descriptions of the English countryside, the kind of thing…
January 29, 2019 Things We Nearly Knew by Jim Powell Reviewed by Susan Osborne Jim Powell’s Things We Nearly Knew is a slice of American smalltown life seen through the eyes of an unnamed…
May 22, 2018 White Houses by Amy Bloom Reviewed by Susan Osborne I’ve yet to read anything by Amy Bloom that I’ve not loved. Her writing is both deft and empathetic, pressing…
February 20, 2018 Idaho by Emily Ruskovich Reviewed by Susan Osborne Emily Ruskovich’s Idaho is an impressive debut, both in its writing and its treatment of a difficult subject: the murder…
September 14, 2017 The Easy Way Out by Steven Amsterdam Paperback reviewed by Susan Osborne This novel is unlikely to appeal to everyone although we should all read it. It’s about assisted suicide, one…
March 30, 2017 Above the Waterfall by Ron Rash Paperback review by Susan Osborne Ron Rash hails from the Appalachians and it’s there that he sets his award-winning novels with their smalltown mountain…
December 5, 2016 The Tobacconist by Robert Seethaler Translated by Charlotte Collins Reviewed by Susan Osborne It’s a both a joy and a worry when a second novel appears on the horizon…
October 18, 2016 Paulina & Fran by Rachel B. Glaser Reviewed by Susan Osborne Female friendship is a frequent theme in fiction, or at least what’s often dubbed as ‘women’s fiction’. It can be…
October 6, 2016 Bright Precious Days by Jay McInerny Reviewed by Susan Osborne Fans of Jay McInerney’s series of novels which began with Brightness Falls way back in 1992, won’t need to be told who…
June 28, 2016 Journeyman by Marc Bojanowski Reviewed by Susan Osborne There’s something very attractive about a state of the nation novel. It offers the chance to examine a snapshot of…
June 16, 2016 Himmler’s Cook by Franz-Olivier Giesbert Translated by Anthea Bell Reviewed by Susan Osborne Perhaps it’s because many of us in the privileged developed world are living longer these days…
January 26, 2016 Us Conductors by Sean Michaels Reviewed by Susan Osborne Curiously, Us, Conductors is not the only novel published in January to feature the theremin, the musical instrument whose strange haunting sound…
January 18, 2016 The Lives of Women by Christine Dwyer Hickey Paperback review by Susan Osborne Christine Dwyer Hickey is the kind of author for whom there’s no fanfare of Twitter trumpets heralding her next…
October 2, 2015 Undermajordomo Minor by Patrick De Witt Reviewed by Susan Osborne Undermajordomo Minor is Patrick deWitt’s third novel. His second, The Sisters Brothers, was a darkly comic western set in mid-nineteenth century Oregon…
August 11, 2015 A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler Paperback review by Susan Osborne When I think of Baltimore two things come to mind: Anne Tyler and The Wire, polar opposites in terms of…
July 28, 2015 10:04 by Ben Lerner Paperback review by Susan Osborne Ben Lerner’s first novel, Leaving the Atocha Station, was much talked about on publication – 10:04 is his second and it’s narrated by…
April 9, 2015 Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler Review by Susan Osborne I hope you’ll excuse me if this review reads more like a pean of praise – or even a gush…
April 9, 2015 A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale Review by Susan Osborne It’s nearly thirty years since the publication of Patrick Gale’s first novel, The Aerodynamics of Pork, and for much of that…
April 9, 2015 The Pink Suit by Nicole Mary Kelby Paperback review by Susan Osborne Please don’t be put off by the Barbie-pink jacket adorning the paperback edition of Nicole Mary Kelby’s novel. It…
