This was my first non-fiction read of 2026 and I really enjoyed starting the year with this breezy and opinionated perspective on the much mythologised and maligned Anne Boleyn. I’ve…
Anne Boleyn: 500 Years of Lies by Hayley Nolan
Spirits of the Season: Christmas Hauntings, edited by Tanya Kirk
This was my final read of 2025, and it was a really enjoyable one. This collection brings together a superb selection of classic ghost stories from writers such as E….
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
Never have read any of his books, this was maybe a weird way to start, but this honest take on a writer’s life is one that’s been on my shelves…
A Highland Christmas by M.C. Beaton
M.C. Beaton, aka Marion Chesney, is originally from Glasgow, so it was quite interesting to read her perspective on the Highlands, especially as I’m currently staying here myself. It added…
The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding by Agatha Christie
First coming out in 1960, I’ve enjoyed hearing about this short story collection on the 1960s Agatha Christie podcast The Swinging Christies, so it made for a great seasonal &…
Mrs. S by K.Patrick
This is a sultry summery novel, a weird one to read at the end of the year, but one that I found myself enjoying a lot! Good prose and premise…
Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie
What a fun Hercule Poirot story this was! From 1937, we have a “Victorian” lady who is being visited by younger relatives. They want her money, but she’s not going…
Transformations by Anne Sexton
The collection consists of retellings of fairy tales, and it’s hard not to think of something like Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber while reading it. There’s a similar sense of…
Ariel by Sylvia Plath
This is first time I’ve properly sat down and read Ariel as a complete collection, and I wasn’t surprised by how immediately it clicked for me and how much I…
Not to Disturb by Muriel Spark
This was such a great little book! My second Muriel Spark of recent times, this is the sort of book where you just sort of let the story and the…
The Haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins
This is a fun and engaging read. It feels very Victorian, very Collins, very seasonal sensation somehow! This is a fireside fright told by the flickering fire with a hot…
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
Another November/December non-fiction book that I really, really enjoyed reading. I found this memoir deeply touching and raw. It’s a gritty memoir in the sense that it looks at grief…
Lady L by Romain Gary
Lady L was a really great little novella in the great Penguin Archive editions I love, and I’m surprised I hadn’t picked it up sooner. It begins as a seemingly…
Witchcraft: A History in 13 Trials by Marion Gibson
This was a really fascinating non-fiction read. I started this in November and finished in early December, and it completely held my interest. Pictured: the book in Lancaster Castle, in…
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jaqueline Harpman, trans. Ros Schwartz
Honestly, I was surprised by how quiet and peaceful this novel felt to me. I think all the marketing around “women trapped in cages” and the dystopian label had led…
Muumilaakson marraskuu (Moominvalley in November) by Tove Jansson
A very apt final book from November, I loved reading in Finnish again. I started the year reading Tove’s childhood autobiography in Finland, so it felt apt to be ending…
Misunderstanding in Moscow by Simone de Beauvoir
This short novella by the brilliant Simone de Beauvoir was a bit of a strange one for me. On the one hand, I really enjoyed the depth of the story…
A Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha Christie
I read A Pocket Full of Rye during a pretty stressful time of year, and as always, Christie delivered as a comfort read. This Miss Marple novel has a particularly…
Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie
I really enjoyed reading this book, and pairing it with the corresponding “Swinging Christie’s” @christie_time podcast episode about it made the experience even more interesting, plus I also watched the recent Kenneth…
Seashaken Houses by Tom Nancollas
I bet I’m not alone in my endless fascination for lighthouses… I have this fantasy of staying in one and curling up with a good read while the sea lashes…
Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor trans. Sophie Hughes
This book is so visceral that it almost leaves a taste in your mouth: the metallic taste of blood most likely…. Violent and taut, it’s a book that is nevertheless…
Seascraper by Benjamin Wood
Such a beautiful short book: I am glad I listened to the hype on this one. A book about youthful hopes and dreams, it’s also an elegiac tale about changing…
The Promised Party: Kahlo, Basquiat & Me by Jennifer Clement
This beautiful, articulate, and feverish memoir traces a Mexico City childhood and a New York city youth during an era that was iconic for both cities. Jennifer grows up down…
By the Pricking of My Thumbs by Agatha Christie
This book made for a cozy, seasonal experience: all mystery, atmosphere, and a touch of the uncanny with a soupçon of the ridiculous. I actually think the Tommy and Tuppence…
Surge by Jay Bernard
Surge by Jay Bernard is a haunting yet deeply life-affirming collection of poetry. It responds to the tragic events of the 1981 New Cross Fire in London: a birthday party…
The Blank Wall by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding
This is such an intriguing and quietly powerful mid-century murder novel. Despite having inspired hit film adaptations and earning praise from Raymond Chandler, it still seems to have flown under…
Sceptred Isle: A New History of the Fourteenth Century by Helen Carr
This was my first non-fiction read of November: a delve into the Plantagenets. This “new” narrative of 14th century England and the British Isles very much focuses on Kings and…
The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma
This was an intense but good read, Shakespearean/ mythical in its portrayal of sibling conflict and prophecy in an Igbo family. We’re in Akure in the 1990s and Ikenna, the…
Julian of Norwich: A Very Brief History by Janina Ramirez
This slim little book was an interesting historical and philosophical look at the Revelations written by a medieval anchorite, Julian of Norwich. Little is definitively known about her, but she…
A Clergyman’s Daughter by George Orwell
This is a more obscure Orwell read, one that he himself and critics found lacking, but I really enjoyed this. Dorothy is daughter of a curmudgeonly Anglican rector, and the…
After Leaving Mr Mackenzie by Jean Rhys
This is a bleak novel about precarious survival in big cities, perfect for this time of year. Despite the bleakness, the beautiful prose of Rhys carries you through this narrative…
A Separation by Katie Kitamura
Taut and engaging, this reminds me of the sparse and emotionally direct prose of Rachel Cusk and Deborah Levy, with a thriller edge. Really glad I picked this up to…
Liza of Lambeth by W. Somerset Maugham
Continuing the grand tradition of a Victorian doctor writing books: this book was written by Maugham right after finishing his medical studies. It’s his first book published in 1897. This…
The Turn of the Screw and Other Stories by Henry James
This collection is a masterclass in psychological ghost stories: elegant, unbeatable in premise, and full of that Jamesian ambiguity. 🔩The Turn of the Screw (1898) A young governess takes a job…
Lois the Witch by Elizabeth Gaskell
This book is a document of mass hysteria and trauma. First published in a collection in 1861, I love this Penguin Archive edition. Set in 17th century Salem, you know…
maybe ill call gillian anderson by Rhian Elizabeth
I love reading poetry collections, but they feel harder to review than novels! This poetry collection was published on 31st May 2025 by Broken Sleep Books: a working class publisher all…
Daisy Miller And Other Stories by Henry James
These stories are the perfect examples of why James is known as the master of the short story. Touching on art, innocence, and creativity, they work well as a collection!…
Crooked Cross by Sally Carson
A forgotten 1934 novel that feels frighteningly relevant today and that I almost couldn’t believe was actually written in 1934 by an Englishwoman. Sally Carson died young in 1941, never…
Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
This book had some uneven qualities for me, but it turned out to be a surprisingly apt seasonal read, blending humour with a creeping darkness. On one hand, parts of…
Love Child by Jean Bedford
I picked this book up secondhand when I was in Hay-on-Wye, not realising it was actually quite an obscure little gem. It’s hard to describe because it’s so short, yet…
The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen
Felt like an obvious September pick, but this wasn’t the effortless read I expected. I’ve enjoyed Bowen before, yet I found myself wading through a slightly disjointed narrative, with many…
Jane Austen by Carol Shields
This felt like a really amazing book to be reading during a Jane Austen anniversary year in Bath. Plus, what a great #spinsterseptember2025 finale: arguably one of the most famous spinsters! Carol…
Howards End by E.M. Forster
This work cements Forster’s ability to capture emotional truths within their wider social context. Love, jealousy, friendship, and suspicion are never free-floating, but shaped and refracted through history, class, and…
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
This was the quintessential autumnal #spinsterseptember read with a supernatural feminist twist: a woman escapes family obligations and relocates to a small village in the Chiltern Hills and becomes a witch! 🧙♀️…
Daphne du Maurier: Gothic Visionary, Shaped by Cornwall
Daphne du Maurier (1907–1989) was a British novelist, playwright, and short story writer whose works continue to fascinate. Some of her works have been made into iconic films and series,…
A Mind To Murder by P.D James
This was a fun #spinsterseptember read where both the victim and some suspects fit the spinster description! Spinsters plus murder make for a fun read. What happens when an unpopular medical…
Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq
This International 2025 Booker Prize winner is an interesting milestone: the first ever Kannada-language work to win, it’s also actually the first short story collection to win too….which is amazing,…
A Passage North by Anuk Arudpragasam
This novel was not what I expected: I had imagined something closer to a memoir or a journalistic exploration of post-civil war Sri Lanka. Instead, A Passage North is a…
All That is Left of Life by Roberta Recchia (Review)
Translated superbly by Antonella Lettieri, this 2025 Italian novel by Roberta Recchia is a winner. Tutta la vita che resta came out in 2024, and it’s great to see this…
Beast in View by Margaret Millar
From 1955, this Hollywood psychological thriller won the 1956 Edgar Allan Poe award, and it’s easy to see why. It’s a horror thriller with a creepy and oppressive feel. Helen…